Do you own a gun?

[Thang-y]

Just after the London Bridge attacks, an American on Twitter ranted that is us 'Brits' had guns, these people wouldn't attack.

I broke it to him gently that if we had guns, the loonytoons doing these attacks would get the guns themselves and there'd be mass slaughter.

---

We don't want 'em.

[Dr Markus]

Almost 30 votes and still not a single american gun owner.

Enough proof that we're not a typical cross-section yet?

Is this at me?

I was just curious about US bcbers, in no way do I think it represents the whole of the US. I think I've said that.

Yeah I know, but youse are as good as I'm gonna get on a message board.

Don't be so sensitive and ready to be offended.

I understood your last sentence to mean that you WERE interested in US gun habits, but the best you could do is ask us. Which isn't true, of course. But if you were just interested in us, then as you were. It certainly IS an interesting subject, as evidenced by the responses so far. And I wasn't digging at you, I was just giving it its own thread so it didn't derail the Trump one (being that the subjects are unrelated).

Sure, OK.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

When I was very young, I was into violence and guns, but my parents were sort of hippie pacifists and things like toy guns and violent television shows were strictly off limits. Many of my peers had more traditional, masculine fathers who had served in the military or were hunters or were just more "manly" than my father, who was not interested in any of those things. I was peeved that I was deprived of these experiences. Now I understand my father perfectly well and I have no desire to have a gun. And I'm bemused by my friends and acquaintances who live middle (if not upper) class lives and feel the need to pack heat. First, the inherent danger that having a gun presents outweighs any actual risk these people face by some distance. And second, it seems pretty obvious that the only thing a gun is going to do is get someone killed---it strikes me as the height of folly to think that your'e gonna be the fucking lone ranger if, for some reason, shit actually DOES go down.

Anyway. At some point, I thought that my career might at some point require me to be strapped (at least at the office), but I don't ever intend to practice family law now, and my wife is absolutely dead set against all guns in all circumstances, and I don't think I would want to anyway. But at some point, my job may require a better understanding of firearms so I might have to go out to a range and learn some basics. We'll see. As it stands, I've shot a fair few bb guns and pellet guns, but never a real firearm. And I've no particular desire ever to do so.

[sloopjohnc]

My wife and I took in a friend of mine when we first bought the house to help with the mortgage. I knew he had guns but when my wife found out, he was out within a week.

I didn't tell her because I didn't think it was a big deal.

My mom and dad didn't care if my brother and I played with toy guns or bb guns when we got older and neither of us have a desire to own a gun.

[toomanyhatz]

The owner of the club we play wants to take the band - pacifists to a man - out shooting. I would do it for the experience, but he hasn't pressed it and I'm not interested enough to bring it up. I almost want to do it to prove I can enjoy it yet it won't 'change' me. If it ever happens, I'll make sure and share it here.

[toomanyhatz]

I must confess that, while I was convinced the number of gun-owning Americans would be low, I didn't think that number would be zero.

[Dr Markus]

Just after the London Bridge attacks, an American on Twitter ranted that is us 'Brits' had guns, these people wouldn't attack.

I broke it to him gently that if we had guns, the loonytoons doing these attacks would get the guns themselves and there'd be mass slaughter.

---

We don't want 'em.

Yeah that seems to a genuine solution for some people, "if only...had guns to shoot the people with guns". The big picture seems to be an after thought to them.

[Dr Markus]

When I was very young, I was into violence and guns, but my parents were sort of hippie pacifists and things like toy guns and violent television shows were strictly off limits. Many of my peers had more traditional, masculine fathers who had served in the military or were hunters or were just more "manly" than my father, who was not interested in any of those things. I was peeved that I was deprived of these experiences. Now I understand my father perfectly well and I have no desire to have a gun. And I'm bemused by my friends and acquaintances who live middle (if not upper) class lives and feel the need to pack heat. First, the inherent danger that having a gun presents outweighs any actual risk these people face by some distance. And second, it seems pretty obvious that the only thing a gun is going to do is get someone killed---it strikes me as the height of folly to think that your'e gonna be the fucking lone ranger if, for some reason, shit actually DOES go down.

Then there's the Jim Jeffries rant about if you had a gun safely locked up in your house, and someone tries to break in, do you ask them to hold on a minute with you go and unlock the safe/cabinet and get your gun?

[BARON CORNY DOG]

I wouldn't assume that the guns are safely locked away in the house! Also, I'm talking about people with licenses to carry, so they're usually strapped.

[Dr Markus]

I wouldn't assume that the guns are safely locked away in the house! Also, I'm talking about people with licenses to carry, so they're usually strapped.

Even with kids in the house?


Yeah I remember watching one of the US news stations and it showed people with guns in holsters sitting around eating outside at a restaurant. It did look like the wild west. All I was thinking, was accidently discharge and someone not making it home.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

The friendly folks at "NRAFamily" are only a Google search away!

https://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2016 ... -firearms/

[Dr Markus]

It would be interesting to find out some of the real reasons US people have guns.
Like genuine fear for their safety, they just like guns, simply defy people that say they shouldn't have or need them. I wonder how many would admit the latter and just be honest.

[Goat Boy]

The bottom line Is people like guns. They like owning them and they like firing them (I get the appeal because I like firing them myself) but saying you like something isn't really enough when you have thousands every year dying on your streets so they rationalise this with all kinds of spurious justifications.

I think in many cases it's really that simple.

[Dr Markus]

The bottom line Is people like guns. They like owning them and they like firing them (I get the appeal because I like firing them myself) but saying you like something isn't really enough when you have thousands every year dying on your streets so they rationalise this with all kinds of spurious justifications.

I think in many cases it's really that simple.

Aye you're probably right. I do think some folk suddenly became interested in owning a gun once they got told they shouldn't be allowed to have one. Or if they were interested already, being told they shouldn't have one finally convinced them to get one.

[Insouciant Western People]

The bottom line Is people like guns. They like owning them and they like firing them (I get the appeal because I like firing them myself) but saying you like something isn't really enough when you have thousands every year dying on your streets so they rationalise this with all kinds of spurious justifications.

I think in many cases it's really that simple.

Yep.

I mean, I really like tanks. But I can understand why the government would be uneasy about the prospect of every wanker having one.

[Dr Markus]

The bottom line Is people like guns. They like owning them and they like firing them (I get the appeal because I like firing them myself) but saying you like something isn't really enough when you have thousands every year dying on your streets so they rationalise this with all kinds of spurious justifications.

I think in many cases it's really that simple.

Yep.

I mean, I really like tanks. But I can understand why the government would be uneasy about the prospect of every wanker having one.

You're not a wanker.

[Goat Boy]

There's also an element of the American psyche that plays into this too of course. The idea of the frontier man and all that. I'm sure to some owning a gun is a patriotic thing, akin to me wearing a kilt or eating a haggis.

[KeithPratt]

A friend of mine did a DJ gig in the middle of some post-Soviet backwater in Central Asia. Afterwards he paid £100 to go somewhere remote and essentially for a day fire loads of rifles, machine guns, and with some assistance, small artillery. He said it was the best day of his life.

[Insouciant Western People]

A friend of mine did a DJ gig in the middle of some post-Soviet backwater in Central Asia. Afterwards he paid £100 to go somewhere remote and essentially for a day fire loads of rifles, machine guns, and with some assistance, small artillery. He said it was the best day of his life.

The bloke I worked with in Peshawar, Abdul Haq, offered to take me here for the day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darra_Adam_Khel

Not only can you fire pretty much anything you want, if you pay enough money, but also the gunsmiths there boast that if you take them any gun, within 24 hours they'll have made a good copy of it.

[Goat Boy]

In Vietnam I met an American who had fired rocket launchers at a hillside

Cost him $200