Don't thank me, thank Heinlein.AllLagNoFrag said:
"There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men."
-Robert A. Heinlein, "Starship Troopers"
Poll: Your Thoughts on Guns
- Thread starter Spiner909
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"There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men."
-Robert A. Heinlein, "Starship Troopers"
I don't think that "home defense" is the major reason for guns, although it's a common "why I have one right now" reason.tehboz said:
In the US the purpose of our right to keep and bear arms is simply put to stand off the goverment. The idea being that the police can deal with a rogue individual, a small group of individuals, or even the occasional riot, but cannot deal with a general resistance. What's more it means that the people are not totally at the mercy of the police, which means that our police force of volunteers has to use some restraint and common sense in how or even if they decide to enforce laws.
It's been argued that in a real case of widescale goverment abuse, small arms would be useless against the military. However they do ensure that in order to truely "take over" and re-order the goverment in some kind of coup, or enforce widescale unjust laws, they would NEED to use the military, and what's more with the standing military made up of volunteers would also need to somehow convince the military to engage American civilians on it's behalf. Not to mention the simple fact that if this was ever done, the nation remaining would be a gutted husk of what the people performing that takeover would want to rule over.
The US has many safeguards, and personal armament is one of them. Others include policies that are supposed to prevent the goverment from "loading" the military or turning it into something akin to a caste system.
While many nations think that this method of maintaining balance is "insane", it's also noteworthy that all politics aside the US also maintains the highest level of personal freedoms on the planet because of it. Oddly many nations that beleive their nation is "more free" than the US, or it's equal are usually mistaken. For example, back when I was doing Criminal Justice there was a bit of comparison to the systems of our closest allies, and point about how Canadian police basically have "blank warrents" and that when push comes to shove they can more or less suspend all of the freedoms of a Canadian citizen at any time, being far more results oriented. While I don't remember the UK going that far, I do seem to remember points being made about rules of evidence being a lot ligher, and the degrees of proof needed for a conviction also being a lot less strict in a textbook sense. In the US people tend to view things as being an "all or nothing" proposition, either our way or anything else is Hollywood Nazi like oppression, without considering the middle ground achieved by other places in the world (though I tend to prefer the system of my own nation and the level of freeom is affords). I remember reading some comparisons between what MI-5 (UK) can do, and the US Patriot act for example, and most of what the Partiot act allowed were things they have been doing all along. It being "unreasonably strict" simply in the sense of what policies were present in the US before hand.
At any rate, I'm a firm believer in an armed society. As Heinlan once put it "You can either be safe, or you can be free, never both".
As I recall doesn't that quote occur just after one of the protagonists attacks a peaceful planet with a host of bunny hopping space suits with flame throwers attatched to them?Marine Mike said:
Just sayin'.
Nope, its a quote from Rico's training. Zim was answering a question about the purpose of learning to throw knives.Grey Carter said:
Well said, and I agree. A firearm in and of itself doesn't necessarily need to generate fear. It's a tool, nothing more. The person holding it determines whether or not it does harm.Bible Doctor said:
I never liked guns all that much, even though I see them as a natural progression of human mechanical evolution(Seriously, the first "gun" was the bow and arrow. How would we have evolved without that?) but I don't like that they are so lethal that even a child can use it. And they do.
i voted other because to me guns mean fun
let me explain. the guns that i shoot i only shoot on i shooting range with friends and family. we swap stories and bullshit with each other and the guns act as something that gives us a sense of community. so there you have it, that's why guns mean fun to me. Don't worry we use proper safety etiquette and the range warden is present in all times so its not like we are just shooting with a complete disregard for safety. its really easy to have fun with guns and still be responsible
let me explain. the guns that i shoot i only shoot on i shooting range with friends and family. we swap stories and bullshit with each other and the guns act as something that gives us a sense of community. so there you have it, that's why guns mean fun to me. Don't worry we use proper safety etiquette and the range warden is present in all times so its not like we are just shooting with a complete disregard for safety. its really easy to have fun with guns and still be responsible
guns are just plain fun to shoot, good to hunt with, and good to protect yourself with *looks at gun safe*.....i love you guns.
paraphrasing from guns of the world on history channel "the gun is an invention that has praised and denounced and served both hero and villain alike, it carries with it power and moral responsibility" my thoughts are that it was a very important invention that evolved how humans operate today and how war is carried out, it kills, and it saves, it maims and protects it is neither good nor bad, like a kitchen knife, it is a tool you can use its powers for good, like slicing tomatoes, or bad, like slicing your neighbor, steve.
I'm a martial artist, so to me, guns represent years of dedication meaning nought. I may be a competent fighter, but it doesn't mean shit if some fat guy has a Colt 45 pointed at me.