Killing the Hypothetical

[Cinjin]

This poll idea came out of the most current gun thread.
Perhaps my curiosity is morbid - it's most certainly useless, but I'm going to indulge anyway.
(And do try to remember that these conversations mean and change nothing.)

As you've likely already noticed, the question for the poll is:
Could you kill someone with a firearm?  

Do you have it in you?  Or do you think that your distaste for violent behavior would get the best of you?
You can qualify your answer however you please but for the sake of argument lets assume that the person who you 
would be killing was about to do harm to either you, your children, and/or someone you care for ... maybe even a neighbor you're fond of.  

It would be really cool if you would include your nationality and whether or not you currently own 
a working firearm with your explanation - just to form some sort of unofficial statistical data.


My polled answer:  Yes, I do own a gun and I am US born.

[Alex K]

lets assume that the person who you
would be killing was about to do harm to either you, your children, and/or someone you care for

In that case I could even kill them with a spoon.

[Cinjin]

In that case I could even kill them with a spoon.

Right on.
Do you currently own a firearm? and what country do you reside?

[Alex K]

In that case I could even kill them with a spoon.

Right on.
Do you currently own a firearm? and what country do you reside?

1. No
2. Germany

We don't tend to own firearms here unless we're member in a traditional shooting association (Schützenverein), in sports, or have a hunting license, and that's a tiny fraction of the population (edit: I just looked it up, not soo tiny, 1.3 million are members in the DSB).
We have about 50 gun deaths per year in the entire country (not counting suicide). That's what, a 15th of the rate in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou...death_rate

[robvalue]

I'm from England. I've never even seen a real gun. I really can't tell if I'd be capable of it. It's been extremely rare in my life that I have ever felt at the point of having to defend myself or others.

If I had to guess, and assuming I'd learnt how to use the gun and someone was literally threatening the life of my family, and using the gun was my only real option, then I'd say yes.

[thesummerqueen]

Are they attacking me? Is a gun an option? Because if someone were attacking me physically, I would subdue them with whatever weapon I happened to have around. I don't have a gun. I do plan to learn to shoot properly, because all knowledge is useful.

I don't condone rampant violence, but I'm no pacifist when it comes to defense either. You come after me, or I see you attacking someone else, I will fuck your shit up.

[Ben Davis]

---

This poll idea came out of the most current gun thread.
Perhaps my curiosity is morbid - it's most certainly useless, but I'm going to indulge anyway.
(And do try to remember that these conversations mean and change nothing.)

As you've likely already noticed, the question for the poll is:
Could you kill someone with a firearm?  

Do you have it in you?  Or do you think that your distaste for violent behavior would get the best of you?
You can qualify your answer however you please but for the sake of argument lets assume that the person who you 
would be killing was about to do harm to either you, your children, and/or someone you care for ... maybe even a neighbor you're fond of.  

It would be really cool if you would include your nationality and whether or not you currently own 
a working firearm with your explanation - just to form some sort of unofficial statistical data.


My polled answer:  Yes, I do own a gun and I am US born.

---

I currently only own air guns (yes, under lock & key - UK legislation!) but I was a school-boy shooting champ for South-east England (Kent/East Sussex/West Sussex/Surrey, not including London) with air guns/rifles & .22s. I also dabbled in a bit of clay pigeon as a friend of my father was a UK champion so I'm handy with shotguns. I have a distaste for killing or doing more harm than completely necessary so I favour restraint as a tactic however. I've never had to test my resolve in this respect but, if I had to, I think I could probably kill, especially if my family were in danger.

[c172]

No. I am disabled, and of the opinion that to own a firearm, you should have at least a certain level of physical and mental faculties. Somebody with crutches or in a wheelchair should not qualify. So I would never own a firearm, much less kill someone with it.

I'm American, in America.

[Faith No More]

I would absolutely have no qualms about killing someone that was attacking my family. I'm not saying I would go out of my way to kill the person, but whether or not they survive my attack would not cross my mind as I was protecting my family.

I don't own a gun, but if someone was threatening me or my family, I'd probably get one(may have to subvert a few laws there, but defending my family's worth it). As it is in the community I live in right now, there's no real need to have one.

[Napoléon]

lets assume that the person who you
would be killing was about to do harm to either you, your children, and/or someone you care for

In that case I could even kill them with a spoon.

Seems like a bit of a pointless poll to me. Or at the least I'm not seeing the relevance of the question, or even how it pertains to a discussion on gun legislation.

I'd be very surprised if anyone would say no, and surprised further still if those who did would actually sit by and watch their loved ones be harmed in the scenario in the OP.

Most everyone would defend their family/loved ones with whatever they had to hand, would they not? So what does this even remotely suggest about guns? A poll asking the same question for knives would be equally as irrelevant IMHO.