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rabid1stGuns don't kill people...people do. But, unfortunately, we keep letting the people have guns.
So, I'm British at heart and not a fan of guns and ammo in any circumstance. I do believe in the right to bear arms so that you can be part of a militia at any moment. But that doesn't quite translate to the lax laws we have today with firearms. I believe nobody who is prone to draw a gun should have a gun. And those who do have them should be licensed and keep the weapon and ammo seperated and under lock and key.
I do not hold with gunning down animals in the name of sport or "defending your home" from invaders who turn out to be your brother-in-law...whoopsie! Nor do I believe in confronting a 16 year old kid with deadly force. Or your wife who thought she'd take a 2:00 am stroll around the block and not wake you up, but you shot her dead when she came home. No...if you want to be a militia man (or person) join the militia and learn that bullets actually kill people and you can't bring those people back to life again.
All of this ranting is brought to you by a couple of manly American men in my sister's neighborhood, who feel they should be allowed to express themselves with heavy weaponry. These bozos...have a right to bear arms. And they want to "defend their homes" against hordes of invaders that are even now roaming the streets in search of a good meal (mostly because that's where we send our poor, desperate people...out into the streets to starve...but that's another issue entirely). These manly men were honing their skills with guns and ammo. Not their intellectual skills...just their point and pull the trigger skills. They were firing the guns at targets. In trees. Up into the air! At TREES! And, no doubt, because their education was funded by the budget strapped state, they had only the sketchiest of ideas about things like physics. Apparently, they didn't realize that bullets fired into the air will come down again.
Two came down through my sister's roof and one of them went straight through my baby neice's high chair. Where, she wasn't sitting...thank God! Both bullets penetrated steel roof and beams and foam and then floor. They passed between my nephews who were standing there chatting away as if...I don't know...they were in their own home, minding their own business with THEIR guns safely locked away and had no expectation of being shot by boneheads in the neighborhood. This is what most people arguing to keep their guns don't take into account.
Most of the time, a gun in the home is used to kill someone accidentally rather than in some sort of gun battle between the good men and the lawless ones. In the days when the constitution was penned men were skilled with weapons. Many of them hunted their own food. Today you can buy a gun to strut around with without so much as a test like we have for a driver's licenses. I mean...seriously...shouldn't there be a minimum safety and sanity test before you are allowed to go out and start blasting things?
Rae
ranting between the panicked gasping caused by such a close call.
So, I'm British at heart and not a fan of guns and ammo in any circumstance. I do believe in the right to bear arms so that you can be part of a militia at any moment. But that doesn't quite translate to the lax laws we have today with firearms. I believe nobody who is prone to draw a gun should have a gun. And those who do have them should be licensed and keep the weapon and ammo seperated and under lock and key.
I do not hold with gunning down animals in the name of sport or "defending your home" from invaders who turn out to be your brother-in-law...whoopsie! Nor do I believe in confronting a 16 year old kid with deadly force. Or your wife who thought she'd take a 2:00 am stroll around the block and not wake you up, but you shot her dead when she came home. No...if you want to be a militia man (or person) join the militia and learn that bullets actually kill people and you can't bring those people back to life again.
All of this ranting is brought to you by a couple of manly American men in my sister's neighborhood, who feel they should be allowed to express themselves with heavy weaponry. These bozos...have a right to bear arms. And they want to "defend their homes" against hordes of invaders that are even now roaming the streets in search of a good meal (mostly because that's where we send our poor, desperate people...out into the streets to starve...but that's another issue entirely). These manly men were honing their skills with guns and ammo. Not their intellectual skills...just their point and pull the trigger skills. They were firing the guns at targets. In trees. Up into the air! At TREES! And, no doubt, because their education was funded by the budget strapped state, they had only the sketchiest of ideas about things like physics. Apparently, they didn't realize that bullets fired into the air will come down again.
Two came down through my sister's roof and one of them went straight through my baby neice's high chair. Where, she wasn't sitting...thank God! Both bullets penetrated steel roof and beams and foam and then floor. They passed between my nephews who were standing there chatting away as if...I don't know...they were in their own home, minding their own business with THEIR guns safely locked away and had no expectation of being shot by boneheads in the neighborhood. This is what most people arguing to keep their guns don't take into account.
Most of the time, a gun in the home is used to kill someone accidentally rather than in some sort of gun battle between the good men and the lawless ones. In the days when the constitution was penned men were skilled with weapons. Many of them hunted their own food. Today you can buy a gun to strut around with without so much as a test like we have for a driver's licenses. I mean...seriously...shouldn't there be a minimum safety and sanity test before you are allowed to go out and start blasting things?
Rae
ranting between the panicked gasping caused by such a close call.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 01:51 am (UTC)pardon the language, that's the mildest I could think of. I'm so glad no one was hurt.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 01:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 02:06 am (UTC)moronsidiots(hate to insult morons and idiots by association) dumber than a rock.(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 02:44 am (UTC)I hope the police were called? Because if they aren't stopped, they will end up hurting or killing someone.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 02:51 am (UTC)My sister's neighbor is a deputy sheriff with a two year old little girl of his own. He was alerted and I imagine is taking steps to make sure these guys understand the dangers of what they've done.
Still, it won't stop the next idiot. Of the gun events that have touched my life...not one of them was a good use of a gun. My stepfather's friend killed his wife. One of our neighbors was killed by his mother because he forgot his key and broke a window to get in rather than wake her up. A friend of my nephew had a run in with an ex-boyfriend of his current girlfriend...and was lucky not to be shot. And now...this...oh...and a friend of my brothers lost his hand when HIS brother shot it off as they were doing "target practice." I just don't think that people even realize how much damage guns do...and so few people are called on to "defend" themselves. I think the gun gives you a false sense of security. My nephew's gun would have done him no good at all if that bullet had been three feet to the left.
Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 02:58 am (UTC)Poor Rae. I'm sorry for all the loss.
I agree. I know one woman who hunts/hunted for food, but that's different. Your story reminded me of an episode of Homicide where a bullet fired in the air killed somebody. Only in that case, the "fool" in question doing the shooting was a six-year-old girl, who (unlike her parents) had good excuses for not understanding physics.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:14 am (UTC)As for my various gun encounters...well...I am afraid I grew up in a neighborhood where most of the people were armed. And few of the people were educated. People get drunk and go out back to "shoot targets" and someone gets killed. Or someone gets into an argument and the next thing you know they are waving their handgun around and shooting their wife. Oh, then they sober up and wail about how much they loved her...but...too late. I do think that if they hadn't had a gun...they would never have killed her...because they wouldn't have had such an easy time of it...guns don't allow you time to think things over or just pass out from drinking the rest of your bottle of whiskey.
Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 02:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 07:01 am (UTC)Rae
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:48 am (UTC)We have this problem down in South Florida every year on New Years Eve (and 4th of July as well sometimes). Apparently there are people in Dade County who do not understand that "What goes up, must come down," does apply to bullets.
I am strongly in favor of the strongest gun control policy possible. I spent four years in England, surrounded by police officers who did not carry guns, and felt quite safe. I rode the London Underground and British Rail alone at midnight without much fear.
Then I moved back to the US. I would not ride the NY subway alone at midnight, or walk around DC or Miami alone late at night.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:58 am (UTC)I'm sorry you're even tangentially associated with such utter boneheads. They should take a hefty reckless endangerment charge and be glad for their luck.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 07:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 01:11 pm (UTC)I'm glad you're all safe, Rae. Here's hoping for some actual consequences for the morons.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 10:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 12:58 pm (UTC)Very glad the Man Upstairs was looking out for your family.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 03:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-09 07:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-14 12:47 am (UTC)As for your rant on guns...well I live in Killeen/Fort Hood. (they run together) If you wanna talk about who shouldn't own guns, you're preaching to the choir. I'm angry about the things that have happened in our town. First we had a massacare in cafeteria and then we had the massacare on post. The one on post could have been prevented, not just by the Army and the FBI but by the goddamned hicks that sold that freak the gun. He was a documented as not only being mentally unstable, but he was ON THE WATCH LIST BY THE FBI!!! He goes to a gun shop off post and they let him by a gun. WHY?! I'm sorry to use such words, but noone seems to understand that he couldve been stopped. It didn't have to happen.