Why do so many Americans feel the need to own a handgun anyway? Who are they afraid of? I just don't understand the mentality.
I grew up on a farm. I'm familiar with rifles and shotguns. Firearms like those have a purpose, which generally has nothing whatsoever to do with causing harm to another human. But handguns are designed to kill people. That's what they're made for. That's all they're made for. Why does anyone who isn't a police officer or soldier need to own one? I just don't get it.
I think it has been rammed down their throats since they wrote the constitution, and definately kept alive by the gun lobby and manufacturers. It's different here. We don't have that strong a gun lobby and I think Aussie's are more inclined to fist fight their way through an argument. And suprisingly I think it may just be possible because we don't have access to so many guns we may just have better impulse control! I also think that many Aussie's share your view that firearms have a purpose. That they are a tool for a particular job and not some requirement for "protection". It does disturb me though that we have had an increase in knife related/stabbing deaths here particularly since Martin Bryant. What do you think?
I also think that many Aussie's share your view that firearms have a purpose. That they are a tool for a particular job and not some requirement for "protection". It does disturb me though that we have had an increase in knife related/stabbing deaths here particularly since Martin Bryant. What do you think?
Yep, that is exactly how I see our firearms at home. As a tools. Ones that should be handled carefully, just like knives. I see handguns completely differently though. As far as I'm concerned they are designed with one purpose in mind, and that is to kill people.
I think any increase in stabbings since Port Arthur has probably just got more to do with a changing culture amongst kids in the cities. They're increasingly influenced by the american gang culture that they see on TV. . . Maybe that was just a cheap excuse to blame the americans . . .
It doesn't matter if you're male, female, or confused; black, white, brown, red, green, yellow; gay, lesbian; redneck cop, stoned; ugly; military style, doggy style; fat, rich or poor; vegetarian or cannibal; bum, hippie, virgin; famous or drunk-you're either an asshole or you're not!
Hmm, not so sure about that. What do you mean by impulse control?
I think if you have a gun and you lose your temper it's easy to fire in anger. It's impersonal, the gun responds to your impulse. Pulling the trigger is an easy, automatic, reaction. It's much harder if you are angry to take a knife and stab someone. It's more personal, you have to get up close and use force and actually physically react and to a degree think. It requires more nerve impulses from your brain. I think when it comes to violence we have better impulse control, mostly because most Aussie's can't be bothered! ;-)
Yep, that is exactly how I see our firearms at home. As a tools. Ones that should be handled carefully, just like knives. I see handguns completely differently though. As far as I'm concerned they are designed with one purpose in mind, and that is to kill people.
I think any increase in stabbings since Port Arthur has probably just got more to do with a changing culture amongst kids in the cities. They're increasingly influenced by the american gang culture that they see on TV. . . Maybe that was just a cheap excuse to blame the americans . . .
Maybe, and I certainly think the way Aussie kids parrot the American gang culture is disburbing, but I wonder if it has more to do with access? It is harder to get guns here therefore the majority of people are less inclined to think of solving problems with a gun and maybe this is why with some young people knife violence is on the increase?
I think if you have a gun and you lose your temper it's easy to fire in anger. It's impersonal, the gun responds to your impulse. Pulling the trigger is an easy, automatic, reaction. It's much harder if you are angry to take a knife and stab someone. It's more personal, you have to get up close and use force and actually physically react and to a degree think. It requires more nerve impulses from your brain. I think when it comes to violence we have better impulse control, mostly because most Aussie's can't be bothered! ;-)
I see what you're getting at. I don't know that we're any better at controlling the impulse though, we're just lucky that we don't have the means to act on the impulse. Ie its not us controlling the impluse, its our gun laws. Which is why I think making handguns illegal is a great idea.
Maybe, and I certainly think the way Aussie kids parrot the American gang culture is disburbing, but I wonder if it has more to do with access? It is harder to get guns here therefore the majority of people are less inclined to think of solving problems with a gun and maybe this is why with some young people knife violence is on the increase?
Could be. I know which I'd rather be threatened with though. At least you can stay out of reach of a knife.
It doesn't matter if you're male, female, or confused; black, white, brown, red, green, yellow; gay, lesbian; redneck cop, stoned; ugly; military style, doggy style; fat, rich or poor; vegetarian or cannibal; bum, hippie, virgin; famous or drunk-you're either an asshole or you're not!
It just seems crazy to me to emphasize the child's bad behavior of damaging property and not stress as much on the adult's wrong doing of killing a child out of anger due to damage of a material item. Clearly the bigger wrong was to gun down the child.
Again, I'm not arguing that gunning down the kid was the right thing to do. I would hope that it is clear that shooting someone for egging is a tad excessive. I'm just saying that the kids did something stupid, they knew it was wrong and they knew that there were consequences if caught. If they had any respect for people and their property, they would have never put themselves into a position where somebody wanted to shoot them. You never know how people are going to react to things like this. I guess we can blame parents, and kids will be kids, but all 14 year olds know better than to do something like that and it is their own fault.
1/12/1879, 4/8/1156, 2/6/1977, who gives a shit, ...
I see what you're getting at. I don't know that we're any better at controlling the impulse though, we're just lucky that we don't have the means to act on the impulse. Ie its not us controlling the impluse, its our gun laws. Which is why I think making handguns illegal is a great idea.
I agree that they should be illegal but I do think we are better at controlling our impulse here because it hasn't been breed into us to bare(?) arms. Other than farming and your underworld figures most of us haven't even been in the same room as a gun. Most of us wouldn't consider owning a gun. That's got to rub off over the generations don't you think?
Could be. I know which I'd rather be threatened with though. At least you can stay out of reach of a knife.
I wouldn't want to be threatened with either and in the end it all gets back to the intention of the person on the end of the weapon, gun or knife.
I really don't think you're the kind of guy who would go out and shoot kids for egging your truck. I get nervous, though, when it in any way looks like the children (adolescents) were being blamed for the shooting. Being accountable for egging a truck as a teen is much different than being accountable for shooting a human when one is an adult. As I say, I have done "eggings" twice. I was about 15/16 for both times, and it was a stupid prank, and I knew it was "wrong" but I had no idea of the regular consequences. As a matter of fact, when we were egging cars out the window, one got hit, and began to stop (on a country highway; our house was right beside the road). We suddenly got terrified and realized these were real people and that we might get caught and get in big trouble. We stopped. (the car slowed, then took off again) The second time was on devil's night and we were in hallowe'en costumes. We were dumb, non-insightful kids. I cringe now to think of the true consequences and how horrible we were. Or how blind we were to our own actions. I think about, though, that even as us adults, some of us know smoking will probably kill us, but we're shocked when we get lung cancer. Or, well, I was indignant when I realized smoking ACTUALLY complicated an ear infection issue I had and led me to have to get surgery. I was so indignant, to realize there were real consequences after smoking two packs a day for 21 years that I quit. Sometimes we just don't get the consequences. Even as adults.
I can certainly see if you've been victimized why you would have very strong feelings about it. If it's any consolation, I was asking my 17 year old son if he knows kids who would do such a thing. I told him my own stories and he was appalled with me! Then I asked my boyfriend--same thing! I'm owning my shame.
I know that I would never shoot someone and I probably wouldn't even harm them, but you never know. It's not the damage that bothers me either, it's the complete lack of respect. I was brought up to respect people and their property and someone else breaching that respect is a real sticking point with me.
1/12/1879, 4/8/1156, 2/6/1977, who gives a shit, ...
Seems to me that shooting at egg-throwing kids (as wrong as throwing eggs is), is a gross over-reaction.
Eggs splattered on vehicle and on oneself, does not call for a response of gunfire.
Only a blithering idiot would respond with gunfire, to what is a harmless (but messy) prank.
actually, thanks to the "harmless" prank, my mom had to spend 2 days in the E.R. when she was twelve.
when she was out trick-or-treating, a car that had i few passangers in it drove up and threw a few eggs at her. one hit her in the eye, and it got infected. she was almost permanently blinded.
i wouldnt consider that a "harmless" prank, would you?
they call them fingers, but i never see them fing. oh, there they go
actually, thanks to the "harmless" prank, my mom had to spend 2 days in the E.R. when she was twelve.
when she was out trick-or-treating, a car that had i few passangers in it drove up and threw a few eggs at her. one hit her in the eye, and it got infected. she was almost permanently blinded.
i wouldnt consider that a "harmless" prank, would you?
Well, there's a difference here. Your mother was walking and a car drove by and threw eggs at her.
In this case, kids who were walking threw eggs at a moving car, not an individual.
Just like anything, it's a harmless prank until something freaky happens.
You hit a car with an egg, no one gets hurt.
If the car's windows are down and the eggs hit the driver or passenger, then, someone could get hurt.
Regardless, shooting someone for throwing eggs is a gross over-reaction.
Comments
I think it has been rammed down their throats since they wrote the constitution, and definately kept alive by the gun lobby and manufacturers. It's different here. We don't have that strong a gun lobby and I think Aussie's are more inclined to fist fight their way through an argument. And suprisingly I think it may just be possible because we don't have access to so many guns we may just have better impulse control! I also think that many Aussie's share your view that firearms have a purpose. That they are a tool for a particular job and not some requirement for "protection". It does disturb me though that we have had an increase in knife related/stabbing deaths here particularly since Martin Bryant. What do you think?
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
Hmm, not so sure about that. What do you mean by impulse control?
Yep, that is exactly how I see our firearms at home. As a tools. Ones that should be handled carefully, just like knives. I see handguns completely differently though. As far as I'm concerned they are designed with one purpose in mind, and that is to kill people.
I think any increase in stabbings since Port Arthur has probably just got more to do with a changing culture amongst kids in the cities. They're increasingly influenced by the american gang culture that they see on TV. . . Maybe that was just a cheap excuse to blame the americans . . .
-C Addison
Maybe, and I certainly think the way Aussie kids parrot the American gang culture is disburbing, but I wonder if it has more to do with access? It is harder to get guns here therefore the majority of people are less inclined to think of solving problems with a gun and maybe this is why with some young people knife violence is on the increase?
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
I see what you're getting at. I don't know that we're any better at controlling the impulse though, we're just lucky that we don't have the means to act on the impulse. Ie its not us controlling the impluse, its our gun laws. Which is why I think making handguns illegal is a great idea.
Could be. I know which I'd rather be threatened with though. At least you can stay out of reach of a knife.
-C Addison
Again, I'm not arguing that gunning down the kid was the right thing to do. I would hope that it is clear that shooting someone for egging is a tad excessive. I'm just saying that the kids did something stupid, they knew it was wrong and they knew that there were consequences if caught. If they had any respect for people and their property, they would have never put themselves into a position where somebody wanted to shoot them. You never know how people are going to react to things like this. I guess we can blame parents, and kids will be kids, but all 14 year olds know better than to do something like that and it is their own fault.
I wouldn't want to be threatened with either and in the end it all gets back to the intention of the person on the end of the weapon, gun or knife.
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
I know that I would never shoot someone and I probably wouldn't even harm them, but you never know. It's not the damage that bothers me either, it's the complete lack of respect. I was brought up to respect people and their property and someone else breaching that respect is a real sticking point with me.
when she was out trick-or-treating, a car that had i few passangers in it drove up and threw a few eggs at her. one hit her in the eye, and it got infected. she was almost permanently blinded.
i wouldnt consider that a "harmless" prank, would you?
Well, there's a difference here. Your mother was walking and a car drove by and threw eggs at her.
In this case, kids who were walking threw eggs at a moving car, not an individual.
Just like anything, it's a harmless prank until something freaky happens.
You hit a car with an egg, no one gets hurt.
If the car's windows are down and the eggs hit the driver or passenger, then, someone could get hurt.
Regardless, shooting someone for throwing eggs is a gross over-reaction.