My Big Bad Dom and his wife (Mrs. BBD) are heading out to buy a gun today. A nice family outing right?
I know most of you are American and have guns anyway. And lots of Canadians do too. And those of you in the rest of the world you all have guns.
Jeez. Maybe it's just me that finds it a little creepy.
What's wrong with it? Umm. Hell I don't know.
Left over stuff from my naive and idealistic youth maybe?
I know there are bad people in the world. I really do. And I'm not suggesting just rolling over and giving them everything they demand. That's why we have police and armies. I think it's pretty rare here in the first world where private citizens actually need a gun for anything but hunting.
Maybe if you need a gun to defend your stuff you have too much stuff. Maybe if you worry so much about the have nots taking your stuff it's because they don't have enough stuff. Maybe if you shared your stuff with the have nots, you wouldn't need to have a gun to defend it.
See, I told you it was naive.
But still. It just seems wrong.
Would you really kill someone to defend stuff? It's just stuff. You can get more.
And how do I feel about Mrs. BBD having a gun? Umm. I'm sure it will be fine. Right?
First, it's not about protecting your stuff, it is about protecting yourself and your loved ones.
ReplyDeleteSecond, it's a serious responsibility. Learn to do it safely.
You're not alone. I don't like guns, at all. Definitely won't have one in my house. That's a non-negotiable for me.
ReplyDeleteI agree. To me it seems so simple that it's not worth discussing. Guns do not belong in the hands of citizens. Full stop. People are the only thing worth protecting and if you truly do believe that anyone you come across in society could be a potential rapist or murderer I pity you. Who wants to live in a world where the lack of trust has become so deep? Incidentally this question is one dear to my heart at the moment as differing views on the basic levels of trust and mutual respect we have to encode in our dealings with others in order for society to "work" at all have just caused the break up of my relationship.
ReplyDeleteNaive no - you just believe we're better than all that, and I agree.
Having a gun in the home leads to a threefold increase in the risk of suicide and a fivefold risk in the chance of homicide. Link to study.
ReplyDeleteIf I was in a relationship with somebody and his wife decided she wanted to buy a gun, I'd take a good long look at it and wonder if it was going to end up pointed at me.
I think I remember you daying BBD and Mrs. BBD live in the southern part of the US where gun ownership is much more common and more socially appropriate.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I agree with Lily, guns scare me because it is so easy for the wrong people to get hurt.
I had a cousin who had done everything right with keeping the gun hidden, unloaded, and teaching his children about handling it. But his son still managed to shoot himself in the head when showing the gun off to his friends.
Michelle
I'm with you. No guns. The risks of having a gun in the house far outweigh the risks of not having them.
ReplyDeleteswan
I'm with you on guns. I would never kill someone to protect my "stuff." I'm really very much a pacifist.
ReplyDeleteExcept, um, I have one. A gun.
Yeah. I don't have the bullets in it.
It was my Mom's. She lived alone in the country, and she had a gun and when she died, I took it. She didn't keep the bullets in it either.
I know how to shoot it. My last husband had a gun collection and a gun safe he kept them in. He used to go hunting. Only in season, of course.
But I really am a pacifist.
What kind of gun are the BB's getting? Rifle, pistol, or machine gun???
aisha
Hunting rifles don't bother me, so long as they're never stored in my house. Other than that? Guns can GTFO.
ReplyDeleteThis is just my 2 cents...
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Singapore there was a gun found in a landfill/garbage dump. This made huge news....it was found in a dresser. The police did a full investigation, etc. The whole time I watched this play out in the news I kept thinking, this wouldn't even make the news back home in America.
I hate guns, wish they were illegal to own just like in Singapore. Where I might add there is an almost non existent crime rate. I've heard all the arguments about how people kill people not guns but I've lived in a country where people aren't allowed to own guns and guess what?? People don't get killed by them. Yes there is crime, albeit a fraction of a fraction of what there is in America. But punishment is harsh and quick. It's one of the safest countries.
Master has a gun because of his line of work in the military. (there are bad people out to get him). But he keeps it safe and hidden and when he does have it on him and I am there he tells me. I feel safe only because he is a marksman, knows how to use it correctly and only if his or someone else's life depended on it. He would never use it to protect "stuff".
ReplyDeleteI agree, not sure why regular citizens would ever need one or want one. Just an accident waiting to happen.
~faithful
Sin, Sin, Sin. You've stepped in it now. Guns have become the 3rd rail of politics down here in The USA. a reliable news source recently reported that several of the horrific wild fires out west were caused by guns.
ReplyDeleteSO you do have a 2nd amendment right to start a forest fire, as long as its with a gun.
Mick
Or maybe if someone breaks in and attempts to rape or kill you, it'd be nice to have that gun over the fireplace or in the bedside stand so you don't have to count on reaching a phone before they attempt to attack you. And yes, that does happen. Lots. As a woman, i'm seriously tired of people telling us to be nice and placating and depending on others to take care of us in mortal danger when some forethought could have prevented that in the first place. So. my two cents. And yes, my sister was a card-carrying member of the NRA for awhile. My grandfather, two of my uncles, my mother and father and my (other) sister and her husband were all (or still are) in the military. Long history of reasonable self-protection. No offense meant; just a subject dear to my heart, especially since i just finished law school.
ReplyDeleteWow a passionate argument. Guns are not legal here under most cicumstances.We do not have a right to bare arms (thank the powers that be). Gun's hey? The general view here is that the constitutions that talk about the right to bare arms, though very appropriate in their assigned century's, have little relevance today. Today however, these are culturally held beliefs...'we have the right to bare arms'. A less cerebral argument here is that a bit of craziness exists in the view that baring arms is a right and in fact its down right silly(with respect).
ReplyDeletegood luck
L
Guns scare the bejesus out of me!
ReplyDeleteMy landlord has a rifle, which I HATE, but they are country folk and we are on a property so I guess it's common enough.
When I was in the states my friend's dad had a Beretta in the centre console of his cadillac and I almost died of shock when I saw it. That's the closest I've ever been to a gun and I could quite happily live out the rest of my days without ever seeing (or hearing) one again I reckon. Nasty things. *shudder*
ok -- so I'm going to admit -- i started reading the comments -- and then thought --
ReplyDeletemeh
I don't much care about other people's opinions about guns.
I grew up with guns -- pretty typical for a country girl
and I shoot well
I married a man who had -- I kid you not -- 18 guns in our house
I have fired all of them -- and was required to know how to strip and clean every one of them before I was allowed to fire them -- if you can strip and clean a gun -- you will never accidentally shoot yourself with it -- because you know it.
when I divorced -- My ex called me to come to the house -- and gave me one of the guns
which freaked me out
because things were bad then -- and I took the gun and left quickly -- It freaked me out to have someone who was pretty pissed at me with a gun in his lap (he meant well)
but I do not own that gun now
I gave it to my father to sell right away
why?
Guns give you false confidence.
In the time I can find my gun
make sure it's loaded and ready
because if you have kids -- it can't be "handy"
you could have used this time better
you could have called 911
you could have climbed out the window
I am ok with other people having guns
shoot -- I made my ex husband shoot a snake in my laundry room once (not my proudest moment)
but I don't need one.
I gotta say, I started to comment yesterday then thought better of it. So I'm glad SFP left the comment she did, because it gave me the oomph to add my two cents lol.
ReplyDeleteI think that how we feel about and deal with guns has a lot to do with our upbringing, location, and societal expectations.
I grew up in a place where every grandmother has one in her closet. And you know what, no one fucks with grandma lol.
I really like what you said about stuff--I don't think it's naive and it made a lot of sense to me. If more people felt like that the world would be a better place.
In my opinion, owning a gun has nothing to do with protecting stuff--it's about protecting people. And using good judgement.
It's also largely about a willingness to take the life of another human being for the safety of a person who is dear to you and whose life is therefore more valuable to you personally.
The last time I called the cops was because my neighbor was standing in front of my gate shooting his shotgun and threatening to kill me.
They arrived six hours later.
And yea, had he continued during that six hours and actually pointed it at me, I wouldn't have waited for them.
Here there seem to be several categories of people--the ones who think they can do anything to anyone and do, the ones who live in fear, and the ones who don't start shit but nobody really messes with.
I have found it best to fall into the last category.
Especially when there's a heroin house down the street and you live fifty miles from everything else.
So yea...I guess that's more like ten cents lol.
I get that this issue really is a lightening rod for controversy, or the third rail, as Mick said.
ReplyDeleteI know there are two sides, maybe more than two, and I do kind of see both of them. I'd just like to thank all of you for disagreeing with me respectfully. I don't mind at all that you disagree. And I like the way you did it. It's kind of neat for me to get to know all of you a bit this way.
-sin
Um, littleone? The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution grants us all (in the US, anyway) the right to "bear" arms. As in, carry. And own. And shoot, when necessary. Quite different from 'bare.' Just saying. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL..thanks l'amata..and noted, that will teach me won't it? Gotta love the 2nd Amendment, though stripping your gun might be more useful than keeping it under your pillow for all those people trying to do you harm ;)
ReplyDeleteOur constitution and legislations once denied the traditional owners of the land the vote even ownership of their land and payment for work. It once denied women the vote. Laws here once denied many groups many things. I've always been on the side of Amendments to legislation. People do tend to hold onto some traditions though.
Mick's comment cracked me the hell up. But anyway sin, if your stand is naive, that makes two of us (or, judging by a quick skim of the comments, probably about twelve of us).
ReplyDeleteI guess guns are like anything potentially harmful. You can justify having it, using it, and even misusing it ... if you try hard enough.
I know guns for people in the city can be a bad thing, however, I live in the country and use my gun to protect my animals from varmints. I really don't like shooting them but when they come in and kill my animals, it is something I have to do.
ReplyDeleteI've not read any comments prior to posting my own two cents.
ReplyDeleteGuns kill people.
I hate them. I more than hate them. I loathe them.
Sorry if any reader is a gun-totin' coon hunter...but in this day and age? Having a hand gun is an invitation to kill someone. Sorry Big Bad...this is one very bad idea.
nilla
Superb posting, I share the same views. I wonder why this particular world truly does not picture for a moment like me and also the blog site creator :D
ReplyDeleteobviously one has to weigh in here. In UK where I lived most of my life, hand guns are not carried. Some have shotguns, for which you need a licence. The police do not normally carry guns, but are issued with them if they have to deal with dangerous criminals in some circumstances.
ReplyDeleteIf you need to own a gun or carry one around, it seems to me you must be lacking in confidence. Here in Philippines where I now live, some do have guns, it's allowed but needs a licence, which given the level of corruption here probably isn't difficult to obtain. Police and security huards carry the. I guess it's just following the American practice - USA traditions still have a lot of influence here in a country at one time a US possession. I don't feel the need to have one, though from my army experiences I know how to use a rifle very accurately. There's no gun in my house, but I wouldn't mind if my son felt inclined to practice marksmanship in a safe place - not in my lot!
Citizens "bearing" arms - i.e. carrying loaded guns around everywhere are a menace to safety in general. Places where that is not allowed are safer.