My Two Cents Worth
Recently, while browsing through a forum, I came across a thread about guns. The statement was quite harsh. It read something like this. "I live in Chicago, and just this weekend two people were shot and killed. Let me make this clear. Guns kill people."I have to say that as a gun owning Southerner, and a red blooded American, I was infuriated. I couldn't resist leaving a comment. Perhaps I was a bit snotty, but I was very, very angry. Here's what I said in reply.
"I have a Colt .45 and a .22 rifle which have never killed anyone. They are hidden in my house to protect my family from invaders. I realize both my guns are from a happily un-broken family, and that since their Daddy is still here to help me take care of them, that they don't have the same problems other guns have. Many guns out there are being cared for by single parents who have to work many hours while the poor little guns are left to their own devices. They are cared for in such poverty and poor conditions that it's no wonder they seek solace in a gang and follow a life of crime. But they cannot be held accountable for their actions. They are products of their upbringing. If only these guns could have grown up under the influence of both of their parent, they might have stood a chance at being good little guns. Oh please, people! Wake up and smell the coffee! Guns don't kill people. They are manually operated. The trigger must be physically depressed, and I'm not talking sad, folks. Bottom line: People kill people."
What do you think?
Do you have the same viewpoint about guns as Diane and feel that "people kill people" or are you On The Flipside and believe that "guns kill people"?
Thanks Diane for being a Guest Blogger On The Flipside!
Please give your most honest opinion/answer, but please make sure you follow the comment rules and be nice to Diane and to other commenters. And don't forget to go over to the sidebar and participate in the poll on this topic.
Poll Results: How Do You Feel About Guns? 18 People took poll. 3(16%) Believe Guns Kill People and 15 (83%) Believe People Kill People.
Posts
35 comments:
I already commented on Diane's blog about it - totally agree with what she put.
I agree... Guns don't kill people... People kill people.
I love the way it was worded, and I do agree that people kill people, and if not for guns, they'd find another way.
You could argue that cars kill people too...should we outlaw them?
I believe that people kill people, but that gun's provide a weapon with which people can kill people.
I think that owning a gun is a risky thing - I'm not saying that you can't make that choice for yourself... but I would never own one.
I live in New Zealand. We don't have the same gun policies as teh US, and I think that plays a huge part in my feelings about guns.
I saw a documentary a few months ago, where a NZ guy was touring avross the US. He went into a gun store, just for the novelty of it I guess (we don't have a lot of them here), and got talking to the guy behind the counter about hte differences in gun policy between here and there. And the guy there made the comment that 'your governement obviously doesn't have much faith in you, if it won't allow you to have guns.'
I disagree. I think that they show more faith in us, but NOT allowing us guns. They show a greater sense of caring, by not giving us the right to own a gun, as easily as one can do in the US.
Obviously, you can own guns here. But the rules are stricter - I'd say they still aren't strict enough. If you can have people walking the street with a gun, that aren't law enforcement or military, it's not strict enough.
I do not believe that people should need to protect their families and homes with guns. I believe that with less guns available, and less guns in society, the need to do so lessens.
My government does not show a lack of trust or faith in us. They show a a great deal of intelligence. I mean seriously. Who's idea was it to allow the general public access to guns? We don't need them. No one needs them. Military.. yes. But hell, if we didn't have guns...... (we'd have somethign else, I guess).
Even law enforcement in NZ doesn't carry guns at all times. Only certain cops in certain areas carry guns. They did a tazer trial here. It was a disaster. It proved how stupid they were.
My point is.... that we don't need guns! If you up the amount of guns in society... if you allow more and more people to have them, if you make it okay to have guns in the private home, then yes! People will feel the need to have them, to protect themselves from other people with guns.
I believe that by allowing these people guns, and by reducing gun laws, you are only creating a worse situation.
If you cut down the access to guns, if you have strict and tighter gun laws, you therefore lower the want and need of people, to have guns. You create a safer society.
I certainly don't agree wtih guns in private homes. I've never seen a gun, touched a gun, or used a gun. I would not live with someone who had a gun or wanted a gun in our home. I believe they are dangerous and that they provide the means for people to kill people.
You can't shoot someone without a gun. You may be able to kill them.... but it's gonna take a lot more work than pulling a trigger.
i don't have a really strong opinion on this one... however, the right to bear arms is constitutional and inalienable.
and that's my 2 cents worth!!!
l,
d
I live in the Chicago area and I agree, guns don't kill people. I don't own a gun, I have shot a gun, didn't like it, and I never killed anyone. I do think that if you take away the guns it won't stop the killing.
People kill People!!
I think Diane worded it very well. If it weren't guns it would be something else.
Diane's a smart lady and she's so right. Gun ownership comes with responsibility, just as parenthood does. I've lived in a household of hunters for most of my life and children are taught at a young age about respect for all weapons and their use.
People kill people.
I am not a gun person. I have family members who are card holding members of the NRA. It's not for me.
i don't know if I agree with idea of guns in private homes. It's a difficult topic. Everyone I know who has them, has them locked up in gun safes. I just feel like there are instances where having the gun provides the easiest weapon with which to kill someone.
People with guns kill people. guns don't do the killing.
I believe that two wrongs don't make a right. I believe that having a gun to protect yourself only encourages the circle of violence. Violence that will affect your children and your children's children more than it will yourself. I believe that both statements are incomplete and therefore incorrect.
People use guns to kill people. Not one or the other. It is the combination of the two that is deadly.
People kill people. People use all kinds of devices to kill people . . . knives, hands, ropes, cars . . . let's ban all of it to prevent anyone else from being senselessly killed.
While we're at it, let's ban furnaces and cars . . . carbon monoxide kills people. Oh, and let's drain all the lakes . . . people have been known to drown you know!
Oh, and bears and mountain lions . . . actually, let's just get rid of all the animals, then there would be no chance of some stupid person provoking one of these animals and getting charged and killed by one.
And Grapes . . . we DEFINITELY need to get rid of all grapes . . . I can't believe grocery stores even sell them anymore. I mean, how many people have choked on a grape and died? Those darn grapes are just awful!
And hotdogs . . . well, I truly do believe that hotdogs should be outlawed . . . but that's another story :-)
Amen Sista.
Gun's do not kill people kill. We have guns in our house and we have taught our children from a very early age that they are not toys and they are not to be played with.
Each of my boys have taken gun safety courses and even the D~man is a marksman and he is only 10.
People are looking for excuses.
hello i like read too
I'm not really in favour of keeping guns in our house but I have no problem with people that do, so long as they are properly cared for and stored - as it sounds like they are at Diane's house.
That said, her answer is spot on AND funny. Thanks for sharing that post.
I think if you want to think logically and go off of statistics, keeping guns in your house definitely makes your family LESS safe.
Obviously many people approach gun ownership from an emotional, rather than logical position.
I grew up target shooting and while I enjoyed it, I don't find it so important that I would risk my families well-being by keeping a gun in my home.
The statistics on impulsive suicide are truly frightening.
Interesting you brought this up. Only yesterday a 12 year old at my son's school brought a loaded gun to school with him. My son actually knew the kid and not only saw him with the gun, but was in close proximity. That boy was arrested and luckily no one was hurt. This boy's parents were in this country illegally. I have no problem with guns being kept in homes - we have several. I do have a problem with how this boy was able to attain a gun and bring it to school, and why we still can't control the borders. But that's another subject.
Hmmm. This is definitely a hot button topic for me. People with guns DO kill people and I know because it has happened in my own family - twice! Actually, three times depending on how you count it - my husband's cousin Bobby survived after being shot 5 times by his wife. Took him a year in the hospital, but he lived.
But my cousin Johnny Mo and his wife are both dead due to gun violence. It was a Phil Hartman type shooting where his wife killed him and later killed herself - with guns. If there hadn't have been guns, would she still have stabbed him or hit him over the head or something? Cut her wrists instead of shooting herself? Maybe. We'll never know, but having guns in the house certainly made it easier.
I can't say that this has affected my decision. I banned guns in my house long before these tragedies occurred, but it certainly has reinforced my decision. I have relented to the point where I allow my husband a rifle for target shooting, but it has to be kept in a double locked case in a high shelf in the storage room so there is no way my children could be harmed with it, but even then it makes me uneasy.
People in other countries have found solutions to this problem and they don't have to live in fear of someone in their home using a gun against them or against themselves. I don't see why we are the only ones who hand out guns to just about any person who wants one.
I'm with Diane on this matter...People do kill people...No matter if they have a gun or not...It's a matter of who you are and what is your background...
xoxo
People kill people ...
I have a concealed weapon permit.
A Glock.
An AK-47.
I have yet to see either of my guns get up, load themselves, take aim and shoot.
Absolutely! Guns don't kill people. People kill people. Maybe being a cops wife has helped my view point. Being a paramedic, I know that if someone wants to kill someone they will find a way to do it. In 12 years of working EMS, I have only made 1 homicide that was commited by using a gun. I have made a number of suicides but the majority of the suicides I have made, were overdoses. Everyone has an excuse for something.
Having small children and guns in my house is a little frightening. However, we have managed to raise 4 others with no issues. There have been guns in our house since before any of the kids came along. My husband is a cop and before that, he was a weapons instructor. All of the kids have been taught at an early age how to shoot. He does a gun safety course with them before he allows them to shoot. He teaches them to respect the weapon. Just like you have to respect water. There are a million things in peoples homes that can and do kill people, even if they don't have a gun in their home.
To each his own as long as those who own guns are careful and responsible. Hank is a hunter and he is VERY careful and the guns are locked away unless he is hunting. There was a family in our community a number of years ago in which the dad was in law enforcement. He didn't lock his gun away when he came in one afternoon and when the four year old son picked it up to play with it, he shot and killed the mother right in the kitchen. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.
People kill people, bottom line. Guns don't fire without the trigger being pulled. It's a people problem, not a gun problem.
Totally agree with JACEY!!! just trade NZ for Canada.
...and Laurwilk, it is a circle of violence.
But really?!?!? Does it matter?!?!
It's still a violent thing that kills way too many people, intended or not!
I'm sure sure about this, I can see both sides. But I think I agree more with you, that it's people who kill people, guns are just sometimes an accomplice. However, if guns weren't around, they wouldn't be an accomplice. It's kind of round-a-bout logic for me here. Mostly I think that people need to stop killing people, with guns or any other weapon.
I agree guns don't kill people, people kill people. And if kids are brought up knowing what guns can and will do if they are played with, they aren't going to play with them. Although I don't have guns at home, I think you should be allowed to have them, if you are keeping them safely from your children, or other children...
I'm kind of in the middle on this one. I do know responsible gun owners. I don't think guns are necessarily dangerous in every situation. However, I do think they provide a means for people in a state of rage to impulsively take a person's life. Accidents with guns are also a concern for me. For these reasons, I won't allow one in my house. Too many Irish people, if you know what I mean. (just kidding). I do think that people who want to own a gun should be able to in this country.
I also believe that people kill people. I think guns are fine in the right, responsible hands. I just think there should be more restrictions on who is allowed to own a gun - maybe better background checks or something. I am with you 100% though.
Denise
Agree 100%!
I am on the flip side here Kellan! I agree, people kill people. However, the only purpose a gun has is to kill another person. Period. I don't care why, be it for self defense or what have you...it's sole purpose is to take another life.
I personally think the world would be better off if we fought evil with something much less violent than guns.
What a great topic that many feel strongly about! I'll take the lesser chosen position here and say that I hate guns, especially when people have them for "protection." How is it going to protect you kept unloaded, on a high shelf in the back of the closet, locked in a box? "Excuse me Mr. Robber, I need to find my gun, unlock it, and load it...can you hold on a second?"
Guns in the home is a danger to children. Period. People who say "my child knows gun safety" don't understand the way a child's brain works. They are physically incapable of comprehending actions and consequences until they are quite old, and even when they can do that it certainly isn't 100%.
The arguments about other dangerous things is silly, because all of those items have a purpose. Cars get us places. Hot dogs nourish us. Rope helps bind things together. The only purpose of a gun is to kill.
I know that my children, should I ever have them, will never be allowed in a house with a gun. EVER. And yes, I will ask every time before they go. There is no way to ensure your child is safe around a gun at someone else's house.
See, my main issue with this topic, is that people seem to think that it's a right, that it's freedom, that it's something they SHOULD have... the right to own a gun.
"In the right responsible hands".... who decides who's responsible? Who decides that that person is going to be careful, is going to stop that gun from being stolen, or used in the wrong way.... Infact.... what's the RIGHT way to use a gun? Really. As far as I'm concerned, there is no rgith way to use a gun. None. There is NOTHING good that comes from having a gun, owning a gun, using a gun. Except maybe hunting. But that's it. (Because, you know... food...)
People die. People are injured. People's lives are destroyed. People go to prison. People are sent to death row. People are robbed. People are HURT.
And yes. Without a gun, all of this could STILL happen. But hasn't it occured to anyone, that it might just happen less.
Nothing good comes from guns. Nothing. Pain, suffering, loss.... yup! All of those. But happiness, joy, life? No.
people holding guns kill people. no guns, no people dying at the hand of a gun. i'm from new zealand too, and my feelings are similar to jacey. 'the right to bear arms' and what has happened in ensuing years in the states is incomprehensible to most people in new zealand. just look at the accidental shooting statistics - they make for some fairly grim reading.
I love Diane. I read her blog all the time. Somehow I missed this post. I am a little behind though, because of things going on in real life right now. I have to agree though, it's not the guns that kill people. It's the people with the guns.
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