Alright. I feel compelled. I'll add to the media barrage.
Armaments. Let's take a quick and logical look at it.
If arming good people was the best thing we could do to thwart the armed bad people, if that would make us safer, than the frontier of the Wild West must have been really safe -- Everyone had guns.
Let's ignore that for the moment. Because it's too complicated.
If arming good people was the best thing we could do to thwart the armed bad people, how do we make sure we can at once arm those good people, and not make arms all the more accessible to the bad people.
Or is a fire-fight between two heavily armed sides what is safer?
World War II must have been really, really safe.
How do we make arms accessible to "good people" and not to "bad people"? Background checks? Psychological profiles? A system as complicated as car-insurance algorithms which make sure that everyone is charged as much as they will likely cost?
Should we abstain from all weapons? ...outside hunting of course... We've tried abstinence with drugs, and it's worked smashingly.
That is to say: not at all. Many people use this as an argument that we should not abstain from firearms.
But most drugs can be grown in a house-pot and under a florescent light.
Making a gun means mining minerals. And smelting ore. And precision. And technique. And gunpowder... Really, quite a degree of skill and material. I wouldn't know where to start.
Not that I actually care all that much about this issue. Cars piss me off more. Weapons just aren't my thing anymore. I'm more interested in saving lives. Which is different than protecting them. It's just on the radar. I don't own a gun, I never will, and maybe I'll be shot crossing the street someday. I hope not, it wouldn't be my choice.
But I know I wouldn't shoot back. It's not my reaction. For myself, possessing a gun would be more hazardous to my health than not. It would be more likely to be used against me.
Which is just another little seed to contemplate.
Armaments. Let's take a quick and logical look at it.
If arming good people was the best thing we could do to thwart the armed bad people, if that would make us safer, than the frontier of the Wild West must have been really safe -- Everyone had guns.
Let's ignore that for the moment. Because it's too complicated.
If arming good people was the best thing we could do to thwart the armed bad people, how do we make sure we can at once arm those good people, and not make arms all the more accessible to the bad people.
Or is a fire-fight between two heavily armed sides what is safer?
World War II must have been really, really safe.
How do we make arms accessible to "good people" and not to "bad people"? Background checks? Psychological profiles? A system as complicated as car-insurance algorithms which make sure that everyone is charged as much as they will likely cost?
Should we abstain from all weapons? ...outside hunting of course... We've tried abstinence with drugs, and it's worked smashingly.
That is to say: not at all. Many people use this as an argument that we should not abstain from firearms.
But most drugs can be grown in a house-pot and under a florescent light.
Making a gun means mining minerals. And smelting ore. And precision. And technique. And gunpowder... Really, quite a degree of skill and material. I wouldn't know where to start.
Not that I actually care all that much about this issue. Cars piss me off more. Weapons just aren't my thing anymore. I'm more interested in saving lives. Which is different than protecting them. It's just on the radar. I don't own a gun, I never will, and maybe I'll be shot crossing the street someday. I hope not, it wouldn't be my choice.
But I know I wouldn't shoot back. It's not my reaction. For myself, possessing a gun would be more hazardous to my health than not. It would be more likely to be used against me.
Which is just another little seed to contemplate.
I own a gun. I didn't buy it, my father in law gave it to me after our house got broken into.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about firearms myself. People say guns don't kill people, but they do. That's what they're designed to do.
You can look at other countries and see how their gun policies work, but unfortunately most countries don't share our economic/cultural make-up.
I think licensing is something everyone can agree with. Anyone that does obtain a gun legally should be fully educated. Same with driving. I feel like drivers licenses are given away. I wouldn't be against requiring a class or two in physics to fully educate drivers about what's at stake when thousand pound objects are traveling at 60+ mph.