Are we too emotionally unstable for everybody to be armed?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I admit that I'm anti-gun, so I'm biased. Years ago, this 21+ year guy showed up at my home. ( I was dating his siter). He was an idiot, and everybody knew it. Well, he brought out a gun. I was so scared. I knew he was going to kill me. Not that it would be deliberate, but he was a jack ass , and he was going to do a stupid jackass thing. I was so glad when he left. About a week later, he was in a crowded bar, and decided to light his cigarette, by shooting at the tip. See, jackass.
I've been wondering if we are too emotionally and mentally unstable to have guns. If the only criteria for getting a weapon is the cash in your pocket, anybody can own the easy means of killing others. Look around at all the mass killings, are they emotionally stable "responsible' gun owners? So why in the hell are we arming them? To, me, the idea that everybody should have a weapon leads to the deaths of innocent people.
Yes, I am anti-gun, My question is: are we too emotionally unstable to have anybody, and everybody to be armed with a weapon.
 

Here in Canada firearms licensing is pretty strict, especially for easily concealed hand guns. Being licensed to posses a hand gun here is a long and detailed process that involves Police background investigations, including a in person home visit by Police officers. If any adult family member objects to the application for a hand gun permit, or if the applicant has a prior criminal conviction, the application will be denied . If a person does qualify for a hand gun permit, they can ONLY fire it at an approved gun range. The hand gun owner can ONLY transport their hand gun directly to the range and then directly home again. It must be stored unloaded, with a trigger lock on it, and it must be stored in a locked gun safe, with the ammunition stored in a different locked safe. No one in Canada can carry a hand gun in public with a few specific exceptions, such as on duty Police officers, on duty armored cash truck guards, and members of the Canadian Armed Forces, while on duty. In Canada, off duty Police are unarmed. About 7,000 people in Canada have a "wilderness hand gun permit " that allows them to own and carry a hand gun while working in the far north, as trappers, hunting guides, or as members of a exploration crew working on mining or oil projects.

Rifles and shotguns are legally owned by millions of Canadians. They have to go through the application process I mentioned above. A hunter safety course is required before applying , and the background check is also required. Firearms ownership in Canada is not a "right " it is a legal process that must be followed in order to be allowed to have one. Remember we are a different country with our own laws and practices.

Observing the chaos in the USA regarding guns, I can only shake my head in amazement at the daily death toll. JimB.
 
If everyone's emotionally unstable that's when I would want a gun for myself but would not wish to see them in the hands of others. I can trust me. :) I'm not a gun owner but am pro gun rights and grew up around gun owners and learned how to shoot safely.

I do question whether anyone needs assault weapons though. This sounds like trouble waiting to happen.
 
I'm from Canada and I agree with "jimintoronto" 100%. Living in Canuck country and in the "Good ole' USA" is a different when it comes to gun ownership. Americans seem to feel that they need guns to protect themselves. So if everyone is carrying guns, then it seems to me that it is pretty hard to tell who is carrying a gun to protect themselves or if someone is carrying a gun just itching to blows someone's brains out.

Here in Canada I feel perfectly safe walking the streets of any city and have absolutely no desire to carry a gun nor knife, pepper spray or whatever. Sure, we have crime. Most of has to do with the illegal drug trade. Sometimes a nut goes berserk and kills several people, like recently in Nova Scotia. It happens but that's not enough to get me to want to arm myself. It's an isolated incident. I have been to our 3 largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and felt very safe there. No one robbed me! However, I don't deal with illegal drugs and I don't go to bars after midnight. Actually, I don't go to bars, period!
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I admit that I'm anti-gun, so I'm biased. Years ago, this 21+ year guy showed up at my home. ( I was dating his siter). He was an idiot, and everybody knew it. Well, he brought out a gun. I was so scared. I knew he was going to kill me. Not that it would be deliberate, but he was a jack ass , and he was going to do a stupid jackass thing. I was so glad when he left. About a week later, he was in a crowded bar, and decided to light his cigarette, by shooting at the tip. See, jackass.
I've been wondering if we are too emotionally and mentally unstable to have guns. If the only criteria for getting a weapon is the cash in your pocket, anybody can own the easy means of killing others. Look around at all the mass killings, are they emotionally stable "responsible' gun owners? So why in the hell are we arming them? To, me, the idea that everybody should have a weapon leads to the deaths of innocent people.
Yes, I am anti-gun, My question is: are we too emotionally unstable to have anybody, and everybody to be armed with a weapon.
Click to expand...
Your error is in the term, "We." Some people are too emotionally stable to own anything that can cause harm. But how do you propose to prevent those individuals from owning them, while allowing those who are not emotionally unstable to own them?
That doesn't only apply to guns.
 
win231 said:
Your error is in the term, "We." Some people are too emotionally stable to own anything that can cause harm. But how do you propose to prevent those individuals from owning them, while allowing those who are not emotionally unstable to own them?
That doesn't only apply to guns.
Click to expand...
Nobody has a firearm. Solves the problem of getting shot.
 
I've been watching European murder mysteries. Most of the murders on there don't involve guns but being clobbered over the head with a variety of objects. Golf clubs are pretty popular, as are heavy knicknacks. A lot of gigantic knicknacks in the French and Italian households. Not too often is a hammer or hatchet used and sometimes a knife or letter opener. Interesting. One knock on the head and they are done. Someone finds the corpse and the murder weapon the next morning.
 
There are some common sense approaches to reducing gun violence, but common sense in general seems to be in short supply. Many see any attempt to control gun ownership as a direct attack on there freedoms, but what about the rights of the thousands killed every year? Not saying I have the answer, but we as a country obviously have a serious problem when compared to other first world countries. I think the majority of citizens would like to see some kind of sensible gun control laws put in place. Putting my flak jacket on now, and yes I own guns.
 
Last edited:
fuzzybuddy said:
Nobody has a firearm. Solves the problem of getting shot.
Click to expand...

Unless you take the guns from the crazies and the criminals first, you run the risk of a situation similar to Mexico which has very strict gun control laws for the average citizen and is pretty much run by the Sinaola and other cartels that have plenty of illegal weapons.

And I so wish Ukrainian civilians had more guns. Can you imagine the horror of unarmed people hiding in a basement with no guns hearing armed soldiers on the steps? Watching execution style murders like the ones below with no means to fight back?


56188727-10684331-Russian_forces_which_had_occupied_areas_to_the_west_of_Kyiv_sinc-a-9_1649090545992.jpg
 
As far as weaponry goes, if folks want a handgun and shotgun for home defense...fine. If folks want a couple of hunting rifles? Fine.

If folks want to go a little farther and have a few handguns around the house and a couple of shotguns...fine.

But I draw the line at AR-15 type military weapons. I don't think any private home needs those.

Also, everyone who owns a gun should be required, by law, to take a reasonably extensive firearms course. (Unless they already have police or military training). They have to submit to a psych evaluation. They can't have a felony conviction. If they have kids, they have to show proof of purchase of a gun safe. And, they have to get re-certified every few years.

If folks do all that, then yeah, every home can have a gun.

Tons of folks in Canada have guns. Tons. But they have an entirely different culture around guns.

We have too many lunatics down here. Has to be properly regulated.

All the NRA cares about is helping their friends in the gun industry make the most amount of money possible. They were even caught, on tape, after Sandy Hook, planning their PR response. Just businessmen gone nuts in pursuit of money. Has exactly zero to do with the US Constitution or freedom. Has to do with a handful of millionaires trying to make as much money as possible.

I mean, take the argument further. Is everyone entitled to own hand grenades? mortars? bazookas? At some point, society has to draw the line. And I think normal weaponry...handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles...that is a good place to draw the line.
 
by the way, I have a friend in a rural area. She is approaching 80. She has some cougars in her area. When she goes out to hang up the wash, she takes her shotgun with her. Every day or so. I absolutely LOVE her.

She has a real need. She takes the tool with her that addresses that need....and that is how it goes.

Same for folks in an area with bear, wolves, or snakes....or meth heads.
 
JonSR77 said:
Same for folks in an area with bear, wolves, or snakes....or meth heads.
Click to expand...

I just posted about that in another thread. I keep my pistol in my RV. The only time I've removed it from its case was one evening camped next to a guy who looked like something from Deliverance (though he was from Pennsylvania), had only two front teeth and was very much too chatty for my comfort. There was no one within shouting range. It irritated me because it was a perfect evening and I couldn't leave the slider door (it's a van) open while I fixed dinner and piddled on the computer like I normally do. I told him I liked spots like that because I'm such a light sleeper (partly true). I took the gun from the case but never put the magazine in it. Would've only used it if he had forced open a locked door.
 
jimintoronto said:
Here in Canada firearms licensing is pretty strict, especially for easily concealed hand guns. Being licensed to posses a hand gun here is a long and detailed process that involves Police background investigations, including a in person home visit by Police officers. If any adult family member objects to the application for a hand gun permit, or if the applicant has a prior criminal conviction, the application will be denied . If a person does qualify for a hand gun permit, they can ONLY fire it at an approved gun range. The hand gun owner can ONLY transport their hand gun directly to the range and then directly home again. It must be stored unloaded, with a trigger lock on it, and it must be stored in a locked gun safe, with the ammunition stored in a different locked safe. No one in Canada can carry a hand gun in public with a few specific exceptions, such as on duty Police officers, on duty armored cash truck guards, and members of the Canadian Armed Forces, while on duty. In Canada, off duty Police are unarmed. About 7,000 people in Canada have a "wilderness hand gun permit " that allows them to own and carry a hand gun while working in the far north, as trappers, hunting guides, or as members of a exploration crew working on mining or oil projects.

Rifles and shotguns are legally owned by millions of Canadians. They have to go through the application process I mentioned above. A hunter safety course is required before applying , and the background check is also required. Firearms ownership in Canada is not a "right " it is a legal process that must be followed in order to be allowed to have one. Remember we are a different country with our own laws and practices.

Observing the chaos in the USA regarding guns, I can only shake my head in amazement at the daily death toll. JimB.
Click to expand...
Canadians address many issues more sensibly than their southern neighbors.
 
AnnieA said:
I just posted about that in another thread. I keep my pistol in my RV. The only time I've removed it from its case was one evening camped next to a guy who looked like something from Deliverance (though he was from Pennsylvania), had only two front teeth and was very much too chatty for my comfort. There was no one within shouting range. It irritated me because it was a perfect evening and I couldn't leave the slider door (it's a van) open while I fixed dinner and piddled on the computer like I normally do. I told him I liked spots like that because I'm such a light sleeper (partly true). I took the gun from the case but never put the magazine in it. Would've only used it if he had forced open a locked door.
Click to expand...

I am sorry you had that experience.

Generally, I would not recommend indicating any security issues online.

I would advise you to edit your post and delete the reference to where that weapon is kept...
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top