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I have guns to shoot at inanimate objects for fun. Occasionally animals to eat. Not to go looking for trouble. I do carry some times for protection though.

Does anyone here think knives/silverware are stupid/bad?

Jwar

Jero wrote: Does anyone here think knives/silverware are stupid/bad?

I won't leave the house without my big motherfucker bayonet with a 10" blade inside my jacket on a shoulder sling. I never used to feel the need to carry anything, but since I was attacked on a train and nearly killed I feel I need something. On that occasion I was stabbed with a screwdriver, slashed with a box cutter and then bashed within an inch of my life.
If handguns were easier to get here then I would carry a .38 snub nose revolver as well. Wouldn't think of leaving the house without it. This world is a dangerous place.

Jero wrote:I have guns to shoot at inanimate objects for fun. Occasionally animals to eat. Not to go looking for trouble. I do carry some times for protection though.

Does anyone here think knives/silverware are stupid/bad?

Jwar

So I think the difference here is that a knife or something similar has a much smaller effective radius. I've been in situations where people on the other side or the room (bar or party or whatever) have pulled knives and guns, and I definitely feel much more unsafe when a gun is pulled than when a knife gets brandished, simply because, as a bystander to what's happening, I'm much more likely to be caught in the crossfire of a gun than an errant swing of a knife or brass knuckled fist or whatever.

Chankgeez wrote:

Seriously. That's some fucked up shit, Jwar. Sorry to bring it up.

I just think it should be like owning and driving a car. Having a vehicle requires you to have a license, which requires you to also have to take classes and what not before you are able to drive. Once you have the license and a car, you have to purchase insurance so if and when you ever get into an accident, both parties are accounted for and will be able to cover the damages.

Its just too easy for some goddamn fuckboy to walk into a shop, buy a gun off the wall and go crazy. Yes I know there are existing regulations. There should be more. I'm all for responsible gun ownership,. but buying something that's sole purpose is to kill (fuck the ancillary uses) should be about the hardest thing an American citizen can do.

Jero wrote:I have guns to shoot at inanimate objects for fun. Occasionally animals to eat. Not to go looking for trouble. I do carry some times for protection though.

Does anyone here think knives/silverware are stupid/bad?

Jwar

Jero and Jwar...

Yall'd be surprised at how many hot women in Austin carry...

I gotta say as an outsider, the idea of going to a country and seeing a bunch of normal people walking around carrying fucking guns like it's no big thing basically makes me never want to visit places where 'open carry' is a thing.

daseb wrote:I gotta say as an outsider, the idea of going to a country and seeing a bunch of normal people walking around carrying fucking guns like it's no big thing basically makes me never want to visit places where 'open carry' is a thing.

No way, as an outsider we welcome you to Texas or Austin anytime...

There are a lot of states that already have open and it's not really an issue, Texas doesn't yet...

I think what dase is trying to say is, it either makes you all look fucking insane or like shit is so out of hand, it's just better notto go there.

I was stirring the pot with my comment before, not having familiarity with a culture like that is really alienating, and I'll concede we don't have half the social problems you guys seem to on the scale that you do.
In no way did I mean insult or injusry, and jwar, I do apologise if my remarks offended. That is horrendous and I can see why you would feel that way.

I think that you have to see these problems as an overall symptom of much larger problems though.
Mental health is certainly a massive player, as is the availability of resources surrounding the management of individuals affected by it to this level.
Drugs and crime are usually comorbid with the above, and stem from larger social structures that limit/enhance opportunities/outcomes.
Then there's the actual tool (the gun) as a phenomenon. How are they getting them? Why the need to just shoot people? What's up with this whole "death by cop shoot out" thing?
Sociopaths/psychopaths aside, I don't believe that 99.999% would act so violently if all their provisions were met and they were treated equitably, with enough social fabric available to form some kind of bond with their fellow humans. Enough, at least, not to murder them for their bus change.
I know that these things exist world wide, and I know my country is miles off of solving any of these issues. But it does beg the question: what the fuck is up with the gun related crime/death rates in the US?

jwar, I admire that you see the good in people and have your views because that's the situation you're in. You are right, this is the world, and the sad fact is that this is what you are doing to negotiate it. But surely if enough people lobbied their asses off, you could get your government to at least start picking these issues apart?
I would think at this point, the amount of people in your country that have been on the wrong side of a gun would far outnumber the lawmakers and those lobbying that you are proceeding in the right direction.

Just my 2c, and the exchange rate is brutal.

You're still getting a hug

Jero wrote:I have guns to shoot at inanimate objects for fun.

I forgot to mention: this^. I don't have guns, but yes, target shooting is rad fun.

Kind of interesting article on the ABC (our one, not yours) regarding the differences between Australian and American gun culture. I don't think his arguement is totally complete but I agree with the basic premise.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-19/m ... ng/6558764

daseb wrote:I gotta say as an outsider, the idea of going to a country and seeing a bunch of normal people walking around carrying fucking guns like it's no big thing basically makes me never want to visit places where 'open carry' is a thing.

As an 'insider', I never want to visit places where open carry is a thing.

Dos, Iommic, & WeHuntKings, you all have some good points.

Barracuda wrote:

daseb wrote:I gotta say as an outsider, the idea of going to a country and seeing a bunch of normal people walking around carrying fucking guns like it's no big thing basically makes me never want to visit places where 'open carry' is a thing.

As an 'insider', I never want to visit places where open carry is a thing.

As an insider who likes guns; I don't think I want open carry. You will sometimes see instructors/non uniformed/etc carrying here, and honestly, I pay a lot of fucking attention to that person most of the time they're around.

Iommic Pope wrote:

Jero wrote:I have guns to shoot at inanimate objects for fun.

I forgot to mention: this^. I don't have guns, but yes, target shooting is rad fun.

It's the best. One of my favorite things to do really, but I can't go out as often as I'd like.

Iommic Pope wrote:
What's up with this whole "death by cop shoot out" thing?
...But it does beg the question: what the fuck is up with the gun related crime/death rates in the US?

I had a family member, between mental illness and whatever else, go out this way. Young kid (18 or so), decided to break into a house and rob them while no one was home. He found a gun amongst other things. Went into hiding in the woods, where the police eventually found him. He ended up committing suicide via cop (aimed an unloaded firearm at them).

As for the gun related crime/death rates...Remove guns from the equation, and we will likely find something else. Knives, bows, bats, what ever. The crime/death will continue Goes back to, people are the problem, not guns...or we live in a place where the people in charge act like it's such an issue, yet they are the ones allowing it (and in some cases, causing) it to continue.

Well the people in charge is beholden to the gun lobby, but that's neither here nor there.

What Jero said. Why is everyone forgetting about McVeigh? Dude just got fertilizer and truck. It's way too complicated of an issue that involves mental health (or access to), socio-economic, cultural, isolation/feelings of being trapped or stuck, hate, and way to many issues to actually discuss. Guns are just a means or a tool. Violent people will just find otherways to do what they do.

That abc.au article was interesting but was a little off. More on interesting on the way we are perceived. The problem with the USA is saying that people from Florida have the same mentality as people from California (or even a guy growing up in the projects in Crenshaw vs. a kid from Santa Monica). This country has too many outside influences to universally define anything is difficult. We just aren't as homogenized as other countries which is also pretty unique. Just the basic roots of the "American" mindset is based on four major migrations from England (Albion's Seed), not to mention the other influences of diverse cultures that were brought into the American mindset either by force or via acceptance (which is the sad, strange, ongoing tale of this country's unification...Nationalism was created here to differentiate themselves from other people and even going down to our mini-countries (states)).

I've had guns, and everyone I know has had a gun, but I've never met anyone that carries. I know people with a CC permit, but they don't on a regular basis (and they are professional trick shooters that make a living at competitions). I dunno, I've been all around California, lived here all my life and grew up in the most conservative center of the state, and the only nuts I have seen with guns in the open were the compound folks up in the woods way up north. I know some people in LA do carry, and there is gun violence (3 people were shot not to far from me not too long ago), but there always seems to be trends of the root problems above. People that didn't have access to a gun here just kill in another way (car, strangling, beat to death, stab wounds...someone close to me was stabbed 60 times by a boyfriend). People need help and don't get it and go crazy but there are some people that are crazy and will always do what they do because they are crazy.

I don't want open carry either. Though I have also always looked at carrying a gun as protection is an acceptance of death...like a willingness to engage instead of diffuse. Like if somebody robs me (which happened last year), I'm ready for whatever happens but they ain't going to get to my family. I called the cops but intimidation and being smart solved the problem (camera and a bat) but I was also accepting of the consequences of engagement; I knew it was a risk and was ready for whatever happened. They were gone before and only got off with my seat wrench and a broken iphone 4 from my garage for a total value of $35. I've been ganged up on and I've always been able to solve the problem (almost got carjacked once, but I just gassed it). I'm not some tough guy...just a normal dude. I dunno, a cop told me once that in 25 years he had to pull his gun once because he just used intimdation, smarts and confidence to diffuse situations...pulling his telescoping baton (with the sound it makes) made most people hesitate enough to diffuse most situations. Basically, I ain't going to live in fear that I brought my brain to a gun fight. If I brought a rational mind to a crazy fight, no matter what they have (including teeth), is where people run into trouble. A gun just complicates things for me personally.

I'm sorry that all you guys have had bad stuff happen though...I feel for ya. If I was in a similar situation I may feel similar afterwards. jwar and kaos, I don't mean to say you guys are wrong because who knows what I would do after those situations and honestly, I don't think I am that different. That is what's nice, I guess, is that we've got the right to protect ourselves.

I like target shooting but I hate cleaning guns. It just ain't worth it to me anymore. All for licencing and continued training/tests/etc like a car or crane operator or something. Can't stand the gun lobby...just can't stand the way any of those lobbies protect freaking nut jobs (like the pro-life bombers...more crazies that don't use guns, or dudes like Zimmerman, who is just a psycho). I don't carry a gun, don't use them for protection, and I know they make things easier for crazy people to murder...but I think there are root causes for violence that aren't being taken into account while people just attack a surface result.

Sorry for ramblin'.

Anyway...I think those safety mechanisms Chankgeez posted are pretty neat.

Yeah I dunno guys owning something designed to kill another person in a split second is just not something I can comprehend. I grew up around guns, Im the son, grandson and great grandson of combat veterans, I know how to shoot, and the idea of people carrying around handguns still terrifies me. The people here that I know wish they could carry one around are all wannabe cops who are afraid of brown people. I've been mugged before and it sucked losing all my money but five years later I'm glad I didn't have someone else's life on my conscience. I've had people try to rob my house and chased them off with a bat and the fury of an extremely pissed off toy poodle.

I dunno, I just don't get it. It's a fundamental cultural thing hey and I find it really sad.

Y'all may have heard of the massacre that kicked off our gun control laws here? My wife was there when she was a kid. She walked out of the cafe and literally brushed past the dude as he was on his way in to start shooting. Just...guns, yeah. Call me a PC liberal whatever but they upset me.