Do You Own a Gun ??

[Zythryn]

I still feel that the slight chance of a gun being useful in self defense is far outweighed by the horror of a gun I bought being stolen and used to kill someone, or found by a minor and a death result.

The former is more likely, but the horror of the later is far more serious and damaging to me.

[Moontanman]

Our situations are probably hardly comparable. I live in a town, in q quarter where there is some occasional breaking in in parked cars, some occasional hooliganism (how often ? once in two or three years maybe). But in general, a good lock gives me all the protection I need.

In other parts of town, I might consider a burglar alarm, with a link to the police station. And if I lived in a more remote spot in the countryside, a good watchdog might come in handy.

 

I live in the middle of a town, supposedly a gentil southern town, home invasions are not uncommon and the police are always there to id the victums. In situation where someone is just making trouble I can handle my self, run if nesesarry, Not very fast because of my bad leg but you'd be mazed at how fast you can go when nesesarry. My shot gun isn't to imtimidate neighborhood holigans I could care less about them it's to defend my actual house from someone taking a sledge hammer and knocking down the door and shooting me and my family and taking what little bit i own. Most if not all the neighborhood holigans see the bikers that visit me regularly and have the good sense to leave me alone but late at night a home invasion can happen in seconds, that's why I keep my shot gun at ready at all times. I might not win the fight but I'll take a few of them to hell with me. Most of the neighborhood criminals are afraid of my hounds, I have three basset hounds that warn me everytime anyone who isn't familar walks by. Best alarm on the planet! Gives me several precous seconds to get my gun and start the process of not being a victum. Believe it or not the so called gated communities with armed guards and limited access have a higher crime rate than my neighborhood.

 

Michael

[DougF]

Although I don't have a use for this type of gun and it is not for sale (yet),

I think it's a clever idea and thought I'd share it with you.

 

 

The FMG-9 by Magpul Industries

 

 

YouTube - Magpul Industries SHOTSHOW 2008 Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99NHb6B03s

[Moontanman]

Although I don't have a use for this type of gun and it is not for sale (yet),

I think it's a clever idea and thought I'd share it with you.

 

 

The FMG-9 by Magpul Industries

 

 

 

.Relatively cool item but 90% of a gun is intimidation. If your gun doesn't look like a gun some idiot might be willing to challenge you and make you have to make the choice to kill him or her. I'm sure if the girl AT UNC Chapel Hill had been packing heat she might still be alive and maybe even her assailants would have left with their lives as well. Owning a gun should be harder than owning a car but you should be able to own one if you can prove you can handle it. One real flaw of a hand gun is that shooting at the range has little or no correlation with the real world, You might be able to shoot the hair off a gnats butt at the range but in an emergency situation hitting the ground might be a problem., laser sights are real improvement and If I choose to guy another hand gun it will have a laser sight but for now I'll keep my 12 gauge marine magnum shotgun, I just wish it was a 10 gauge magnum. I would like to make it plain I would never shoot anyone over property. Only to protect my life or the lives of others. A child molester caught in the act when I was armed would probably be accidentally shot. In the southern USA "He needed Killing" is often a valid defense. The most important thing to remember about guns is they are an immense responsibility, killing someone should be the very last resort. But from what I hear that isn't true in Texas but they are almost a separate county anyway. I have friends that have enough guns to fight a small war. I don't feel I need that many guns but I do have plenty of ammunition.

[goku]

i like my guns and i'll keep them, hillary.

but, there are people that do not understand how powerfull a gun is.

[REASON]

I own a Ruger 10/22 semi-auto .22 caliber rifle. It's a great little rifle; very accurate and very reliable.

 

I bought it mostly for plinking around and target shooting with my friends. It isn't optimum by any stretch of the imagination for home security, but it's better than nothing and can get off ten rounds in a hurry.

 

I showed it to my children immediately when I brought it home, made my expectations clear, and intend on taking them out and showing them how to use it when they get a bit older if they're interested. I believe this is crutial if it is your intention to keep a gun of any sort in the home where there are children. Trying to hide them and not expressing any rules is more likely to be potentially detrimental than to provide education, rules, and a sense of respect for these dangerous weapons.

 

So far they have shown no interest in it whatsoever.

[Michaelangelica]

I am not really here.

I don't want to know about Yanks and Guns.

Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.

 

xkcd - A Webcomic - Laser Scope

[Moontanman]

I am not really here.

I don't want to know about Yanks and Guns.

Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.

 

xkcd - A Webcomic - Laser Scope

 

As sad this incident is I have to say would you deny the use of automobiles to everyone because some people can't be trusted to leave their drive ways behind the wheel of a car? Cars kill far more people each year than guns. Can I assume you are at least a spiritual ally of the anti-gun movement?

[CraigD]

Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.

I disagree.

 

The Darwin Awards are for people who die during ridiculously foolish behavior. This tragic accident involved an 8 year old firing a properly maintained submachine gun in a proper setting while being supervised by a certified instructor. The reasonable expectation is that the 8 year old would have an enjoyable, educational experience – or perhaps a frightening, educational experience – but certainly not be killed.

 

The actual outcome was freakish in the extreme. I’ve personally seen accidents involving uncontrolled muzzle rise when firing fully automatic weapons like the Uzi involved in this accident where the wall above the target was shot, and can easily imagine a very inexperienced shooter freezing on the trigger and firing near of past the vertical, but find it hard to visualize how this child managed to shoot himself. This appears to have been truly a freak accident.

 

One of many articles on the accident: Eight-year-old shoots self with Uzi, dies - CNN.com

 

Although I was in my teens before I fired a fully automatic rifle, I fired a sporting rifle, a 1966 Winchester “Centennial” .30-30, closely supervised, at the age of six. I still remember it as good experience from which I came away with healthy respect for this heavy, yet still sharp recoil rifle. By the age of 9, I was allowed to shoot targets and hunt small game without adult supervision, though always with adult permission, using either a .22 rifle or .410 bore shotgun. My experience is fairly typical of 1960s rural West Virginia, and in my experience, safer than many other typical childhood activities, such as bicycling.

[Flying Binghi]

...I own an aircraft....which, apparently, is more lethal then a gun ...thousands will die .............anyway, in Australia and Japan at least, who needs a gun when you have a knife

[engineerdude]

America is a complex place, many more people than Canada or Oz. Canada is basically like US suburbs - quiet, homogeneous, moderately wealthy. The vast majority of gun deaths in the US are poor inner-city people shooting other poor inner-city people.

 

I am a gun owner. I have 2 shotguns that were my grandfather's, and a few other hunting weapons of my own. I am from rural America, where I think I am very typical in my attitude towards guns. Guns are a non-event, I keep them locked up from my kids the same as I do the sharp knives and the gasoline. In the realm of concern for my family, an accidental gun death isn't even on the radar - I have taught my kids the proper respect for guns, just as I have taught them to respect lawnmowers and mean-*** dogs. If you suck as a parent, all kinds of bad things are likely to happen to your kids, guns are just one thing.

 

As far as the protection aspect, I think it is significant. I seriously doubt I could round up a gun in time to shoot a burglar, but the burglar doesn't know that, and my NRA sticker on the window is a pretty good indicator that bad guys should move on to the next house.

[klenole]

I dont like guns, but I own one. Only because my dad and I used to go hunting. Now... ugh. I can't do it anymore. (OMG. Daisa-voo. Like, with the page colours and everything... And I know I didnt spell that right...) Anyways, shooting targets is fun, but the only animals I can think of killing now is squirrels. (THEY EAT ALL THE PECANS AND PEARS. TREE-RATS.)

[enorbet2]

I presently do not own a gun. However when I lived in The Rockies on 140 acres of land I owned a 22 Magnum rifle (iron sights) and a compound bow with a rollover pull of 65 pounds and nasty-as-all-hell Wasp broadheads on aluminum arrows. The arrows were substantially more lethal at up to 60 yards. I had grown up with guns and have a healthy respect as well as good safety habits.

 

Living in Colorado showed me the contrast with city dwellers who lack that familiarity, respect, and training. Studies show that people who can spend little time with guns are generally better off not owning one, especially if your reason for getting one is protection. Without getting training and keeping it honed on a regular basis most people do not respond well in emotional situations and are much more likely to shoot themselves or someone else they do not intend to, or get shot by neglecting the need to cover. Dogs, alarms, cameras, motion activated lights, and NRA stickers are far cheaper and at least as effective.

[fahrquad]

I have a High Point .40 caliber pistol for home defense. I never felt like I needed a gun before, but with all the home invasions on the news of late, I thought it would be the prudent thing to do. The 185 grain full metal jacket bullets should be quite effective in stopping an intruder. ;)

[Turtle]

I have a High Point .40 caliber pistol for home defense. I never felt like I needed a gun before, but with all the home invasions on the news of late, I thought it would be the prudent thing to do. The 185 grain full metal jacket bullets should be quite effective in stopping an intruder. ;)

 

statistically, your gun is likely more dangerous to you & your family & friends than beneficial. your only gain might be a (false) heightened sense of security, which of course carries it's own complications.

 

the full article has numerous links to specific statistical supporting data.

Does Carrying a Firearm Make One Safer?

...Statistics are reviewed which show that a gun in the home is far more likely to lead to the death or injury of a family member or friend than to the death of an intruder. Data on victimizations and the use of firearms for self defense are then examined for the crimes of burglary, robbery, assault, and rape. In each case the effectiveness of guns in preventing or deterring the crime is analyzed, and compared to the effectiveness of other self defense methods. The data presented in this report indicate that private handgun ownership provides no significant deterrent to burglary and violent crime. It may, in fact, escalate the severity of the violence if offenders believe they must be more heavily armed than the citizenry. The statistics also showed that the use of a weapon in resistance to a criminal attack usually results in greater probability of bodily injury or death to the victim. Other methods of resistance, such as flight or verbal resistance, were found to be more effective in aborting the crime while having less probability of causing harm or death to the victim. In circumstances where the offender is armed, non-resistance most likely resulted in the minimum amount of harm to the victim. The authors conclude that because of the surprise nature of most violent crime and the fact that it is likely to occur between strangers, it is improbable that the victim would have time to use the handgun in any event. They argue that in light of the risks of handgun ownership - the possibility of escalating the violence of the crime, and the risk of accidents and suicides among family members - other safer methods of crime prevention must be adopted. ...

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

I am not really here.

I don't want to know about Yanks and Guns.

Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.

 

xkcd - A Webcomic - Laser Scope

LOL! I'm sorry I missed you.... but my aim is getting better B)

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Used to own a nice 50 long barrel....to many times tempted to use it for reasons other than fun so I sold it.