I'll never understand why someone would be opposed to my right to defend my home. My life. My family. Shit, I'm not even talking about carrying. But to me owning a firearm is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. I thought about it for a long time. Spoke to people both for and against it and weighed my options and the risks involved.
People on both sides love to spout stats but at the end of the day we cherrypick the ones we want to reinforce our predetermined position.
There are risks involved in owning a gun. There's risk involved in anything in life but what really blows my mind is that cultural relativism that GAF normally has goes right out the window when the issue of the 2nd Amendment in in the States is discussed. Suddenly every other nation is "civilized" and perfect and everyone makes snide jabs about how terrible America is. And then to point the finger to the millions upon millions of legal, responsible gun owners that handle their firearms with care every day? Fuck that.
I'm pretty liberal. I own guns. I have a whole bunch of ammo, too. I can't be responsible for every maniac, pervert and idiot so I'm only responsible for myself. The notion that my 12ga or my assault rifle will magically pick itself up and blow someones head off is laughable.
I feel that we need to enforce the laws we already have and cut out the recidivism rate that many criminals seem to have. And address the social and financial reasons why people seem to feel the need to take from someone else even by force. Feels like almost every article the perp did time but was paroled and yet did it again. Then Mammoth Jones should give up his right to self defense in his home because Billy Bonehead ripped off a convenience store? Not for nothing but criminals do no obey laws. He'd still have a gun. I wouldn't. There are more reasons for the disparity of violence in the US compared to other nations.
I don't know why Manos catches shit on this subject. Or the circle-jerk pile-on that occurs during firearm debates. My personal view is if you don't want to own a gun don't own a gun. Problem solved. I hope you never ever need it. I'd never wish violence on anyone. Go live in Chicago where guns are banned and you should be completely safe, right? After all, guns are the problem!
For me? I'd rather have it ready and never ever need it than in one random twist of fate need it and never have it.
In terms of carrying in a University? If they're adults and allowed in the State then I see no reason to limit it there. Personally I think it'd be one hell of a deterrent to any emo-rage filled loser that has delusions of being worshipped and being remembered on the News. I say fuck it. Give it a try. If the death rates suddenly skyrocket as they have in all the carry states (lol) then I'll admit I was wrong.
But banning students from carrying didn't stop all the other school shootings that occurs. Last time I checked those were gun free zones.
If you lose a lighter or a pen or some other common household item, how hard do you think it would be for you to find one from somewhere else? I'm talking anywhere, be it a friend's house, a shop, a shady hideout, anywhere. Not that hard. And it's not because they're legal or illegal, but because they're so common.
That's the same thing with guns. Anyone can obtain one in America rather easily. It's much harder to obtain a car license than it is to obtain a gun permit, and most states have "shall issue" laws which make the process more streamlined and accessible than the DMV. Not to mention, in most states, private transfers of guns that are not going to be carried are
completely unregulated.
Let's just say I was a convicted felon, and I have gone back into a life of crime. Because I have a record, I can not buy a firearm from a licensed dealer. In Minnesota, someone I know can go into a store and buy a gun for me, though. It doesn't have to be registered, and no permit or registration of the individual is necessary, either. Nor is any record of who bought what gun. Even pawn shops can buy and sell firearms. In private, the person who buys the gun sells me the gun. This may technically be illegal because I'm not supposed to own a gun, but it is done in private, so you're protected by the 4th amendment from having it found out. And depending on the wording of the laws about selling guns (for intance, if they discuss the transactions in general or the rules regulating licensed distributors, that could affect the applicability), that person may not have even committed a crime by selling it to me. Regardless, they're protected from having it found out by the system.
I now have a gun. Obviously, I'm not going to try to get a carry permit since I'm a felon and I wouldn't be able to get one, and I'd likely incriminate myself. But what's going to stop me from concealing and carrying it anyways? Again, I'm protected by the 4th amendment. You can't find out i'm carrying a gun illegally if I don't make it known or get caught doing something else.
So now that I have a gun, I begin using it during my robberies to ensure compliance by other people.
Eventually I get caught during a robbery, and this gets written off as a "bad guy" using guns, so the system is fine. After all, I'm not a good guy, and that invalidates any criticisms about how society helped enable me to become equipped thorugh lax gun control. Especially since I broke the law anyways by becoming equipped.
Do you see why "It doesn't matter if you outlaw guns, because then only the criminals will have them!" is a stupid idea?
Under current laws, you just need to know someone who can own a gun, someone who doesn't keep their guns locked up, somewhere a gun is stored, and you can obtian a gun, regardless of whether or not you should have one. And it's quite easy to find one. And you can hide the fact that you have a gun.
If there were stricter regulations on gun ownership, registration, transfers, distribution, it would reduce gun crime.
