For The Love Of... Guns? Why are they so loved?

[verdant monkai]

What sort of guns are we talking about?:-

1.) Darn communists dun gonna take our guns away. Guns are parta Merican histroy?
2.) Pre order call of modern black ops 4 now and get an exclusive map pack?

I'm not a fan of either. I hate most first person shooters and don't get much pleasure from shooting guns on a firing range.

People like them because it makes them feel big I guess.

 

[Benny Blanco]

I ind it much more refreshing to use my bare hands. To feel the bones of my opponent's nose give way under my fist. Then I decide how I will repay the bastard for daring to bleed on my favourite shirt.

Oh Sir, you are so tough and manly and knowledgeable about fighting, please tell me more.

 

[Leg End]

It is why we can't have nice things.

But we do have the nice things, comrade.

I would strongly refute that assertion with a lengthy analysis, but that would run the risk of derailing the thread. I'll just point out the <a href=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease>immense boon Lend-Lease provided to Allied countries even before official American entry into the War (and that's not even covering how the U.S. was able to successfully wage a war on multiple fronts, or how its entry was a huge morale boost to other Allied countries). I realize public perception has greatly exaggerrated America's feats, but I think some folks go too far the other way in an attempt to counter-act it.

Nearly forgot to say, I'd like to thank you for being one of the few people who even know about the Lend-Lease.

 

[Leg End]

Things I hate: messes, over-stimulation of the senses, resources that are difficult to renew. Fancy a guess what my least favorite weapon is? That's right, explosives! Fallowed closely by guns. Of course, this doesn't extend to video games where the the messes are nonexistent, the audiovisual stimulation is controlled, and the limited resources is apart of the fun.

Ah, but does that include the real impacts upon the world such things bring such as the use of non-renewable sources of energy in order to keep all that going? Food for thought?

 

[Leg End]

The solution, obviously, is to have a higher standard of who is allowed to get guns.

That's historically been codeword for the 'Elite' or 'only people I like'. Works swell for New York.

Not only have people in this thread already suggested as much, but a gun shop-owner even demonstrated the benefits recently.

Got a link for that last one or are we talking about the common practice of shop-owners turning away people who are obviously going to have the guy find his ex-inventory found to be involved in a drive-by in the next week/the guy who brings his friend/relative/girlfriend to obviously straw-purchase?

Answering your so-called "food for thought" is off-topic as it pertains to the resources of a completely different item; I fart in your general direction.

You've made me lose my appetite after I just made great quesadillas.

 

[DefunctTheory]

That's historically been code-word for the 'Elite' or 'only people I like'. Works swell for New York.

Got a link for that last one or are we talking about the common practice of shop-owners turning away people who are obviously going to have the guy find his ex-inventory found to be involved in a drive-by in the next week/the guy who brings his friend/relative/girlfriend to obviously straw-purchase?

"People I don't like" means "people whose short tempter or openly irrational hatred will obviously mix badly with a deadly weapon" and keeping their selection to a minimum is obviously a good idea by extension.

Take your pick. [https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gun%20shop%20turns%20down%20customer]

I remember someone interviewing a gun store owner a year or so ago who said he turned customers away on a weekly basis because they kept asking for 'machine guns,' 'combat rifles,' and 'sniper rifles.'

I'm tempted to go to a few gun shops to see if this is common. I would hope so.

 

[Lillowh]

I think all the justification, bravado, and rhetoric and so forth is just covering up a big point. The fact of the matter is, as cliche' as it is, the phrase "guns, don't kill people, people kill people" is the entire point of it.

Guns are a tool. They can be very useful like for protecting livestock, hunting for food at one point, saving lives, etc. They can also be enjoyable, used as a test of skill, of hand eye coordination. That's satisfying as a human. They are also very dangerous, and can hurt and kill people very easily if used wrong. They're the most effective self-protection, however, and without them we'd have to rely on society and police for that "protection". That's just not viable for some people in such a large country with rural areas.

This DOES NOT make them bad. Cars are exactly the same way. A very useful tool for getting around. People enjoy the competition and satisfaction from doing things like going fast to all out racing. It's also a huge pile of metal that can easily kill multiple people very easily. However it's a form of self-transport. More self empowerment. Without it, or if heavily regulated so that most people can't have a car that goes whatever is deemed a "lethal" speed, we would have to rely on society and public transport with "trained operators" to get around. That's just not viable for some people in a large country with rural areas.

See where this is going? Better education and societal teachings is needed, because regulation is only there to stop those who would follow it in the first place.

]"People I don't like" means "people whose short tempter or openly irrational hatred will obviously mix badly with a deadly weapon" and keeping their selection to a minimum is obviously a good idea by extension.

Take your pick. [https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gun%20shop%20turns%20down%20customer]

This problem is convenience, I think. It's just not efficient to regulate certain things to such a degree. Using my other example, should we also not do extensive backround checks on everyone purchasing a car, and assessing their proclivity for drinking considering the mass amounts of deaths resulting from drunk driving?

 

[Leg End]

"People I don't like" means "people whose short tempter or openly irrational hatred will obviously mix badly with a deadly weapon"

So who is going to be the judge of "obviously" and deal with their bill being struck down for being hilariously unconstitutional?

and keeping their selection to a minimum is obviously a good idea by extension.

By limiting the choice of others?

Take your pick. [https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=gun%20shop%20turns%20down%20customer]

Ah, so the "flaky looking punk who comes in with a murderous lust about him/asks very obvious questions from the checklist of 'people who I should seriously not sell a gun to'".

I remember someone interviewing a gun store owner a year or so ago who said he turned customers away on a weekly basis because they kept asking for 'machine guns,' 'combat rifles,' and 'sniper rifles.'

I'm tempted to go to a few gun shops to see if this is common. I would hope so.

It actually is, for various reasons which include, but are not limited to, the bias of staff on hand in certain areas of being inherently distrustful of anyone below a certain age coming in asking for some obvious choices. Blend of the Call of Duty mentality of people and people who sound like they want what the "other guys" had.

 

[Leg End]

It's adorable how you straw-man me and then admit I have a point all in the same post.

That would be called a shining example of a store owner not being stupid. It's not like anyone is required to sell anyone anything.

 

[Hypertion]

its seen as an expression of freedom. the US is very much founded on guns and other weapons as it is a former colony. that mindset that my gun is my lifeline and i have a right to it is basically unchanged from those founding days. in fact that mindset has been part of american growth since then expanding into the west and beyond... the modern idea of guns being power and freedom is well defined on those origins. america was literally founded on guns... and is really the only major country today that can claim that.. hence our weird and overbearing gun culture.

 

[flashoverride]

DELETED

 

[Amir Kondori]

Guns are awesome. They are great pieces of technology, they are very varied and fun to collect. They are also historical and tied to a lot of historical events, which is why a lot of people get into collecting. It is also very, very fun to shoot. If you haven't tried it you need to.

I don't currently own any firearms but my mom's side of the family owns a lot of guns and I will own a couple some day myself to go shooting with.

 

[Amir Kondori]

The last bit can be considered debatable.

It can, but it shouldn't, really.

Are you implying that guns cannot be art?

The vast majority of them aren't. If there are beautifully carved guns out there, they could be pieces of art, but they need not also be functional weapons.

Got any sources? I haven't seen a reasonable argument from any politician or similar that knew even the slightest bit what they were talking about. At all.

This [http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-simple-truth-about-gun-control] fella seems to know what he's talking about.

You may not have seen any reasonable arguments because you don't consider them reasonable, not because they are not reasonable.

That guy doesn't know what he is talking about, as evidenced by this metaphor, "The good news is that its cause is well understood and its cure, an antibiotic, easily at hand."

Gun control is not going to stop gun violence in America. The places with the most gun violence in America have the strictness gun control laws. Studies of various countries with and without gun control have shown no strong evidence either way.

 

[Silvanus]

The places with the most gun violence in America have the strictness gun control laws.

This is simply a fib.

Compare the Washington Post's overview [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/04/california-has-the-nations-strictest-gun-laws-here-are-the-other-strictest-and-loosest-states/] of the strictest and loosest states on gun control, with the rate of gun deaths per 100,000 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state]. Of the strictest, California comes joint-25th; Connecticut comes joint-29th; New Jersey comes joint-22nd.

Of the loosest, Louisiana comes 1st; Mississippi comes 7th; Arizona comes 9th.

 

[Vahir]

Men with guns stop other men with guns.

Let me just take a moment to point out how insane this point of view is. Following this logic only leads you to a heap of corpses.