Why More Americans Want to Own Guns

[Sterben]

The views of the Anti-Gun people do hold a lot truth. The gun ownership issues have been a massive pain in the ass. I'm not comfortable being in a house or around person with a firearm. I ideally favor a complete blanket ban on gun ownership with exception of single shot hunting rifles and a massive tax-hike on bullets; I know it will never happen. I am willing to settle on a more toned down version of it though. Hand guns, shot guns, and hunting rifles should be the only type allowed by law to be owned by Americans. Also as well a 20% percent tax on bullets. I would want to see further and deeper background checks in place, as well a membership system (Which involves a background check) to buy bullets at a store. Is there is a rational need for semi-automatic firearms? Na, there is not need for anything more powerful then a shotgun for home defense.

[Minimalist]

We are.  Terrible polluters.

Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, 'vettes are still produced today, and their fuel efficiency has surprisingly improved. This does not make them any less fast and dangerous as street weapons.

The country could survive without every nut walking around with a gun.  Sadly, we have evolved to be a motorized society.

[God of Mr. Hanky]

We are.  Terrible polluters.

This may lead off-topic, but the Mustang which I looked at on my dealer's showroom in 2008 rated better mpg than the Beetle which I drove during the 1980's. That doesn't make the original-format Beetle as fast, nor nearly as dangerous for those outside of it (for those trapped in it, that's a different issue).

[God of Mr. Hanky]

Mustangs, Camaros, Chargers, 'vettes are still produced today, and their fuel efficiency has surprisingly improved. This does not make them any less fast and dangerous as street weapons.

The country could survive without every nut walking around with a gun.  Sadly, we have evolved to be a motorized society.

We (presuming you actually live in the US, and don't think that all of it is Connecticut, Boston, or politically divided into boroughs and not counties) do not live in a country of geography where guns should be restricted to law enforcement. If you live outside of such a bubble, you may be in a situation for which the closest law enforcement personnel cannot respond in a timely manner. The fuck, this is true in the Bronx! If you and your neighbors don't want guns in your town, then you can outlaw them in your town, but please stop trying to lord your culture over geographic regions where it doesn't work!

[Gawdzilla]

~300,000,000 Americans. ~600,000,000 guns. Most Americans don't own one gun. Some of my cousins have "the Big Fifty Club", being the fifty people with the most guns. The average for that group is ~170 guns. This may help show that the problem isn't as ubiquitous as it sounds.

[drfuzzy]

I'm a gun owner.  I come from a family of gun owners.  I even have my Great-Great Grandmother's gun, she carried it in her sewing basket when the family moved cross-country in a covered wagon.  I absolutely LOVE target shooting.  And I DO think that the shotgun beside my bed is for home defense.

However . . .    When I first bought a gun, decades ago, I had to fill out a lot of paperwork.  There were paperwork fees and transfer fees.  I had to get fingerprinted, and I believe the waiting period was 6 weeks.  I bought one about a year ago - I just walked into the store, and handed over the credit card.  They didn't even ask to see my drivers' license.  That's way too easy, folks.  I'm a strong supporter of background checks for gun purchases.  I think the waiting period and fingerprinting, etc., needs to be reinstated. 

And, if the government decides that I have to give up the guns, I will.  I'll miss target shooting though.  I would have to dust off my compound bow - - and no, I don't hunt.  I like punching holes in targets.

[drfuzzy]

~300,000,000 Americans. ~600,000,000 guns.  Most Americans don't own one gun. Some of my cousins have "the Big Fifty Club", being the fifty people with the most guns. The average for that group is ~170 guns.  This may help show that the problem isn't as ubiquitous as it sounds.

Holy cow!  Who needs that many guns?  Wow.  You can only shoot two at a time!  And if you need to hit what you're shooting at, you would be better to use only one . . .

[Gawdzilla]

You're sensible drfuzzy. My cousins are Oath Keepers, Kluxers, "militia." They claim they'll fight if "The Man" comes for their guns.

Myself, I was taught to respect firearms by a one-legged retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant, back in 1965. I came to call him "Gunny Myagi" after "The Karate Kid" came out. I worked for three months, the whole summer, before being allowed to fire a long gun for the first time. I trained with him for four years, then joined the USN and put my training to work.

I collected guns with a historical connection to the USN. When I couldn't face buying another gun safe I donated the lot to the Smithsonian on a "pass along" basis. (They could keep what they wanted, and trade the rest to other equivalent organizations to fill holes in their collections.) I had a collector's license and I kept one gun, a .50 cal. Browning that had seen service in Vietnam.

[Gawdzilla]

~300,000,000 Americans. ~600,000,000 guns.  Most Americans don't own one gun. Some of my cousins have "the Big Fifty Club", being the fifty people with the most guns. The average for that group is ~170 guns.  This may help show that the problem isn't as ubiquitous as it sounds.

Holy cow!  Who needs that many guns?  Wow.  You can only shoot two at a time!  And if you need to hit what you're shooting at, you would be better to use only one . . .

They're the redneckest of the rednecks, so logic doesn't enter into this.

[God of Mr. Hanky]

I'm not comfortable being in a house or around person with a firearm.

How can you justify that, when you have been invited in? Would you enter the house of one who appears to be drunk or unstable anyway? Are you aware that half of the quaint, proprietary business owners which you patronize while on vacation in the countryside keep guns behind the counter? They need to, and if they are alive and in business they do know how to handle them safely because law enforcement is spread too thin there. You never know who owns a gun or has one in close proximity, but when people who think like you see one in somebody's house, then all of a sudden the owner is a dangerous monster. Then so are half the objects in the house, should you escalate an argument to the point of belligerence. He may use his dick as a weapon! Therefore, you should choose with care the sort of people whose abode or private establishments you enter in with, and if they seem to be decent and safe people before you saw that double-barrel shotgun mounted over the fireplace, then they probably still are after you saw it. If machine guns are mounted all over the walls, then this may indicate an obsessive personality which is potentially dangerous, especially if the eyes are particularly dead compared to those who collect model trucks.

I ideally favor a complete blanket ban on gun ownership with exception of single shot hunting rifles and a massive tax-hike on bullets; I know it will never happen. I am willing to settle on a more toned down version of it though.

You should be aware of the fact that no type of gun can do harm if the firing pin is removed. As for handguns, if you think nobody other than cops need them, then you don't understand life outside of your urban neighborhood. It's where I happen to live now, and since I've lost my interest in hunting and target shooting I don't own a gun anymore, but this situation is not so for many US citizens, and their rights need to be respected.

 Is there is a rational need for semi-automatic firearms? Na, there is not need for anything more powerful then a shotgun for home defense. Hand guns, shot guns, and hunting rifles should be the only type allowed by law to be owned by Americans.

Is there really a need for people to collect model trucks? Probably not. Guns are a hobby for some, and any gun is safe if sold without a firing pin. You may find the sort of person with an interest in weapons more so than trucks to be dead-eyed and scary, and in my experience this is the case, but you can't change the fact that such people do exist. If a gun hobby is what keeps the scary dude in the basement taking care of his "babies" instead of out on the street killing people, then I am very much in favor of allowing him to have whatever his money can buy on his own property, so long as it doesn't violate zoning laws, and the potentially dangerous items are de-weaponized. Just because he's got a missile launcher on his front lawn doesn't mean that it could actually launch a missile, if he could actually obtain rounds for it. Also, your town doesn't have to live with missile launchers on neighbor's front lawns, you can deal with this in your zoning laws!

Also as well a 20% percent tax on bullets.

How the fuck can you justify a tax on bullets? That's just utterly stupid, to punish poor farmers and sustenance hunters - oh yeah, there really are regions of the US where people actually live that way! How much good sense do you really think it makes to discourage target shooting, which is essential for the safe handling of any gun which anyone may actually need to use?