What Makes Guns so Awesome or Not Awesome to You?

[Joe Matsuda]

they kill

as such "not awesome"

(I'm a pacifist)

So do knives, so do baseball bats, so do chairs, so do fists. People kill, guns are a tool.
*snip*
Guns are not evil, malicious, or anything other then tools in the hands of people.

but they are tools that were kinda sorta made to be used to kill, unlike the other things you mentioned ...except maybe knives...depending on the knife I guess...like butterknives dont count...I digress...

I get the point, they are made to propel a tiny metal slug at high velocity. The major function to wound and kill. That does not mean that you have to use them on people. Using them to hunt is a major purpose of them.
*snip*
I also don't want to hear any of that bullshit about hunting being evil, and hunters doing it only because they enjoy killing.
What I was getting at is that the gun itself cannot be guilty of anything it is basically a mechanical device and as such is incapable of being responsible for any action.
*snap*

Just hoping to give you a little perspective, cause when they say "guns don't kill people, people do" they are not just slinging around a catchy phrase.

Nothing against hunting really...and Im not trying to go around spouting crap about "how guns are the work of the devil" or anything...I just dont like killing or things related to it in any way, shape or form =/

in line with those feelings, i guess you are a vegan?*

*i'm a regular sherlock holmes!

oh no no no, Im against killing of people in any way, shape or form...I mean, if we were not meant to eat meat, then whats with all the damn pills vegans have to pop to stay healthy? Human=omnivore="eats both animals and plants...and saturated fat"

*sorry if any of you are vegans...I just fail to understand it

 

[MattZero]

Has anybody else actually been in a fight where the other person was trying to kill you?

People mention they don't like guns because "swords are more skillful/beautiful/romantic" nobody uses swords in a fight these days. If someone picks a fight with you and they don't have a gun but want to use a weapon on you you have to contend with - A Tire Iron - A Broken Off Bottle of Jack - A Pool Cue - A Knife - A Machete? (I've never seen it but you hear about those things) - Brass Knuckles - A Chair - Baseball Bat - Whatever they can get their hands on is what they're going to use on you and chances are you're not in "Roadhouse" so there's no martial arts skill involved- they are going to bludgeon and/or stab you until you die.

Yes in a fight against someone using a melee weapon you have a much higher chance of surviving then if thy pull a gun on you but melee combat produces the ugliest and most brutal wounds you will ever experience. There's no romance or skill in having your breastbone exposed when someone swipes at you with the aforementioned broken bottle.

If I landed in the fight I was destined to loose I would want the other guy to have a gun and would greatly prefer having them put it to my head and killing me instantly and clean than say getting stabbed fifteen times with a five inch pocket knife and left to bleed out slowly or getting bludgeoned until dead or worse paralyzed.

I think people over romanticize the sword. Because it is essentially a knife and produces the same wounds. It takes a great deal of skill to learn to use and all of the skill and grace involved with them is mostly the art of not letting the other guy cut you. When it comes to the wounds Swords are much much worse than Guns.

I'm not trying to sound like I'm some kind of street fighter here I'm just saying that in my experience all fights are really really ugly but wounds from bladed and blunt weapons are the ugliest. (I'm aware that things like buckshot from a shotgun or a fifty cal. sniper shot would be worse please don't call me out on that you're right. I'm talking about the kind of guns a person would be able to conceal and carry and whip out in a brawl.)

So I'm going to have to put my vote squarely in "awesome" for lack of a better word. Because if someone is going to kill you they're going to get the job done and personally I'd prefer to go fast and relatively painlessly then slow. Plus guns have a much better Kill to Paralyze ratio than blunt weapons and as I'd much rather just be killed than be paralyzed.

 

[nabilus13]

I see a lot of people here who need to put down the fantasy books and research into what medieval combat was really like. It was savage, dirty (both literally and it involved underhanded moves) and all about the desperate fight for survival.

Fighting's fighting. It's never pleasant, but not always avoidable.

As for guns, I think they are awesome. From an aesthetic point of view, a well crafted rifle or shotgun has gorgeous curves and sleek lines and can have a beautiful combination of colors. From a skill point of view, there is nothing quite like nailing a quarter-sized bullseye from 100yds on the first shot of the day, and finishing up with a 1.5" group of 3. That takes a practiced hand.

Pistols are a functional self-defense tool. That was their intent, a weapon of LAST RESORT to be used if all other options are expended and your life is potentially on the line (not being a telepath, I will never know an assailant's intention), whether it be as a soldier's sidearm or a citizens concealed carry weapon.

The killing of another person is never 'awesome' in the real world. Anyone I've ever known who's done it wishes they'd never had to. Unfortunately, sometimes it has to happen.