Do You Own a Gun ??

[REASON]

I own a Ruger 10/22 semi-auto .22 caliber rifle. It's a great little rifle; very accurate and very reliable.

I bought it mostly for plinking around and target shooting with my friends. It isn't optimum by any stretch of the imagination for home security, but it's better than nothing and can get off ten rounds in a hurry.

I showed it to my children immediately when I brought it home, made my expectations clear, and intend on taking them out and showing them how to use it when they get a bit older if they're interested. I believe this is crutial if it is your intention to keep a gun of any sort in the home where there are children. Trying to hide them and not expressing any rules is more likely to be potentially detrimental than to provide education, rules, and a sense of respect for these dangerous weapons.

So far they have shown no interest in it whatsoever.

[Michaelangelica]

I am not really here.
I don't want to know about Yanks and Guns.
Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.


xkcd - A Webcomic - Laser Scope

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

I am not really here.
I don't want to know about Yanks and Guns.
Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.


xkcd - A Webcomic - Laser Scope

As sad this incident is I have to say would you deny the use of automobiles to everyone because some people can't be trusted to leave their drive ways behind the wheel of a car? Cars kill far more people each year than guns. Can I assume you are at least a spiritual ally of the anti-gun movement?

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Although the EIGHT Y.O. who shot himself with an Usi? Israeli sub-machine gun last month at a Gun Show MUST qualify for a Darwin award.

I disagree.

The Darwin Awards are for people who die during ridiculously foolish behavior. This tragic accident involved an 8 year old firing a properly maintained submachine gun in a proper setting while being supervised by a certified instructor. The reasonable expectation is that the 8 year old would have an enjoyable, educational experience – or perhaps a frightening, educational experience – but certainly not be killed.

The actual outcome was freakish in the extreme. I’ve personally seen accidents involving uncontrolled muzzle rise when firing fully automatic weapons like the Uzi involved in this accident where the wall above the target was shot, and can easily imagine a very inexperienced shooter freezing on the trigger and firing near of past the vertical, but find it hard to visualize how this child managed to shoot himself. This appears to have been truly a freak accident.

One of many articles on the accident: Eight-year-old shoots self with Uzi, dies - CNN.com

Although I was in my teens before I fired a fully automatic rifle, I fired a sporting rifle, a 1966 Winchester “Centennial” .30-30, closely supervised, at the age of six. I still remember it as good experience from which I came away with healthy respect for this heavy, yet still sharp recoil rifle. By the age of 9, I was allowed to shoot targets and hunt small game without adult supervision, though always with adult permission, using either a .22 rifle or .410 bore shotgun. My experience is fairly typical of 1960s rural West Virginia, and in my experience, safer than many other typical childhood activities, such as bicycling.

[Flying Binghi]

...I own an aircraft....which, apparently, is more lethal then a gun ...thousands will die .............anyway, in Australia and Japan at least, who needs a gun when you have a knife

[engineerdude]

America is a complex place, many more people than Canada or Oz. Canada is basically like US suburbs - quiet, homogeneous, moderately wealthy. The vast majority of gun deaths in the US are poor inner-city people shooting other poor inner-city people.

I am a gun owner. I have 2 shotguns that were my grandfather's, and a few other hunting weapons of my own. I am from rural America, where I think I am very typical in my attitude towards guns. Guns are a non-event, I keep them locked up from my kids the same as I do the sharp knives and the gasoline. In the realm of concern for my family, an accidental gun death isn't even on the radar - I have taught my kids the proper respect for guns, just as I have taught them to respect lawnmowers and mean-ass dogs. If you suck as a parent, all kinds of bad things are likely to happen to your kids, guns are just one thing.

As far as the protection aspect, I think it is significant. I seriously doubt I could round up a gun in time to shoot a burglar, but the burglar doesn't know that, and my NRA sticker on the window is a pretty good indicator that bad guys should move on to the next house.

[klenole]

I dont like guns, but I own one. Only because my dad and I used to go hunting. Now... ugh. I can't do it anymore. (OMG. Daisa-voo. Like, with the page colours and everything... And I know I didnt spell that right...) Anyways, shooting targets is fun, but the only animals I can think of killing now is squirrels. (THEY EAT ALL THE PECANS AND PEARS. TREE-RATS.)

[enorbet2]

I presently do not own a gun. However when I lived in The Rockies on 140 acres of land I owned a 22 Magnum rifle (iron sights) and a compound bow with a rollover pull of 65 pounds and nasty-as-all-hell Wasp broadheads on aluminum arrows. The arrows were substantially more lethal at up to 60 yards. I had grown up with guns and have a healthy respect as well as good safety habits.

Living in Colorado showed me the contrast with city dwellers who lack that familiarity, respect, and training. Studies show that people who can spend little time with guns are generally better off not owning one, especially if your reason for getting one is protection. Without getting training and keeping it honed on a regular basis most people do not respond well in emotional situations and are much more likely to shoot themselves or someone else they do not intend to, or get shot by neglecting the need to cover. Dogs, alarms, cameras, motion activated lights, and NRA stickers are far cheaper and at least as effective.