General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forumsa modest proposal. you can arm yourself to the teeth.
after proving that you're mentally and physically fit to serve in our military.
you can then own all the weaponry you care to.
all you have to do is agree to be subject to a voluntary draft in the event the military needs additional people.
i believe this is actually in keeping with the spirit of the 2nd amendment as originally intended, an armed citizenry capable of mobilization in the defense of the state and nation in lieu of a standing army.
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yellerpup
(12,253 posts)If you want to fight, go fight where it will do the country good and don't shoot up defenseless citizens no matter what their age.
MrDiaz
(731 posts)that law-abiding gun owners do not buy guns to "fight" they by guns and carry them to protect their families from being put in harm's way. A 2011 gallup poll estimates that 47% of american households own a gun. So that is approximately 52 million households own firearms. I find it alarming that you group every legal gun owner as shooting up defenseless citizens. How many of these tragedies are done by someone who legally purchased the firearm they used, or was it off the black market...or stolen?
EOTE
(13,409 posts)When those legally owned guns make their way into the hands of criminals, that means that some "law-abiding gun owner" did a very, very bad thing. If those "law-abiding" gun owners can't keep their guns out of the hands of criminals, I don't think that most of the time they should be held accountable for what they did. Guns are too fucking easy to get hold of in this country and the great majority of the time, it's due to "law-abiding gun owners". Do you not see the problem here?
yellerpup
(12,253 posts)Everyone in my family owned guns, so I realize quite a lot about gun holding households. The ones I recall are: 10 gauge shotgun (for birds and varmints), a 12 gauge shotgun, a 30.06 hunting rifle, a .22 rifle, two .25 pistols, and a Derringer. I learned to hunt, to shoot, to dress, and skin game. Those are the good memories.
But then politics came into it. My mom once threatened to shoot me because I didn’t agree that “Oliver North would make the best damned President this country has ever seen.” She slapped the leather on her shoulder holster to make a point in front of the grandkids sitting around the breakfast table. Dad once came home from another day of looking for a job and not finding one and cried (a smart, handsome ex-Marine who NEVER cried) and when our family gathered around to offer him sympathy, he confessed that if he didn’t find a real job by Christmas that he felt we would all be better off dead. A stranger broke into my house, held my own .22 pistol to my head and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t fire because it was unloaded, so here I am to tell you about it. My ex-husband was murdered in Houston, TX in early 1980. His new girlfriend’s pimp blew him away after he rented an apartment for the girl. He was armed when he died. A crack head walked a ledge and climbed in the window of our 4th floor, NYC apartment and backed my husband into the room with that .357 stuck up his nose. If I had had a gun, cocked, loaded, and in my hand at that very moment, I still could have done nothing except, perhaps, either kill my husband or watch him be killed. The robber held us hostage with for about half an hour (locked in our own closet) while he ransacked the apartment (mace was conveniently overlooked standing among the other cosmetics on my dressing table) and kept threatening to shoot us every 30 seconds or so because he wasn't finding any money or valuables. He set fires before he left that thankfully went out by themselves because we had to chop and saw our way out of the coat closet he locked us into. (luckily, the tool box was in the closet). Two cousins have committed suicide with handguns. My friend’s father was shot by her drunk uncle as she and her mom and dad stepped up onto the uncle’s porch in Mississippi on Christmas Eve, 1961. My friend was six years old. My experience tells me guns are not worth the price of life. Having guns in the house never made me feel secure and they certainly never made me safe.
MrDiaz
(731 posts)all of your experiences, but not everyone has such bad experiences with them, my father has had a gun for 40 years, used once but did not need to fire, all he had to do was pull it out when the criminal was in our home, and the guy ran out the house. If a 50 year old man wakes because he hears something in his home, he would be alot better off with a pistol or a shotgun when he finds a much younger criminal in his home.
yellerpup
(12,253 posts)Personally, I think a 50-year-old man would be a lot better off with a dog and a big stick than he would with a gun, especially if he has grandchildren visiting. For all my bad experiences, I am still here to tell about them. This will not be an option for any of the 20 children who were reduced to scraps by an automatic weapon.
MrDiaz
(731 posts)unless the criminal has a gun and takes out the dog first, which would be the first logically thing to do.
yellerpup
(12,253 posts)Most burglars will not enter a house with a protective dog whether you are there or not. If you are there, a dog will give you the advantage of early warning. It is not that easy to shoot a dog when he's chomping on your butt cheeks. (or in attack mode in any way). There are many ways to protect yourself that don't result in killing another person ~ methods such locking doors and not bragging about your piece in the local pub. That just makes you a target. Sometimes owning a gun is the ONLY thing a person owns that makes him or her a target of break-ins , especially if you're poor. Maybe if your 50-year-old man got more exercise from walking a dog he wouldn't feel so vulnerable to night shadows.
MrDiaz
(731 posts)dogs prevent more break ins? And why is it that everyone here seems to think people with guns walk around and brag about them. Every gun owner I know doesn't even want anyone to know they have them. and what in the world makes you think that my 50 year old father doesn't have a dog that he walks everyday? Or that he doesn't exercise? Do you think that because he owns firearms? Assumptions assumptions, gotta love when people who have no idea who you are make assumptions about you.
yellerpup
(12,253 posts)I researched the claim before I made it. I don't know you. The assumptions I made about you are based on your replies to my post where you made some pretty laughable assumptions about me. I didn't accuse you dad of doing anything, but if he's the 50 year old you are talking about, I feel sorry that he feels so helpless and afraid. Guns don't really cure that, you know.
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)much protection does one need?
Surely we can live with 2 per can't we?
but why would you allow someone to have 2 pistols instead of 4? How much more harm does 2 extra weapons do?
upaloopa
(11,417 posts)It just seems to me we have way to many guns and maybe we. Of have a gun turn in for cash and destroy half the guns.
MrDiaz
(731 posts)Because guns usually don't lose much value if kept up with. And the more guns get destroyed the more value is gained for each gun remaining. And the criminals wouldn't be dumb enough to destroy theirs knowing it can potentially gain them more money than whatever is offered for the destruction of it. The only possible solution to all this without changing the 2nd amendment would be to serial number bullets, and tax them at a high rate. And put your name down for all the bullets you buy. If you did that it wouldn't effect law abiding citizens other than a small tax on the ammunition, and criminals wouldn't be able to but ammo. But then again you can always get the kit and make your own ammo, it's not that difficult to do, I own a kit that does it. My point is the issue goes much deeper than most people seem to realize.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)the explosion in semiautomatic rifle ownership???
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)defense of the USA.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)
unblock
(52,243 posts)Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)exceptions for those in, or defense of, power. That is not an accident, nor is it that we are the world's biggest arms merchant, nor that we are killing children every day, without comment, in other parts of the world.
If we're serious about stopping this kind of tragedy, or more importantly the dozens of little ones that go unreported and unnoticed every day, we have to look at who we are and why we value the things we value and change them.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)It's working well is Syria, isn't it.
Bottomline ... L/E, not to mention the military, is largely unconcerned with with your having weaponry ... because at the end of the day, they know they will have your weapon and you will be dead.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I re-read it and come to the same conclusion. Please clarify what you meant ... I must be missing it. Thanks.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)does is to act as the enforcers for global thieves. If the military were limited to actually defending the U.S. from attack by enemies, I'm totally fine with universal mandatory service, But as most military people learn, mostly what we do is go to far away places to kill and die so that some rich asshole can get richer while our people and our nation go wanting.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)That's a whole 'nother discussion.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)
abelenkpe
(9,933 posts)about our military I mean. That's why I don't support mandatory service.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)
uponit7771
(90,346 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)But rather, after having SERVED, then after proving that you're mentally fit to not be a threat.
AlexSatan
(535 posts)But what about people who are medically unqualified because of something like Type 1 diabetes, even if they are wee under control via an insulin pump?
unblock
(52,243 posts)conditions should be a bar to service.
perhaps not on the front lines in combat, but there are plenty of military jobs stateside, in offices, etc., even during wars abroad.
AlexSatan
(535 posts)you are going to be deployed and if they can accommodate you medical needs.
Once in the military, if the condition develops, some of them are waiverable with duty restrictions.
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)..because I have a vagina. If such a proposal were to be considered, the military would have to change it's policies on women in combat for me to support it.
AlexSatan
(535 posts)as well as be forward deployed and be required to carry a weapon.
So I'm not sure how your comment is relevant to this thread.
WooWooWoo
(454 posts)would also mean someone with flat feet or color blindness couldn't own a weapon.
unblock
(52,243 posts)given that my suggestion would require a change to federal law if not a constitutional amendment.
having said that, these days i'm not sure the military couldn't make use of people with all sorts of disabilities or conditions.
in fact, i'm color-blind and once served on a destroyer. as a military contractor, but hey, rank and privileges of lieutenant commander.
LP2K12
(885 posts)I've already served six years. Honorable discharge and kept my security clearance after a background check.
I'm good to go...
Autumn
(45,096 posts)I mean this guy is out there. He joined the national Guard and he now owns about 10 guns. He's a fucking nut.
DearAbby
(12,461 posts)Just where is that magic number of guns you have to own where you feel safe? Why was Lanza's mother so afraid one gun wasnt enough to make her feel safe, she needed four more? Why do people believe an arsenal of weapons makes them safer? Shouldnt that be the question, and where we should begin?
Let's eliminate the fear.
