Why do I have to learn about guns?

[RockaFowler]

A family friend said that I should learn about guns more so I could understand her feelings about them. Say what?? Why the f--- do I need to know about someone's feelings for an inanimate object?? Why are people so obsessed with this stupid weapon??

How come people can't see why I hate guns so much?? I had a cousin who killed herself with a gun. I have friends in Orlando who were just having fun at a nightclub get shot at and murdered by a gun. But now I have to worry about your feelings about your gun. I just don't get it. If you actually think God gave you the right to handle a semi-automatic weapon you are delusional.

The other thing she mentioned was that we don't have love in our hearts anymore that's why there are so many gun killings. We have so many gun killings because there are too many guns that are easily accessible to too many people. You don't see this in other countries. They see the same movies. Play the same video games.

Just aggravated and I can't take it much more.

[NCTraveler]

1. K&R nt

[dogknob]

2. If you don't fully understand guns, you can't have an opinion about them

[RockaFowler]

4. I love this for some reason

[geardaddy]

22. Excellent.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Amen

Learning about guns? WTF does that even mean? What more does one need to know about guns other than that they are instruments of death and destruction and that their SOLE purpose is to maim and kill?

[TeapotInATempest]

5. Her "feelings" about them, ugh.

Maybe the gun lovers should learn something about things many of us care about. How about dead kids? How about the lasting effects of gun violence and the pervasive threat of gun violence on children? I have "feelings" about those things. Does that not count?

These people need to go back to pre-school and start learning that their "feelings" do not take precedence over everyone else's.

[FakeNoose]

18. She's been brainwashed by the NRA

...That's all I needed to know.

[ProudLib72]

56. That gif looks familiar. Have you seen this one?

This guy is getting in touch with his gun feelings.

[beachbum bob]

6. people can say the same thing about cars, why do I have to learn about cars...or electricity...

or pain meds.


knowledge is key....to be afraid of knowledge is just being afraid. You don't have to "like" guns to learn about them.

[hack89]

7. To avoid a possible repeat of the 1994 AWB perhaps?

ignorance produces really bad laws that sometimes do exactly the opposite of what you desire.

Just a thought.

[Canoe52]

44. Cut the BS. Were tired of it and not buying it either.

[hack89]

47. Do you want a repeat of the 1994 AWB?

because so does the NRA. They rolled the gun control movement last time and they will do it again if you don't get smarter.

There is no strength in ignorance. Never.

[ileus]

8. Sometimes knowing guns kill people isn't enough.

[Canoe52]

43. It is plenty enough to the dead people killed by those guns, comrade.

[USALiberal]

53. Lol, explain that silly statement. Nt

[Lee-Lee]

9. I will say this- I teach people about guns

And learning about them will change your perspective to a more informed one.

It may not change your beliefs at all, but your beliefs will be more grounded in knowledge. And being more informed is always good.

That said, having trained several thousand people over the years from all walks of life and all backgrounds and all beliefs about guns going in, a very strong trend I note is that once a person with little to no background in firearms is introduced to them in a safe, fun environment their personal views tend to become decidedly less anti gun. Seems replacing what was learned from media and Hollywood about guns with knowledge based on actual hands on experience and accurate knowledge does that.

You have nothing to lose by learning and being more informed.

[RockaFowler]

12. But see I have learned about guns

The thing is she wants me to learn why she loves her guns so much

I just don't care. Again it's this emotional thing people have for guns. I don't get it. It's an object that kills people. It's only use is to kill or maim.

My Grandfather taught me all about guns. My mother taught me as well. They just aren't for me and I see no use for them in a civil society. I live in a city and I feel safer than she does and she lives in the country. I can leave my house knowing it's a safe place. She can't even leave her house for fear that someone will break-in. I refuse to live in fear like her.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. I often wonder about what's really going on in the heads of all those people

who declare we all need guns, and they wouldn't be without at least one gun in their household, claim the guns make them safer, and yet are totally afraid all the time.

Me? I've never owned a gun. Have zero interest in owning one or learning anything about them. I live alone and I'm a senior citizen. I feel quite safe, and I don't live in a gated community. In fact, I live in what's considered a crime-ridden part of my city, and I still feel perfectly safe.

[aikoaiko]

45. " It's only use is to kill or maim." I think I see why she asked you to learn more.

[bettyellen]

51. If youre not in the woods- as the majority is not- its the truth. Cities do not need more guns.

[mac56]

14. "I teach people about gargling Drano...

And learning about it will change your perspective to a more informed one."

[Canoe52]

32. Perfect response to the comrade gun humpers man splaining

guns here.

Thank you!

[paleotn]

36. Bingo.

..."but, but, but...It's a fun "hobby"" ....until it's not.

[LanternWaste]

17. Unless that information, on a personal level, is irrelevant.

"You have nothing to lose by learning and being more informed..."

Unless that information, on a personal level, is wholly irrelevant. If I learned about the life cycle of the now-extinct Carnobacterium pleistocenium, I would have lost time.

Cost benefit analyses... try it sometime.

[groundloop]

31. I grew up around guns, took hunter safety classes, I still own guns....

And I'm right there in lock-step with every anti-gun person on DU. Having been held up at gun-point will tend to do that, as will having a family member who lost her life to a gun.

So .... I don't think you have a valid position about people's views being formed by media and Hollywood. Hell, for that matter, I think Hollywood has been a big part of the problem by putting out thousands of movies throughout the ages that glorify guns.

[USALiberal]

54. +1000

[paleotn]

34. I learned about firearms as a youngster....

got my first .22 at 14 and I've shot firearms from a single shot .410 gauge to the Browning M2 50 cal. Familiarity does not change the fact that the purpose of these devices is to kill things. Period. Full stop. They have no purpose other than that. "but, but, but... they're fun to shoot." Well, so is the Mk 19 grenade launcher, but, no, you can't have one for obvious fucking reasons.

Luckily, I've never known anyone killed with a firearm, but if I had, I probably would hate them as well. They are dangerous, can be easily used for horrific purposes and must the tightly regulated. And anything with the firepower and potential magazine capacity of an AK, AR-15, Ruger Mini, etc., along with ALL semi-auto pistols should go the way of the BAR and the Thompson. Period. Full Stop. There's been far too much innocent blood spilled for this "hobby". No more debate. No gunsplaining. We're done.

This from a white, southern male who's owned guns most of his life.

[Aristus]

38. I can't say I agree with you 100%.

I served in the US Army, learning basic rifle marksmanship on the M16A1, and later using the M16A2 at my permanent duty station. As a tank crewman, I trained to use both the old Colt .45 1911A1 pistol, and the newer Beretta 9mm.

I qualified as an expert on all three weapons, and could still, nearly thirty years after I ETS'd, disassemble each of these weapons as I was trained to do.

None of that makes me any more pro-gun, or more understanding of the creepy, pornographic fetish gun-enthusiasts have for firearms. I know everything I need to know about guns and the people who love them. They are both a danger to our society, and the more love, affection, and importance they place on guns, the less they should be allowed to own them.

"You won't really know unless you've tried it."

I've never tried methamphetamine, but as a medical provider in primary care, I've seen the way it destroys lives. So to look at the astounding human wreckage caused by easy access to guns, and say: "You've just never really given them a chance" seems incredibly tone-deaf.

[hunter]

55. Oh bother...

Take your guns and...

http://www.gunsculpture.com

[Exotica]

10. I would just tell them to fuck right off, but then again I am probably from an entirely

different cultural upbringing with zero gun freaks ever in my family or my life.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

11. I found it helpful to do so, as emotional arguments tend to go nowhere.

[smirkymonkey]

13. I am totally on the same page with you!

I don't want to learn about guns. I don't care what gun-lovers think. I hate them and I think they are stupid. I will never understand this fetish that people have for them. It makes me crazy even thinking about it.

[Fred Sanders]

23. I just tell gunsplainers than a gun "goes boom and fires off metal fast enough

to kill". Same weapon for hundreds of year. What else to know?

[paleotn]

37. Exactly. It's not hard....

..it's not quantum physics, though trying figure out how a gun stroker's mind works is about as difficult to wrap one's brain around. Their purpose is to kill things. That's it. Nothing more.

[loyalsister]

15. I think I know plenty

They are weapons designed not only to kill, but to make it possible to kill with very nice little intellectual effort or physical force.
That's great for a war zone. But, providing simplicity in carrying out the kind of massive destruction that has long been a fantasy of people in moments of rage was clearly a bad idea. What really mystifies me is a belief that one's affection for objects and hobbies is more important than the lives of the victims and well being of families and friends and observers.

[HopeAgain]

16. I'll teach you everything you need to know

You pull a trigger and a deadly projectile comes out. Some guns are designed to shoot more deadly, more rapidly than others. There are guns that have been used for decades as sporting weapons and there are guns that are designed to kill human beings.

You can vote for legislators who are willing to take an honest look at weapons and make reasonable decisions for us as to what guns should be banned and which should not. None of them have an R behind their name and none of them take NRA money.

[NastyRiffraff]

19. I have never seen the need to learn more about guns

than I already know. In the wrong hands, they are dangerous, killing weapons. And there are many wrong hands. There is nothing about a gun to "love," any more than there is nothing about a bomb to love. (And before some idiot chimes in, yes, I do know the difference between guns & bombs. So keep it.)

[geardaddy]

20. K&R

Exactly. Those gunners have such easy to hurt feelings about their preciouses.

[gay texan]

21. I'm honestly surprised that the "put godback in our schools"

Argument didn't come up....

[jes06c]

30. I think that church shooting put an end to that talking point

[gay texan]

52. not on my end.

West texas

[bucolic_frolic]

24. A psychology professor once lectured we don't develop a fetish for a chair

emotional significance was his point, I guess

Does the point sort of fit here?

[TheSmarterDog]

25. I don't have to learn about child porn & why sick fucks like it to know that it should be banned.

[Dawson Leery]

26. The typical conservative argument.

They want us to come into their dark world.

I was raised in a conservative small town.

I have had more than enough conservatism for several lifetimes.

[hunter]

28. Gun love is disgusting.

I have no trouble telling people that.

[Squinch]

29. You dont. Its a bullshit way to shut down

any discussion. On the bright side it's also a fool proof tell: if someone is telling you that you know they're an NRA troll.

[Martin Eden]

33. If you've never stroked a gun, affectionately ...

... you simply can't speak knowledgably on the subject of guns.

[niyad]

35. Hawkeye Pierce-- "I will NOT carry a gun"

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

39. Persons that think like that...

need to see, first hand, not just pictures of just what those guns do to a body.
The smell alone will never leave your senses.

[unblock]

40. learning about guns is not at all a bad thing. however,

any remotely reasonable conclusion about policies and practices is going to land strongly on the side of safety, especially the safety of the people not involved in the purchase, sale, manufacturing, and use of guns.


reasonable regulation would be best designed to tackle primarily the weaponry most involved in intentional murders and unintentional harm to other people.

in terms of designing regulation, it's not overly important to understand why people who love guns love guns, just to accept that they do and have at least some kind of constitutional rights in this area; but it is important to understand what regulations regarding what weaponry would reduce bad outcomes.

the focus on assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles and bump stocks are an appropriate attempt at that, if perhaps somewhat misguided in the details.


when *communicating* and trying to get support for reasonable regulation, *then* it becomes important to understand the perspective of people who love guns. it helps if you can assure them they can still hunt and so on.

[radical noodle]

41. You don't, of course

but I've been picking my gun-owning husband's brain to learn about guns and gun safety so I can make arguments for gun control that can't be picked apart by people who are NRA pro-gunners.

[cwydro]

42. Why do you feel you have to do something just because someone says so?

I outgrew that in jr high.

[Delmette2.0]

48. Tell her you will keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

That is all you can say, nothing will change her mind.

[Skittles]

49. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE FEELINGS OF GUN HUMPERS

they are FUCKING COWARDS

[mercuryblues]

50. You can tell her I said

Until she has to go to a funeral of a 6 year old, who was killed by a gun she can STFU about how much she loves guns.

[fescuerescue]

57. If we ban them all. Nobody needs to know about them.

We ban cyanide. I don't know much about it, but I'm ok with that.

[Willie Pep]

58. I am probably more pro-gun than many here.

But I am not sure why you would need to learn technical details about guns to support gun control. That is like saying you need to be a doctor to have an opinion on health care and yes, I had a Republican doctor friend say that to me once.

Knowing about guns might help in debates with pro-gun people but the best evidence seems to be comparing the effectiveness of gun control laws across countries similar to the United States.

EDIT: I see that you did write that you know about guns and that this was more of an emotional issue as to why people love guns. I think that is an interesting issue. Your friend lives in the country so there is a strong gun culture there. People like guns for sport and hunting and things like that. I am a city person so I never understood the love for guns but I have relatives who live in rural areas and there is definitely a cultural attachment to guns out there.

[CrispyQ]

59. Years ago I thought about getting a gun so I took a gun class first.

That changed my mind. After holding & firing one I realized I didn't want that in my house.

As for your friend's comment about shootings being related to lack of love in our hearts, what a crock. Our real problem is an economy that serves only those at the top. People are frustrated & angry that they are going backwards, that their children will have fewer opportunities. They want someone to blame, & the 1% have hired hands, like Rush Limbaugh & Fox News, to tell the masses that the real enemy is the blacks/hispanics/gays/uppity women who want equality. They are the ones taking away your opportunity, not the greedy 1% who are gorging at the trough.