Here is a reason to own a gun

[CDAgirlMI 51]

That's again supposing that there is a realistic threat that one needs to have the ability to defend against, and that staying safely in ones home will not provide the means to achieve. The provision of real necessities, food, water and shelter is what is required in these situations and very little violence ensues if these are provided.

Protecting oneself & their family IS a necessity to some people, should a problem arise.

For the rest, well, there's always the police you can rely on to protect you.

Myself, I don't want to rely on someone with a badge & probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 5 feet away.

[Peikko 1,575]

Protecting oneself & their family IS a necessity to some people, should a problem arise.

For the rest, well, there's always the police you can rely on to protect you.

Myself, I don't want to rely on someone with a badge & probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 5 feet away.

Yet you effectively do. Law and order is not maintained because you and people like have a gun, it's maintained because society collectively respects law and order because we have an active, effective and responsible police force. So once again, this notion that gun ownership is necessary and desirable for the protection of civil liberties is utter bullcrap.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Many times a day all over this country people protect themselves because they have a weapon. Unfortunately even more times people are harmed because they do not have a weapon.

[mawilson 2,133]

Yeah, it makes great sense to buy a gun, just in case society collapses around you.

Society *will* collapse around you - it's a matter of 'when', not 'if'.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Society *will* collapse around you - it's a matter of 'when', not 'if'.

Let me know when you have found a way to extend the human lifespan by a few hundred years.

[Ali G. 37]

Society *will* collapse around you - it's a matter of 'when', not 'if'.

With zero government idiots like you and Matt, of course it will.

Protecting oneself & their family IS a necessity to some people, should a problem arise.

For the rest, well, there's always the police you can rely on to protect you.

Myself, I don't want to rely on someone with a badge & probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from 5 feet away.

You are picking one scenario. What happens if three or four armed people approach you? You having a gun will not scare them of, it will only worsen the situation.

[CDAgirlMI 51]

You are picking one scenario. What happens if three or four armed people approach you? You having a gun will not scare them of, it will only worsen the situation.

And what would happen if I didn't have a gun?

"911, what's your emergency?"

"THERE'S 4 GUYS TRYING TO...." click

Dead.

Maybe I'd still wind up dead with a gun.....but I'd at least like to have a chance.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I know that cops like to be stereotyped as being complete idiots when it comes to firearms, but that's just a stereotype. A police officer has the training and experience to respond appropriately should you feel that you and your family are in danger. Several years ago, a woman woke up in the middle of the night to what she thought was a burglar. She called out to the person rustling near her Christmas tree in the dark, but the supposed robber didn't say anything, so she fired her handgun towards the direction of the sound. She shot and killed her 5 yr. old nephew.

Using a gun doesn't resolve every perceived threat that you might encounter in your house. You could be the best marksman, but that won't prevent you from possibly making some poor judgment in a stressful situation or emergency. Law enforcement is way beyond the old days of the wild west. Police officers deserve a lot of credit for risking life and limb for public safety, including the safety of perceived perpetrators. They can make errors, but they have the training, experience and expertise to do their job far better than any regular citizen. If you feel more secure having a gun in your home, that's great, but you'd be foolish to think that having a gun is going to negate the need for calling the police the next time you feel you and your family are in danger.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Galt's gallstones

[The_Dude 1,142]

Saying that police officers can't hit the broad side of a barn is a load of #######. I work for the police, and that affords me the luxury to occasionally attend their MANDATED firearms training sessions. I do it to practice my own skills, they are required, as a condition of their employment to re-qualify each and every month. If you don't meet the benchmarks laid out for your job, you don't work that month, plain and simple. I'd trust the marksmanship of a traind professional over an amateur any day.

[Ali G. 37]

When can deduce three things from these statements.

1. A gun will save the world.

2. Gun = self protection = safer.

3. Cops are dumb and cannot shot, yet any idiot with a gun can.

Too bad reality and the stats do not support any of these opinions.

Reality is:

1. Firearms only make a situation worse.

2. A far greater number of people are killed by someone they know than some random bad guy.

3. The US has a hell of a lot of guns per person, yet still has the highest homicide rate (per capita) - when compared to the entire first world.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Saying that police officers can't hit the broad side of a barn is a load of #######. I work for the police, and that affords me the luxury to occasionally attend their MANDATED firearms training sessions. I do it to practice my own skills, they are required, as a condition of their employment to re-qualify each and every month. If you don't meet the benchmarks laid out for your job, you don't work that month, plain and simple. I'd trust the marksmanship of a traind professional over an amateur any day.

Yep. That rhetoric comes from the gun lobby. They want everyone to believe the we have keystone cops running around with guns they don't know how to use.

[Peikko 1,575]

Saying that police officers can't hit the broad side of a barn is a load of #######. I work for the police, and that affords me the luxury to occasionally attend their MANDATED firearms training sessions. I do it to practice my own skills, they are required, as a condition of their employment to re-qualify each and every month. If you don't meet the benchmarks laid out for your job, you don't work that month, plain and simple. I'd trust the marksmanship of a traind professional over an amateur any day.

I think it stems from a need by some gun owner activists to maintain the myth that owning and carrying a gun is the only reliable way to maintain personal safety. If people were made aware of just how much unregulated gun ownership contributes to the incidents of societal instability as well as making the job of policing more difficult and dangerous, they would be less sanguine about going along with it. At a basic level, I think people do understand that the pioneer mentality of law and order has been completely superseded, that in modern society it really is totally unnecessary to carry a gun around 24/7 for that 1 in a million 'what if' scenario (I mean, how many people have actually been in a situation where having a gun would have saved their lives - or if they were carrying a gun indeed did?), but unregulated gun ownership for some really does symbolize what it is to be a 'real American'. It is a myth but it's such a hard myth to bust because there is a lot of misinformation fed to the gullible as well as this fear of emasculation that seems for so many to be part and parcel of regulating gun ownership and use.

[CDAgirlMI 51]

I know that cops like to be stereotyped as being complete idiots when it comes to firearms, but that's just a stereotype. A police officer has the training and experience to respond appropriately should you feel that you and your family are in danger. Several years ago, a woman woke up in the middle of the night to what she thought was a burglar. She called out to the person rustling near her Christmas tree in the dark, but the supposed robber didn't say anything, so she fired her handgun towards the direction of the sound. She shot and killed her 5 yr. old nephew.

That's an idiot. Not all gun owner are idiots. When I got my license you were taught to make sure you're aware of your target & beyond it. Heat of the moment? Intense situation? I don't care who's behind the gun, you're still irresponsible to shoot something you're unaware of. People like that lady give the stereotype to responsible gun owners that we shoot at any noise that could endanger us.

Saying that police officers can't hit the broad side of a barn is a load of #######. I work for the police, and that affords me the luxury to occasionally attend their MANDATED firearms training sessions. I do it to practice my own skills, they are required, as a condition of their employment to re-qualify each and every month. If you don't meet the benchmarks laid out for your job, you don't work that month, plain and simple. I'd trust the marksmanship of a traind professional over an amateur any day.

lol.

A cop we compete with told us police firearm training is a joke. They're only out once or twice a year & its as he says ..."a complete joke". Some cops can't even use their tasers properly.

I think the point is being missed here. I'm not against police. I have a tonn of respect for the men & women who serve & protect. I just feel that when you have minutes to get yourself out of danger, I'd rather have a firearm, than not.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

That's an idiot. Not all gun owner are idiots. When I got my license you were taught to make sure you're aware of your target & beyond it. Heat of the moment? Intense situation? I don't care who's behind the gun, you're still irresponsible to shoot something you're unaware of. People like that lady give the stereotype to responsible gun owners that we shoot at any noise that could endanger us.

The difference is that in many states, you aren't required to take safety courses to own a handgun, thanks to the gun lobby. But even when you have taken safety courses, you're kidding yourself if you think you have the reflexive, decisive skills to know what to do in all possible situations.

Lets elaborate now though on the above scenario. Lets say a perpetrator is in fact rustling near your Christmas tree in the middle of the night, and you call out but they don't reply. They now have the advantage of shooting you first, which basically makes you having a gun pretty useless unless you were lucky enough that they miss and you don't. Again, back to wild west fantasy thinking. If a perpetrator enters your home with guns and the intent on killing you, you better be prepared to shoot in their direction even if you cannot identify who they are, if you want your gun to be at all effective.

Again, I support owning guns for hunting and sport, or even for self protection, but the self protection argument made by the gun lobby and regurgitated by their followers is mostly nonsensical rhetoric to make you feel safer about owning a gun.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Galt's gallstones

[justashooter 430]

If you feel more secure having a gun in your home, that's great, but you'd be foolish to think that having a gun is going to negate the need for calling the police the next time you feel you and your family are in danger.

someone asked me why i carry a gun. i replied that a cop would be too heavy and too big to put in my pocket, and would be demanding that i take him to dunkin donuts every hour.

when seconds count, the police are a half an hour away. they usually get there in time to draw lines around the body. whether you have a gun in the house or not usually determines whose body the lines go around.

Saying that police officers can't hit the broad side of a barn is a load of #######. I work for the police, and that affords me the luxury to occasionally attend their MANDATED firearms training sessions. I do it to practice my own skills, they are required, as a condition of their employment to re-qualify each and every month. If you don't meet the benchmarks laid out for your job, you don't work that month, plain and simple. I'd trust the marksmanship of a traind professional over an amateur any day.

you are not describing the typical police training and qualification regimen.