Originally posted by Bunken Drum
reply to post by nenothtu
Ah nenothtu, we meet again... Lol!
Good to see you! A worthy opponent is often the mark of a man, and the delight of a warrior. I thank you for doing me the honor.
I'll get onto UK violence shortly, but gun ownership... It's a self-fulfilling thing. You need them because the criminals have them. Where did they
get them? They either bought them legally before they were criminals, bought them illegally or stole them. If people didn't have them, neither would
criminals.
That's sometimes so, when people store them inadequately, but not always so. A couple of years ago, port authorities managed to stumble across 2000
Type 56 assault rifles (Chinese variant of the AK47, in full auto) together with 4000 magazines for same, bound for street gangs in Los Angeles. I
can't help but wonder how many other weapons have arrived here in the same way, and not been caught.
I know that some of the gangsatas in my neighborhood have full auto playthings (I've heard them firing in the dead of night, and there's no
mistaking the sound of an Uzi, or a Mac10 - the Mac10 sounds like a REALLY loud zipper, due to the rate of fire). Now I know some folks who have legal
full-auto weaponry here, and I can tell you that stuff is guarded as well as Fort Knox - I'm talking steel and concrete blast doors like bank vaults
have. It's too expensive to guard lightly. Those sub guns had to come from somewhere, and it wasn't legitimate owners, so I'd have to contend that
point somewhat.
I wonder how many people have experienced similar attempted burglaries? I'll bet most responsible gun owners keep them shut away, especially if they
have kids. So they dont have the thing handy when they might need it anyway. Without your dogs to keep the burglars occupied, they might easily have
caught you sitting on ATS, or running for your shootin iron.
Well sir, that was the holdup, and the dogs served their purpose. I keep that shotgun upstairs for a reason. The stairs are a naturally defensible
choke point. Can't but one man at a time attempt to get to me while I'm up there assembling my shooting iron, and he has to contend with my son (who
occupies the entire upstairs) dropping bricks on his head whilst the dogs gnaw on his other end. Due to my background, my son has been trained from an
early age in reaction drill for such events, and the training has now paid off. The shotgun itself is stored in a hidden cubby, unloaded and with a
bolt-blocking lock on it, with the only key in my pocket at all times. My son was fairly amazed, and asked me how I got it ready in total darkness,
that fast. These are things I practice.
But, to concede the point somewhat, I have to admit that there are some schmoes here who buy a handgun, never learn about it, and toss it in a
nightstand drawer to gather dust, and yes, occaisionally they get into circulation in the wrong hands. But not as frequently as claimed, and certainly
not enough to account for all the firepower out there.
But what if you weren't in? That'd be another illegal gun in circulation...
Nope. The bolt-block on the shotgun is hardened steel. They'd have to destroy the receiver to get it off without the key, effectively rendering the
gun inoperable. In the case of my AK74 (the newer Russian variant, not the AK47 or AKM), I pull the bolt out of it whenever I leave the house, so
stealing that wouldn't do them any good, except to identify the perpetrator's headless body if he tried to fire it. Being the newer Russian gun, the
bolt is mighty nigh unavailable here now, as is the barrel assembly. replacements can't be expected.
I can respect the idea that an armed populace is in a position to overthrow tyranny. It sounds logical. But you know, I wonder. No populace revolts
until they are jointly & severally so p!ssed off that they've got little to lose, @which point weight of numbers seems to have been the deciding
factor, with military often standing down or joining the revolution.
I have to agree there to, while adding the fact that ready firearms would make the job much more efficient for the citizenry, as opposed to, say,
rocks, sticks, and broken bottles.
Is it possible that owning guns so divides a people, each in fear of folks from other neighbourhoods that they dont trust each other to stand together
if TSHTF? Might this not actually cause people to put up with more sh!t before doing something about it?
Since you all don't have a "gun culture" over there, I can understand this misconception. Invariably, us "gun fanatics" who are not in the
criminal element are a friendly bunch towards one another. Rather than 'fear' each other, it's quite the opposite. We're drawn towards one
another, in common interest, and of course there's the old saw about an ARMED culture being a POLITE culture. There's a lot to be said for not
pissing off an armed man. Americans are known here, if not in the rest of the world, for putting up with guff from the government to a fault, rather
than storming the capitol. It's even written in to our Declaration of Independence. Yeah, we put up with a lot, but it's not because of the guns.
What would an armed revolt do anyway, but simply replace one armed tyranny with another? That seems to have been the model so far...
In smaller. third world countries, that seems to indeed be the case, but there are exceptions. The first American Revolution would be one. The latest
Russian Revolution would be another. It's a possibility, but not a given, and I'm pretty sure that there are folks around here who would insure
against that outcome. The revolution brewing here now is centered around the restoration of our Constitution, which has taken a severe beating in the
past 19 or 20 years, and that outcome would effectively insure against such an eventuality.
Please note that's not a slight against Mr Obama, as he's nothing more than the latest installment in a line of tyrants, including two Bushes and a
Clinton. This crosses "party" lines, has been building up steam for a while, and must eventually come to a head if the fine folks in Washington DC
don't start paying attention to what's their constituents are saying to them.
What's happening over there, what's this violence I hear about you're running into there, and does it compare in any way to our situation here?
[edit on 2009/7/5 by nenothtu]