Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Guns America's Gun Fantasy

Good article:
America's gun fantasy

Maybe the number of guns you own should determine if you need psychiatric intervention. One long rifle, one shotgun, and one handgun: No interview. Any more than that and you have to go for counseling.

Also maybe we need to make some movies and video games that are accurate: You take up arms against the US Government and are always dead within minutes or hours.

I can understand owning a number of guns. (Although, I think that doesn't work in most instances, though.) A friend of mine owns a dozen guns, but here's the breakdown: a big frame .40 pistol he carries hunting, and a small-frame .380 for his wife, and a third "concealed carry" pistol as well. He has a 12-gauge shotgun, a 410 shotgun, a scoped .308 for hunting, a .243 "varmint gun," a .22 for his son, a .243 for his wife for hunting, a .223 assault rifle he got in trade (it was a bad trade), a .378 "elephant gun" he got as a present (it's a show piece, but he'll never use it - his wife had no idea how powerful a gun it was), and another scoped hunting rifle, I don't remember the caliber, but I think a .270. Under the circumstances, I don't think that's excessive, although it is a lot.

Personally, I would not go beyond 3-4 guns. One for carry, if I needed it; a survival rifle, maybe a .22 pistol to save on ammo and pair with the survival rifle, and maybe a shotgun (I used to have a 410 shotgun). I used to have a 9 mm and a .22 rifle (bolt action), but both are long gone.

OK you guys are way too funny ... odd ... peculiar ...

I think I have mentioned a buddy of mine who was a gun collector and even had a working tank. I also have acquaintances who have high end military weapons (they get a kick out of of shooting them (especially at night .... man, the flames).

I possess no firearms of any kind. A survival rifle ... did I miss the start of a dystopian America and now have to enter the conservative Darwinian deathmatch?

I have nothing against responsible people having a state given privilege to own guns, but does that privilege extend to the paranoid, or people prone to violence, or any person who demonstrates with a proven history of personal instability.

Ayup. That's pretty much where I stand. To me there's a major difference between collecting guns as a hobby and amassing weapons and ammo to satisfy some paranoid fantasy that you might one day need them.

It's a rare man indeed who will ever actually need a firearm to protect himself.

One game comes to mind...Assassin's Creed 2&3 I think. If you are in an area where there are official "guards", no matter how badass you think you are, if you loot or steal something the guards will beat you up and take half of your money.

To clarify: a Survival Rifle (in my case, I like the AR-7) is a small caliber rifle for carrying into the wilderness. It's not for dystopian fantasy, but in case something happens and one needs to hunt small game for survival. Given some of the places I've found myself, having a portable but effective weapon in the back country makes sense. It's the same reason I carry a knife, a compass, and a flint.

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That is a pretty nifty piece, I think I'd like one of those!

It would be nice to have that when backpacking in remote areas. It you got lost or hurt yourself, you could hunt rabbits to eat and probably signal searchers. I'm not doing such backpacking anymore so the only firearm I need is a little single-shot shotgun for killing rattlesnakes I can't reach with a rake and shovel. Never had to use it yet. The snakes are pretty accommodating.

There may be better ways now to find the dangerous nut-jobs. I was just reading about a crazy conspiracy theorist woman who posted accusations of Chrissy Teigen and her husband being Hollywood pedophiles. This is another of those people who think everything is connected and meaningful. The really bad part is she is on twitter and has 50000 followers! Teigen is going to sue her.

We used to put these folks in State Hospitals. Now they just run around loose and cause all sorts of havoc with internet accounts sending their followers off to shoot up pizza places and such. Or as in the story above, they really believe the gubmint is going to come for their guns and it's their patriotic duty to fight.

Maybe it's time we actually did something about mental health on a grand scale. Figure out who is delusional and force them to take meds at least. Of course that might be a disaster for Republicans and the NRA. But it would be a real improvement for the lives of these poor frightened victims. I guess gun manufacturers would be mighty pissed, too.

That's kind of pushing the envelope of government power...and a mighty slippery slope that invites abuse of power at every level.