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  #31 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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MattLarson MattLarson is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSGracchus View Post
I just looked at those stats and saw no support for this statement.
The OP linked to a source stating there are, on average, 83,000 defensive uses of a firearm per year.

Even counting suicides, that's still better than 2:1 odds that the gun will be used to defend oneself than to harm oneself or criminally harm another.

Thusly, your claim that "There are going to be situations in which having a gun saves a person's life or protects his/her property. There are going to be situations in which it endangers the lives of their owners or their owners' family and friends. Statistically, the latter are much more numerous" is shown to be incorrect.

Matt
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  #32 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSGracchus View Post
And yet I can still remember the time when a friend of mine who was over visiting took my dad's revolver out and, assuming it was unloaded, pointed it at my sister and pulled the trigger . . .
A harder right hook would never be thrown...
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  #33 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSGracchus View Post
I just looked at those stats and saw no support for this statement.



We were teenagers. (This answers your question, too, Mrs. M.) The only way it could have been out of reach was if it were locked up or disabled, which would have also meant it was unavailable for household defense as needed.

Believe me, I do blame my friend for being an idiot. However, idiots do exist, and everyone is an idiot at extraordinary times.



This is an absurd statement, Matt. Of course there's an inherent danger in owning a gun, unless by "properly stored" you mean stored in such a way that it can't be used, and it is never taken out for use. Your statement makes no more sense than to say that driving a car poses no risk. Of course it does.

The question is whether it poses a greater risk than not having one. My belief is that, for the overwhelming majority of people, it does. One could try to argue to the contrary, and for a few people in high-risk situations you would be right, but to suggest, as you do here, that the risk of having a gun is literally zero, is ridiculous.
TSG, you strike me as a student who hasn't quite made it through his freshman course in logic. May i suggest you complete the class before you attempt another discussion?
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  #34 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
Captain Trips Captain Trips is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

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Originally Posted by EricOKC View Post
TSG, you strike me as a student who hasn't quite made it through his freshman course in logic. May i suggest you complete the class before you attempt another discussion?
To suggest that the risk of walking out ones front door is zero is ridiculous too see

Originally Posted by TSGracchus
.........to suggest, as you do here, that the risk of having a gun is literally zero, is ridiculous.

The risk of waking UP in the morning isn't zero either.
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  #35 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
Captain Trips Captain Trips is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Riding a bike is dangerous.

Driving a car is dangerous.

Making dinner can be dangerous.

Shaving can be dangerous.


.... what ISN'T dangerous ?
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  #36 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

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Originally Posted by Captain Trips View Post
Riding a bike is dangerous.

Driving a car is dangerous.

Making dinner can be dangerous.

Shaving can be dangerous.


.... what ISN'T dangerous ?
Let's legalize cocaine.
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  #37 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
Captain Trips Captain Trips is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

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Originally Posted by Donkey_Left View Post
Let's legalize cocaine.
Why not ?

Life itself is dangerous.

Tenuous. Each of us hangs by a thread nearly every day whether we realize or know it or not.

But then we get into arguments about what an entire society sees as "legal" and acceptable don't we ?

People do stupid shit no matter what. You can't make it illegal or restrict it.
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  #38 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSGracchus View Post
I do not plan ever to own and keep a firearm around the house.
That's ok, we won't hold it against you. You probably don't need to be around firearms anyway.

I'll make up for your slack though - I've got 32 firearms in my house.
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  #39 (permalink)  
Old 07-03-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

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Originally Posted by DammitBoy! View Post
That's ok, we won't hold it against you. You probably don't need to be around firearms anyway.

I'll make up for your slack though - I've got 32 firearms in my house.
Right.

Fucking.

On.

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  #40 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

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Originally Posted by Donkey_Left View Post
Well, I support the right to suicide, so that includes guns.
This.

Why is it mine, or the state's, business what someone does to their self in their own home?
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  #41 (permalink)  
Old 07-05-2008
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Cthulhu321 Cthulhu321 is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donkey_Left View Post
Let's legalize cocaine.
This is something I find inconsistent with the logic of liberals and progressives, in the U.S. at least, who make the case that drugs ought to be legalized because people should be allowed to do whatever they want to with their own bodies (which I agree with) and then make the opposite case when it comes to guns. Is this just to spite conservatives or is there some actual principled way to advocate both positions?

(I'm not implicating you in this Donkey, just making a general statement)
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  #42 (permalink)  
Old 08-24-2008
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

There should be fire arm restrictions because GUNS KILL. Simply for the sake of protection is not reason enough to take someone's life! There are other ways to protect besides killing. What about rubber bullets, tasers, pepper spray... why must we use weapons meant to kill when there are alternatives?
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  #43 (permalink)  
Old 08-24-2008
nise nise is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by MattLarson View Post
As for the suicides, well, they are tragic. But absent a gun, people can and do kill themselves. Blaming the implement is simply a way of avoiding blaming the individual.

Matt

{edited to remove reply to self-defense stats, as OP has corrected the comment}
I agree, a person will do what they will with their body no matter the law.
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  #44 (permalink)  
Old 08-24-2008
Hafke Hafke is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
There should be fire arm restrictions because GUNS KILL. Simply for the sake of protection is not reason enough to take someone's life! There are other ways to protect besides killing. What about rubber bullets, tasers, pepper spray... why must we use weapons meant to kill when there are alternatives?
Seriously? You don't think that someone trying to beat, rape and/or murder you is a good enough reason to harm or even kill them? I have always been taught that if someone tries to attack me, then their life is worth less than mine.
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  #45 (permalink)  
Old 08-24-2008
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EricOKC EricOKC is offline
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Re: More Gun Owners Use 2nd Amenedment to Kill Themselves

Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
There should be fire arm restrictions because GUNS KILL.
The gun is not what does the killing. It is merely the tool.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
Simply for the sake of protection is not reason enough to take someone's life!
You are welcome to hold such a belief for yourself, but the vast majority of humanity would disagree with you. Self-defense is absolutely a legitimate reason to kill someone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
There are other ways to protect besides killing.
Yes there are, but if someone is trying to harm me, i'm not the least bit concerned about what might happen to him when i choose to defend myself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
What about rubber bullets,
What about them? They can still kill, and they're not effective when trying to stop a threat bent on causing you harm.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
tasers,
Useless against more than a single attacker, worthless against animals, no reload capability, and not always effective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
pepper spray
Same problems as a taser, very short range, and even less effective.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nise View Post
... why must we use weapons meant to kill when there are alternatives?
Because currently there ARE no alternatives which are as efficient and effective for self defense.

I am curious - what on earth is such a pathetic pacifist such as yourself doing in the USAF? Do you realize by advocating in favor of gun control you are violating your oath? You took an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic and here you are advocating destruction of that very same document, and the rights of the people you have sworn to defend.

Of course, i shouldn't be surprised that someone who has no respect for their own life would have no respect for any oath they have taken, or for the lives of others.
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Last edited by EricOKC; 08-24-2008 at 08:27 AM.
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