personally, i think guns, in general are destructive and encourage violence. i know that its purpose decides its role, and that just like any other tool, it can be used for something good, or bad. Guns are inanimate, and the real choice lies in the gun owner's hands. But i still believe that like attracts like, and thus guns do encourage violence.

i don't understand, why people choose to own guns in the name of self-defense. sure it can help to protect one from an unpredictable threat; but my intuition says that guns in general encourage violence. "we must be the change we wish to see," so i would like to hear your opinions, on where the fine line lies on this subject.

yes, people are all at different levels of consciousness, but just because an attacker can be a threat, is not a valid excuse to own a gun in the name of self-defense, because by doing so, we're lowering our own level of consciousness

Guns are a collection of matter that propel metal slugs into other people/things. Humans put this matter together so it will do the most damage to other collections of matter.

Neutral about them, I support second amendment rights in the United States. Give everyone a gun, it means the government will have to work that much harder when it declares martial law.

Honestly, in my mind, guns promote violence like video games support violence. They really do not. I believe it is switzerland that gives everyone an assault rifle and teaches them how to use it? I believe their crime rate is quite low.

I dont own one, most ppl I know own several. I know a few people who collect them , including flame throwers and Uzi's . I was Once at a friends House and he has a huge collection of Guns, and loves to shoot them , there was guns in the glass coffee tables, guns on the walls, guns under the sofa cushions, his attic was FILLED with guns. It was really a bit intimidating, and I thought, wow, someones gonna get killed one day with all these damn guns around , even if your careful accidents happen, but the odds have to go up when there are dozens, maybe hundreds of guns around! geesh!.

When I was 12 years old, my father took me hunting, I was excited as all my friends were going out for their first hunting trips as well that year = and I wanted to finally KILL something.
I was small game hunting and saw a Squirrel, my dad said leave it , look for a rabbit or pheasant or something else, but I wanted to kill it , so, I shot the squirrel , and I hit it.

It was maybe 15ft up on a tree trunk, it slowly (so slowly) slid down and down the tree , hanging on best it could , until it lost all its strength and finally let go at the bottom of the tree, dead.

I walked over slowly, as I started to feel really horrible, I suddenly realized I had KILLED this animal, This innocent creature, and for no other purpose then sport. I was a changed man.

I felt so bad I have never picked up another gun and fired it ever since , IMO killing for sport is an awlful thing to do.

I own a few. I use them for hunting. I dont go out and shoot for sport. I have them also for home security. It's sad that we live in a world where I feel I need that. I hope I never have to use it in self defense, that would be an absolutely terrible thing. I am retired from the USMC so I have fired allot of weapons, my service during war has given me a great respect and understanding of the responsibility possesing a fire arm is. Intentions of the gun owner is what makes a gun dangerous.

I believe that people of integrity take the defense of themselves and of their community upon themselves. Nothing but good can come from people of such heart and responsibility having their own weapons.

The history of disarmament parallels that of feudalism. Conquerors took away weapons from the lands to prevent free people from asserting their rights.

Guns aren't any more violent than your kitchen contents, or your hands, or your belt, or your garden gnome. They can all be used to destroy but its all up to the human in control. I'm all for firearms education. People just don't know enough or respect them enough in my experience.

Hopefully through the cross hairs & not down the barrel!!



WS

To say guns are only destructive and only encourage violence is a bit ignorant. im a proud gun owner and find a day at the shooting range very therapeutic. it really is a great stress reliever.

if you really feel this way banish all knives from your dinner table for they have been taking lives for many more years than guns have.

ps. have you ever fired or owned a gun?

I live in a country that has been essentially disarmed. I have no interest whatsoever in guns, and have never, ever felt I needed one for defense.

I remember feeling extremely weird when I was in Israel, where it was a common sight to see soldiers with a machine gun slung over their shoulder. Even seeing a holstered pistol that a policeman might have makes me feel weird.

as far as good or bad goes to me guns are inanimate objects that are neither good nor bad. i dont look at a gun and see soemthing that is bad. i just see a gun. a pile of matter.
what i see as bad is that which is non material. the roots and motivation behind the vast majority of all gun violence. money and addiction. to put it human emotions lets just say greed.
the real problem is not the guns. if you take away all the guns you wouldn't change a thing about the real problem. the problem of people willing to do anything including kill for money or a fix. to me that is whats "bad".

im not sticking up for guns as much as im encouraging us to re-think the problem in this world.

do i think more gun control will lower homicides in this country? hell yes but i bet a larger amount of lives would be spared by having more progressive drug policy's, better education and after school programs. you can leave the gun laws as is but take away the drug black market, offer heroin clinics, make addiction therapy and treatments like iboga legal and accessible to all people and see what happens.

so i dont always think yanking all the guns off the shelves and out of peoples hands is the best choice. to me its a bit short sighted.

I wouldn't want to banish knives because they have an actual daily need and purpose. Same can be said for guns when considering hunting, but how many gun owners hunt to provide food for the table? A very small percentage, and certainly not using the vast assortment of guns owned by the populous.

I know many people with guns, and earlier in my life, I did enjoy shooting them. It is and can be very therapeutic, but so can many other things that have much less potential for harm. In the end, people just like guns. It's as simple as that...we like the feeling of security, the sense of power over our environment...a very ego-based comfort.

As for guns encouraging violence....I only know they provide a very convenient method of conflict resolution, and that method is most certainly violent. Guns are intended for harm, whatever it is that is being harmed. I don't expect any massive changes in my lifetime, nor do I believe disarmament is a wise course.

However, I would like to see humanity evolve into a less defensive disposition, so I am doing my part by not owning a gun. I don't need to hunt to nourish myself and am not sure I have the ability to decide someone else should die instead of me...my life is no lesser with my lack of a firearm.

i have to disagree so strongly with this one point Eden. although not a hunter myself, my family and large number of friends are all hunters. i bet i know more than 20 folks who activity hunt. every single one of them and every hunter ive ever talked to butchers and eats their game. i would guess that trophy hunting makes up less than 5% of all hunters.

its not fare to make statements like that when you clearly don't know much about hunting. i swear most hunters are nature and animal loving people. ive never met a hunter that was cruel to an animal. yes i see the obvious irony in that statement but i just dont see hunting as cruel. to me its the most honorable and respectful way to eat meat if you are a carnivore. far more human and loving than commercial farming and cattle ranches. i often feel like a chicken shit for not providing my own meat but supporting the cruelty of animals.

just because we are humans doesn't mean mean were still not animals. and just because we now have the brains to use tools to hunt instead of claws and teeth doesn't make it cruel.

off topic i know but i had to stick up for my family and friends. please don't think im attacking you.

much love

That's just fine, I was in no way attacking. I am glad you bring up your experience though..the gun owners I know do hunt, but they have nowhere near the respect you portray in those you know. That is unfortunate, because I might have a different opinion if I was exposed to that mindset in owners.

Issue is, I don't. I am in no way against hunting...I truly hope as many gun owners hunt for food as you suggest. I simply think the line gets blurry when people claim they need a sidearm for game hunting.

Classic.


"All a gun does is focus an explosion in one direction." -Fight Club

but seriously:

When my garden gnome kills people, there is no human in control...!

Anyway, I own guns for two very simple reasons: I enjoy shooting them, and they're cool. In the 21st century US, I think that owning them purely for self defense is just a socially acceptable excuse to own them, when really you simply think they're cool. If it was necessary to have them for self defense, then wouldn't there be more people out there who don't like them but own them out of necessity?

I really like guns. However, I also think I have been grossly desensitized to violence... and despite the peace/love mentality that psychedelic use can lead to, it's also firmly implanted in me an idea of the impermanence of material life. Krishna's words in the Bhagavad Gita ring true to me. I truly value life, but I do not fear death; ergo, I do not abhor the idea of f***ing shit up with a Mosin Nagant if the situation called for it... whether this is a healthy viewpoint or not is still up for debate.

thanks for offering your input guys. there are some wonderful answers in here, and i'm grateful for your opinions.


hey hyperspacing, i didn't say that they are "only" destructive; i said "in general." you use it for stress relief, which is different. i meant, people who buy guns with the intention that they can now better protect themselves against threats.
and, i see your analogy, but kitchen knives and guns are completely different things. knives can be used to kill, but its not made for that purpose, whereas guns are. guns have killed far more people than kitchen knives..guns have encouraged many wars and massacres.btw, i've never fired a gun (don't need to) and don't plan on ever owning a gun. universe has a plan, and i'm happy being in the passenger seat and drifting wherever life takes me. i dont need a gun to protect myself, and meditation does wonders for relieving my stress


yes i agree olympus, but the human race is diseased and on the verge of killing itself, along with everything beautiful. this is like handing a mad man a loaded gun. why do that in the first place?
if u had two options: to live in a world with guns, or in a world without any guns and weapons, which one would you pick? taking away the guns surely won't do any good on its own, without reaching to the root of the problem- the entrancement within the ego state; however, it can serve as a start.
The best way to cure a heroin addict would be to first take away his heroin. btw, by this, i'm not necessarily implying that the govt should regulate guns. i think the govt's fucked up, and that even the military shouldn't have guns (as long as they're meant to take lives and hurt people). but i agree that curing the problem from its roots is more important. but how can you expect such a transformation with all these killing machines lying around?


very wonderfully put Eden. to see humanity evolve into a species that doesn't kill, we must start with our own selves. and your statement: "I am not sure I have the ability to decide someone else should die instead of me" is spot on with my argument against using guns for self-defense also. Life is wiser than us as individuals, and we must surrender to the greater power.

btw, olympus, i think hunting for food is much better than buying meat from stores. hunting is far less painful for these animals which have been tortured and manipulated, and live caged up in constant fear of their lives, watching other animals get butchered.

I may or may not want to own a gun some day, perhaps as a sense of protection, or maybe as a toy. My main reason that I support that people exercise their right to own guns, is that I feel uncomfortable that governments be the ones with all the gun power. For people who are anti-gun, I really find it difficult to believe they would want only the government to have use of guns.

"guns have encouraged many wars and massacres"

I dunno about that..isn't it people that have encouraged these things? Blame people not things.

I come from a country that is not a constitutional right for me to "bear arms", its quite illegal actually,except some hunting rifles and for them you need all kinds of permits. Owning legally an uzi or a sub-machine gun here? Well, not a chance in million years! In my country of course there are also many illegal firarms floating around, which means that a) the danger of being attacked or threatened with one is real and happens, b) the people which would go out of their way to obtain illegal firearms usually are not the ones you would like to dine with them or invite them over for a friendly chat, in other words they are the..."stereotypical" criminal , the man or woman which wants the gun to use it against people having not so good motives at mind.

Thing is, i do not feel threatened by not being allowed to carry a gun while the ones that propably shouldnt carry one (due to their motives) already do. While i have never lived in a country that arms are legal -and that means that i may carry misconceptions about guns!- i think that if more people could own legal guns or find guns easier many incidents would have escalated to shootouts and gun firing. Not because guns are "bad" (meh!) but because when someone snaps it would be easier to conceal a small but deadly firearm and to press its trigger from a distance, rather than actualising the feeling of animosity through direct physical contact (stabbing or clubbing someone to death). If someone snaps with a sub-machine gun in his hands or even a smaller firearm, you got a dozen bodies before he cools down, if someone snaps with a knife or with a blunt weapon propably there is more time to cool down and cause less damage. Of course,like in every country, here homicides are continuing even though guns are not legal : people have been shot with legally owned hunting rifles, with illegaly owned handguns and also people have been killed with knives,clubs etc. Well, if one really snaps and wants to kill he could do it even with a kitchen knife or even cloth wire. In my country there was an incident where a friend of mine during highschool totally lost it towards some people that were bullying a younger friend of his, entered the school with a legaly owned air gun and did some damage (nothing permanent and no kills), by lack of skill/emotional charge he also shot bystanders.It went almost unoticed in the granded scheme of things.While i may have preconceptions, i think that if he had access to real firearms we could have had one of those not-so-pretty "School Massacres".

Apart from that i used a gun when i was in the army (two types military rifles) and in itself i enjoyed it as target shooting. This does not mean i fantasised about shooting animals or people, but i found it an interesting experience and more of a "skill game" like throwing darts or throwing stones at metal cans -things that propably many children are playing already-. With friends we have shot with air gus and replicas at inanimate targets such as cans filled with water or fruit (here people would could argue if a cut fruit is "ok" to shoot,compared to an animal) for the fun of it. So in itself i do not "detest" guns, the gun is a tool: i just dont trust the random person behind the gun.

For me the whole issue cannot be "answered" adequately, just personal views stated.

Without a doubt, people are ultimately to blame.

Thing is, guns are very willing and able vessels for our destructive tendencies. More harm then good is the entire basis of my opinion on this matter.