Tuesday, February 28, 2006

 

Guns don't kill people (you know the rest)

A friend writes:

Hey lefty-left. Dare you to post this on you blog, with no comment at-all.

Nope. Comments:

No one should misunderestimate my dislike for the right wing in general, and this administration in particular, my liberal economics and my Jesusian take on tolerance, for me bein' a pansy when it comes to defense of my person, my family and my property. I'm American that way.

Sheesh.

--ER

Quick Refresher Course

Words to live by

a. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

b. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.

c. Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface.

d. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.

e. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?

f. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.

g. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.

h. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.

i. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.

j. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.

k. What part of "shall not be infringed" do you not understand.

l. The Second Amendment is in place in case they ignore the others.

m. 64,999,987 firearm owners killed no one yesterday.

n. Guns only have two enemies: Rust and Politicians.

o. Know guns, Know peace and safety. No guns, no peace nor safety.

p. You don't shoot to kill; You shoot to stay alive.

q. 911 - government sponsored Dial a Prayer.

r. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

s. Criminals love gun control - it makes their jobs safer.

t. If Guns cause Crime, then Matches cause Arson.

u. Only a government that is afraid of it's citizens try to control them.

v. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

w. Enforce the "gun control laws" in place, don't make more.

x. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.

y. The American Revolution would never have happened with Gun Control.

z. " ... a government by the people, for the people ... "

Comments:
I may have to stop reading your blog. Last night I had a nightmare about having a gun and being at one of our ports with the UAE in charge. I wound up shooting someone to save the country.

If I don't dream about that Fenway tonight, I'm outta here!
 
Most of the list is opinions, line "m" however is a incorrect fact. It should read:
m. 90 out of 64,999,987 firearm owners killed someone yesterday.

The CDC puts the U.S. 2002 death rate by firearms at 30,242. 56% were suicides; 39% were homicides; 3% were accidental shootings; 3% were leagal interventions (by cops or citizens).

Damn, nearly 6 in 10 were suicides. I never hear anyone say, "Control guns and prevent suicides."
 
Yep, I did notice that it added up to 101%.
Three percent accidental deaths equals the legal interventions of three percent. It looks like that those two statistics may cancel each other out. Youare as likely to kill someone accidently as you are to save someone through fatal legal interventions. Of course that ignores the deterent factor.
When it comes to gun control I find myself an agnostic.
 
Well, I'm no evangelist for gun freedom. I own a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. I took a hunter education and gun safety class, even though Texas had grandfathered me in. I don't think I'd shoot to kill to protect property. And I don't have my weapons "at the ready" in case of intruders. I think the NRA is an extremist group. So, you might say I'm a "social gun owner" in the same way some people are social church goers. But rights is rights.

And Trixie, EVERYBODY should dweam about widdy biddy puppies. :-)
 
"90 out of 64,999,987 firearm owners killed someone yesterday."

Maybe they aren't all gun owners.

Maybe some of them are gun stealers.

Guns don't kill people. Husbands that come home early do.
 
Well, another reference to game theory: if the chief advantage is deterrence, I'm a free-rider on the sacrifices of the gun-owners, who bear the risk of suicide, those impulsive spouses coming home early, and gun accidents.

Also have wondered about where the Second Amendment fundamentalists draw the line. I mean, no-one seems to be fighting for the right to bear .50 calibre full machine guns, mortars and weaponized anthrax. It's true that the invention of all of those postdates the Second Amendment, but so do revolvers, over-and-under shotguns, and (I believe) magazined weapons in general. Somebody's rights are being seriously abridged.

But it's sad to hear that since I don't bear arms, I'm a subject. I mean, I suppoose that's better than being an object, at least according to the feminist line on onjectification, but it still doesn't sound good.
 
Rats. I was wrong about the mortar - invented by the Dutch in 1674.
 
While I'm not nearly the gun advocate that you appear to be, ER, neither am I one that believes that our ultimate problem is guns. We're a violent society and that is our problem here, not guns.
 
You need to check out our local
news. A man who's home had been
broken in several times. He set
up a booby trap. Sure enough the
neighbor who had been breakin in
did again. This time he got an
arm pit full of rock salt. Of
course the home owner was arrested
for setting up a booby trap in his
home.
I saw a great bumper sticker
If guns kill then forks made
Rosie O Donnell fat..
 
TStock, I think the point is that you *are* armed in this country. You firearms might still be at the store. But you are *armed* under the Constitution.

Dan, I'm not a gun advocate as much as I am not a gun opponent.

One other point on the NRA, I'm not sure that the NRA doesn't support the right to bear mortars and personal WMD. They're pretty freaky.

A good friend of mine in Texas -- who, ironically and sadly, under the influence of maltreated bipolar disorder used one of his handguns to kill himself -- quit the NRA despite a lifetime of membership, when the NRA turned against "government" in general and slammed "government employees" in a mailout. My friend was a county agriculture agent, and did not take kindly to such hyperbole.
 
A friend sent that to you?

Geez, maybe you need some other friends, dude. And don't turn your back on that friend at all. :)
 
Haven’t you heard, the younger generation prefer baseball bats. I guess it gives em a warm and fuzzy feeling to get up close and personal. I myself if the need arises, would prefer a shot from 4 or 5 hundred yards. Nothing like seeing a warm blooded animal drop and the ones standing next to it just stand there wondering why their buddy decided to take a nap.
 
Tech, I trust him.

Anon, then you have a murderous heart. Or yer blowin'.
 
I own guns, but I prefer blades.
 
I have blades, not bullets.
 
Blades give me bursitis, hence the 500-yard shots. I believe if you’re anonymous you are the natural enemy of the E. Redneck. Prairie dawgs man they go up in a puff of red fur. Sheesh
Of course I’ve never been really screwed over either. So maybe so if pushed to far.
 
keeping a firearm for home protection is statistically more dangerous to persons within the household than to an intruder.

oh, and ban the handgun.

KEvron
 
Blades may give you bursitis, Anonymous, but you can't chop onions with a Saturday Night Special.

And funny thing, I find that to be more often necessary than any need to fire a gun.
 
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