You don't really think of yourself as a bigot, do you Pan?

Yeah, I bet the Finns with their 50% of all households owning guns are going to declare war on us any day. And your neighbor who's such an expert cook with all those sharp knives in her kitchen? I'd keep an eye on her if I were you. Sure, some people love their guns. Some people love their cars, too. So what? I love animals. Does that mean that one day, I'm going to set a pack of snarling Rottweilers loose on a two-year old? You're just showing your bias against gun owners, not making a coherent argument.

Gulp. This isn't about gun owners (god rest them) it's about nuts--right?

PS--re: Finns. WTF? The Finn's are like--like, comparing the US to Greenland! Come ON!

Bigot
 

To some degree, yes. But I think there's a little biggot in everyone.

More to the point, having encountered many gun-owners, I do see that they tend to fetishize their weapons. And sure, I fetishize things too; but there is something inherently scary about the way people obsess over their guns. And yes, people kill people...with their guns.:neutral:

I can see the reason to own rifles, shotguns, and even small handguns but after a point it is simply to give themselves a sense of domination. You see this type of behavior with other things such as cars, houses, even education...the more the bigger the best. Everyone exhibits this kind of mentality, and we can't just accuse or condem gun-owners for it. Most criminals who commited a crime with a gun, used an illegally attained or stolen gun.

Also quoth Homer S. -- If I didn’t have this gun, the king of England could just walk in here anytime he wants and start shoving you around--you want that, huh, DO YOU?

Mentality
 

I won't condemn gun-owners for their mentality, only for owning guns they don't need.:neutral:

There are more vehicle related deaths than gun related. People love their cars, and "fetishize" them as well. In the last year I have been in two wrecks and I know of 3 other ppl at my work who have been wrecked. When I was in HS I knew of 5 kids who were killed or paralyzed in a car wreck or had a close relative killed or seriously injured. I knew of none who were injured by a gun during that time. Sorry I knew of one...he accidently shot himself in the leg when he had gone bird hunting...fortunatly it was just birdshot. He couldn't run track for a while though.

So what constitutes need?

Observation: cars have a primary purpose which is not violence-related...

Need
 

Good question.

Easy question. Ask any kid who's been bullied beyond tolerance.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold needed guns.

Do you consider hunting strictly violence related then? Many people hunt for the food, you can't get wild texas pig in the supermarket. People tend to be more responsible when handling a gun because the risk involved is easily recognizable to them. People often don't give a shit when it comes to their driving or they just don't think that there is that much of a risk. That is why ppl don't care to tie down the furniture so that it falls out when they are on the hwy and causes a wreck behind them (saw it happen this weekend). That is why I was totalled 2 weeks ago when a semi rock truck decided to pass ppl in the turn lane. Cars aren't directly related to violence so people don't relate them to violence. But yet you can kill more people with one car than one bullet. There are more responsible gun owners then you are giving them credit for.

Pan, I'm just calling you on it...

Even your anecdotal evidence is broken, because when you say "having encountered many gun owners", you're not really talking about the gun owners you've encountered. You're talking about the asshole gun owners you've encountered. The rest of them, you did not even know they were a gun owner. Some of them wouldn't tell you even if you asked.

I would very much like to shoot an AK-47, because it's one of the most common rifles in the world and has been involved in tons of conflicts and continues to be. I would like to know what it does so I can understand.