The Topic, Guns.

I have a let it be attitude towards the topic of guns. I know guns do not disappear but ammunition can.

I was very young when I was introduced to guns. I would watch my father come home with rabbits and pheasants, ducks and a goose. I saw trophies on the shelves. I did not see the gun as a weapon because that is not how I was taught. I was aware the gun could be used as a weapon from what I saw on television and in comic books. I had toy guns that were toy weapons. The toy weapons never appealed to me because I did not see guns that way.

The first time I used a gun was at my grandfathers house. I was about nine or ten years old with a .22 rifle shooting cans off of a wall and I could not wait to grow up but it was not the power of the gun. I wanted to be able to do what my father was doing. I wanted the trophies and what came along with it but then a funny thing happened. I was in a field one day watching my father and many people shooting clay pigeons in a competition when I saw a man give his son, a little older than I was, the shotgun to try shooting a target. When the gun was fired the person was sent flying about ten feet backwards. I decided I wanted to remain standing while using a gun so I would not be trying the shotgun, which was obvious when my father laughed at me.

I was aware then as I am today that the power of the gun does not come from the gun. Power does not come by way of weapons. Power comes by way of people. America is a perfect example of that as are the countries that follow suit. I know people believe it when I see you voting on Election Day.

The first time I held a hand gun, was not too long after the rifle. The gun belonged to my fathers uncle Michael. Michael was over eighty years old living alone in the countryside. The gun came from being a soldier. The gun was found shortly after Michael died, under his pillow. I was fascinated by the gun because the gun looked so old. The gun was loaded. The gun was scary looking. I was in the same room when my father hid the gun and months later when my father was away for a short time I had an idea.

I knew there was gunpowder inside the bullets. I wanted to create the trail of gunpowder you would create which leads to a pile of gunpowder, and light it. I took bullets out of the gun and went out to the backyard with a hammer. I carefully took the casings off of the lead bullets by hitting the casing with a hammer away from the lead bullet. I think I opened maybe two bullets before I could not wait to try it. It was very amusing while it lasted. When I began with the hammer again I was interrupted by my mother, which was loud.

I read "guns don't kill people, people kill people" a lot, but really, when you think about it, bullets kill people.

The guns are not the problem because there are too many guns. If guns were the problem, there would be a lot more dead people.

I know a time will come where people have learned to control the use of guns by way of the ammunition. I think people have to reinvent how guns are made and sold. An idea I have for the future of guns is to give a gun a lifespan, which can be achieved with the ammunition it uses. There are too many lost guns. Those guns do not disappear, or die. They get sold to criminals or simply passed around.

The first step to getting rid of dangerous guns is to create a safer gun and stop making bullets.

get rid of the gun ,bow and arrows will be next or sticks and stones , people will always find a way to kill people no matter what, ban the gun or bullets all you want, knifes and swards will do the same...kill

reply to post by TRUELIES11


He who beats his sword into a plow, usually winds up plowing the fields of those who kept their sword.

Get rid of guns ... I'd rather not.

reply to post by SirMike

You are missing the point completely. I did not mean get rid of guns. For guns to be safer, guns must evolve to become safer. There are probably as many guns are there are people. Slowly make those guns of no use with safer more technologically advanced guns. Time heals all wounds.

Originally posted by TRUELIES11
reply to post by SirMike

 

You are missing the point completely. I did not mean get rid of guns. For guns to be safer, guns must evolve to become safer. There are probably as many guns are there are people. Slowly make those guns of no use with safer more technologically advanced guns. Time heals all wounds.

You may want to chime in on my thread which covers the proposals for the evolution of safer guns, and NOT banning them all.


Can we force an evolution in gun manufacturing to enable a more safe weapon

reply to post by TRUELIES11

 

The gun was cast iron and loaded.

The first time I fired a firearm was when I was 11 years old up in the high desert of California with my oldest sister and her husband. We visited a ranch a friend of theirs had. 30 acres or nothing but desert, rolling hills and Joshua trees.

I was excited about firing a shotgun. My sister unzipped her 12 gauge and fired off a couple of shells at a rock formation. She proceeded to give me instructions which I completely ignored [She was a girl] and then I shouldered the weapon and fired.

It took me only a couple of seconds to pick my butt up off the ground and about a week for my shoulder to heal but about 2 years for me to get over my ego being hurt because of landing on my ass before I tried it again but this time I listened to those who actually knew what the hell they are talking about with regards to firearms.....

Taking the guns away from the people is not an option.
Only safe gun owners would be willing to part with their guns to get rid of guns, which is why it will not work that way. The people with the dangerous guns will have those guns until they run out of ammunition, or, legally get a safe gun by turning in their guns.

Originally posted by SLAYER69

reply to post by TRUELIES11

 

The gun was cast iron and loaded.

The first time I fired a firearm was when I was 11 years old up in the high desert of California with my oldest sister and her husband. We visited a ranch a friend of theirs had. 30 acres or nothing but desert, rolling hills and Joshua trees.

I was excited about firing a shotgun. My sister unzipped her 12 gauge and fired off a couple of shells at a rock formation. She proceeded to give me instructions which I completely ignored [She was a girl] and then I shouldered the weapon and fired.

It took me only a couple of seconds to pick my butt up off the ground and about a week for my shoulder to heal but about 2 years for me to get over my ego being hurt because of landing on my ass before I tried it again but this time I listened to those who actually knew what the hell they are talking about with regards to firearms.....

Almost the same thing here: Dad was Dove hunting and I had my pellet gun which did me no good for bringing down a Dove for supper.. I bugged him all day about letting me shoot his 16 Gage shotgun. I suppose he finally got tired of my 6 year old mouth bugging him so while on a tank dam overlooking a pond he gave me my chance. I too was knocked on my butt (did not let go of the shotgun though +1 for me!!) and it was another 3 years before he let me loose with that shot gun. Funny memories for me.....

reply to post by TRUELIES11


A "safe" firearm is one whose deign minimizes the chance of an accidental discharge, keeps the user safe through a robust design and puts whatever is down the sights in the maximum amount of danger. I see no reason to change that formula.

S&F for a thoughtful post and an attempted solution

A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government. – George Washington

Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun. –Patrick Henry.

Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands? – Patrick Henry, 3 Elliot, Debates at 386.

The Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms. –Samuel Adams, debates & Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87.

The right of the people to keep and bear…arms shall not be infringed. A well regulated militia, composed of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country… –James Madison, I Annals of Congress 434 (June 8, 1789). (The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation…(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. –James Madison.

If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government… – Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist (#28) .

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. –Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-B.

To disarm the people is the best and most effective way to enslave them. – George Mason

The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. –Noah Webster, “An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (1787) in Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States (P.Ford, 1888)

[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or the state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People. – Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.

Gun control advocates want to ban all arms … or at least semi-automatic, high-capacity weapons. But George Orwell – author of 1984 – had a different take on the whole issue. Orwell pointed out in theTribune (October 19, 1945), the effectiveness of arms in preventing tyranny partly depends on whether the average citizen can afford the current weapon of choice possessed by the government:

There have been many great thinkers who spoke and wrote about the reason for the 2d Amendment. It gets old even for me to have to bring up their thoughts and reasons for their writings. I know the ones who get the reasons for 2a and the ones who don't stand on opposite sides of a wide precipice. Unfortunate, but that is the way it is.

It is inordinately difficult to amend the Constitution of these united states for a very good reason. That does not mean some tyrant cannot try by the stroke of a pin..but the outcome would be very problematic for anyone who tries..

As stipulated by Article V : the Constitution can be amended by a vote of two-thirds of both the House of Representatives and the Senate followed by a ratification of three-fourths of the state legislatures. It can also be amended through a convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures.

Currently, there are not enough gun-grabbers in Congress or the states to pull this off IMO.

"To conquer a nation, first disarm it's citizens." Adolf Hitler, 1933

The constitution was created to protect people from their government. We the people, are the government, and the citizens that make up our country. Land of the free and home of the brave. Are we really free? Are we brave?

America is the only "free" country on our planet. Sadly, many Americans are willing to give up freedom for safety.

“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.” Benjamin Franklin.

The 2nd amendment which gives us the right to bear arms, is very important. What if there is a food shortage, which is predicted by scientists, by the Bible, by environmentalists, and so on.... A gun is a useful tool for catching dinner.

I personally love freedom, and I plan to keep my freedom. Live free, or die. Besides, guns don't kill people. People kill people. Your hands are a weapon. The first recorded murder, between Cane and Abel, did not involve a gun.