How does a gun make anyone feel safer? Please – I dare anyone out there to explain it to me. What is it in the make up of the United States that we have to have guns? Better yet – why do we think guns solve the problems here and in the world? Of course, we use much bigger guns in other parts of the world. Yeah – yeah – I know all about the second amendment. You have to provide a better reason than that one.
The shootings at Virginia Tech University were a tragic incident. An incident – an occurrence - an episode. It will probably never happen there again. These occurrences happen all over and not very frequent considering the gun craziness of most of the United States of America.
If being armed makes a person feel protected, we should arm everyone because who knows when you might be involved in a shoot out. Personally I have never been in a shoot out. Heck – I’ve never seen a handgun, except on the hip of the police, which makes me feel safe enough. I live in a high crime area of my city too, so it’s not because I’m a satellite dish suburbanite.
Texas Governor, Rick Perry, thinks that students should carry guns on campus. “It makes sense for Texans to be able to protect themselves from deranged individuals.”
I’ve been to Texas – he’s right! The place is full of deranged nuts. My only concern is for the lower grades – the innocent children. It seems most of school shootings happen in grade school or high school situations. Some congress person in Wisconsin a few months ago came up with a brilliant idea – arm the teachers! Yeah – and I bet teachers could get a kid’s attention a lot easier with a gun. Think of what it could do for the educational system. Heck – no need for parent/teacher conferences anymore. You are in my classroom now and what I say is the law around here.
“Where’s your homework, punk?”
“Don’t give me that old story about your dog!” Click!
I know the University of Utah allows students to carry handguns, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a gun battle on their campus. Though I don’t think they are a good testing ground. I’d assume the lack of shoot ups there is because of the highly religious morals of the students. Mormons are a heck’uva lot less violent nowadays than in the past.
So the best that I can come up with is that unless everyone is armed in the USA we can never reach the level of security that we all want.
- Jake Drew
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3 comments:
"How does a gun make anyone feel safer?"
It makes me feel safer because it makes me safer. According to an extensive study by Dr. Gary Kleck, a Florida State Criminologist, the safest thing you can do when assaulted is to resist with a gun (see article here and table here).
"Better yet – why do we think guns solve the problems here and in the world?"
You know, when I took my permit to carry class my instructor kept repeating "A gun never solves a problem." Joel Rosenberg author of Everything you need to know about (legally) carrying a handgun in Minnesota ends every chapter with And remember: a gun never solves problems. So why do you anti gunners persist in this belief that those of us who take responsibility for our own safety believe that guns solve problems?
"If being armed makes a person feel protected, we should arm everyone because who knows when you might be involved in a shoot out."
You almost got it right there. Yes, every competent individual should carry a firearm, not because they 'might be invovled in a shootout', but because it is the most effective self-defensive tool in existence. Besides, a cop is waaay to heavy to carry around all day.
"So the best that I can come up with is that unless everyone is armed in the USA we can never reach the level of security that we all want."
Well, you seem to have reached the level of security you want by living unarmed in a high-crime neighborhood, and I have reached the level that I want by always carrying a Para-Ordnance P-14 pistol with me (13+1 .45ACP rounds with a backup magazine, sufficient to discourage most goblins). But again, I agree with you, everyone should be armed, except of course for those 'morally scrupulous of bearing arms'.
Here's my story of the day my legally-carried gun protected me, my wife, and my two kids:
Memphis, TN: around 11pm I stopped at a gas station to refill during a family road trip. While I'm at the back of the car working the gas pump, my wife and kids are inside the car. Two individuals approached the car from its front, asking me if they could get a ride somewhere (can't remember where they asked, sorry). I said "sorry I can't help you" politely, but they kept walking toward the car and talking to me. I told them again I couldn't help them, and not to come any closer. They kept walking, now beside my car and approaching me. I pulled back my jacket and unsnapped the thumb break on my concealed carry weapon, ready to draw if necessary. And they saw this. They stopped, looked at each other, and left.
Maybe you can tell me what these two intended to do to me and my family if I hadn't been armed and ready to defend us?
And you wrote: If being armed makes a person feel protected, we should arm everyone because who knows when you might be involved in a shoot out.
What is it about liberals that requires you to mandate behaviors?? I see so many of these anti-gun rants that include some suggestion that "everyone" should have to carry a gun, and I scratch my head...what ever happened to freedom and the right to choose? (Or does that only apply to abortions?)
Your desire to impose your (liberal) will on society must be overwhelming...
Second Amendment aside, and pragmatically speaking..
1. If you could somehow pass a law tomorrow to ban guns altogether, there would still be enough on the streets, available for theft from the police (this happens more than you would think..), and smuggled across the border alongside narcotraffic to arm ever criminal in the country for a hundred years. Like the old saying goes, "if guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." See also: the UK, where after banning handguns in 1997, the firearm-related homicide rate doubled by 2002, and non-fatal handgun attacks have tripled as of last year.
2. Since it's pretty much a given that guns can't be wished or legislated away, 'tis funny that you mention VT and other school shootings. In case you haven't noticed, all of those happened in so-called "gun-free zones." But that lack of anyone having a gun sure didn't make anyone safer when one person broke the rule. All it will ever take in any "gun-free zone" is one person to break the rule. And it seems like the school shooters have noticed, seeing as they tend to avoid areas where they know people might be armed..
3. Even if you could somehow legislate most of the firearms away, then you'll be left with a situation where strong criminals with knives/hammers/etc.. can easily prey on the weak. Sort of like the dark ages (and before), where big guys with swords could rape and pillage with impunity. Does being at the mercy of brutish barbarism sound "safer" to you?
Finally, going back to the UK for a moment, not only is the level of "gun crime" rising there, but there's also an epidemic of "knife crime." Young thugs there feel untouchable by simply arming themselves with a pocket or kitchen knife. Overall, the violent crime rate in England and Wales is roughly seven time higher than the US now.
Read this article, for instance, and if you didn't know it was talking about beautiful "gun free" London, and you might think it was talking about Philly or DC:
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=MK2438914E&news_headline=gun_and_knife_murders_out_of_control
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