Gun Right's (cost, license, living in, celebrities)

[LoveBoating]

I was just reading lookingfortheperfectplace's reply and the one part of it really made me think.....this is the part: "But then something like that happens so fast and you might not have time to unlock the box it is in or etc.."
Most of us have our guns locked up! If you were in your bedroom (upstairs) asleep and someone was trying to broke in or had just got in (downstairs), when would you have the time (or could you at all) get downstairs, unlock the gun or rifle display case or safe, take off the trigger lock and load it. Depending on where the guns/rifles are located/stored, you may not have enough time to use it for defense....especially if the intruder is already in your house! Now, some people do have a small hand gun safe in their bedroom, so that would be very accessable. Also, some older people (who don't have kids living with them) may have a loaded hand gun by their bed, which would be very easily accessable.
As for us, our rifles are locked in display case downstair and we sleep upstairs. If something happened, and I wanted a rifle, I would have to get downstairs, unlock the case, take off the trigger lock and load a rifle. That all takes TIME that I may/may not have.
lookingfortheperfectplace: you really made me think about using a gun/rifle for defense and how NOT SO EASY it would be in the home.
What do the rest of you think about that?

[LoveBoating]

I forgot and wanted to add this also:
Ten years ago, I use to date a gal that was a Reserve Deputy Sheriff. She lived in a pretty remote area of Indio, Calif and I lived in Anahiem, Calif. The first time I went out to place, we got to talking about guns, etc. and she took me in her bedroom and showed me a loaded 44 mag (in a holster) that she had in an unlocked drawer by her bed. I picked up and looked at it.......she was real confident in me after I told her about the gun training I had had in the Navy. The 44 looked very cool and I put it back in the drawer. Later on that evening, her dogs started barking for to long of a time and she thought that her ex-boyfriend might have come around. She got her gun/holster out of her drawer, attached it to her belt on the back of her waist, grabbed a Police Mag Light and told me to stay in the house while she went outside to check things out. Actually, as soon as she opened her back door, she pulled the 44 out of the holster and had it "at the ready" as she walked outside. Her 44 in one hand and the Mag light in the other.....this gal was READY......PERIOD!! Well, nothing was out side, apparently her dogs were barking at a coon or cyote (?). Any weekend that I spent at her place, I felt REALLY, REALLY SAFE. Wouldn't you feel safe with someone like this who lives in a "remote" area???

[HappyandMarried]

Originally Posted by LoveBoating

As for us, our rifles are locked in display case downstair and we sleep upstairs. If something happened, and I wanted a rifle, I would have to get downstairs, unlock the case, take off the trigger lock and load a rifle. That all takes TIME that I may/may not have.
lookingfortheperfectplace: you really made me think about using a gun/rifle for defense and how NOT SO EASY it would be in the home.
What do the rest of you think about that?

Please be sure to keep the ammunition for your rifles somewhere other than the gun case. If someone breaks in your home all they have to do is smash the glass door to the case, grab a rifle, find the ammo in the drawer, load it, and they now have a deadly weapon.

Always keep the ammunition in a different location, away from the weapons.

You don't want to arm an intruder!

[alexander59]

I hate them, and would ban them altogether but I know that taking them away would not solve the problem any more than saying our illegals have to go home. Its not going to happen so I concede this unless we could get rid of them completely, that's a pipe dream. So as long as criminal have guns everybody should have the right to own them. I hate saying that. I have lost friends and one friend accidentally shot another friend, my uncle was killed in a hunting accident by a bozo that thought he was a deer.
I do not understand the second amendment, that says a well armed militia, does that mean the people? I thought a militia was the national guard.
I do believe people should take a test before they are allowed to buy them and get a licence same as a drivers licence, I know bad guys won't get a licence but at the same time the good guys will know how to use the gun.
Children should be well informed and educated before a gun is brought in the house and the gun should be hidden from the child.
I truly believe a good dog and a alarm system is far better protection.
I have argued about guns for so long and seems that so many people that have them are a little touched.
For those of you that feel the need the constitution protects you and as I have said before I may not like everything the constitution protects but I will fight for it.

[j33]

Thank you Alexander. I have never been a huge fan of guns and never understood the fascination. I'm in my mid-thirties and can honestly say the first time I ever touched a gun was when a guy I know on the police force showed me his (disarmed) weapon one night when he was getting ready to go to work a couple of years back. Most everyone I know who has had experiences with guns have found themselves on the wrong end of one (usually while being relieved of their wallet or purse) and I once lived in a neighborhood where I would hear gunshots at night. So for obvious reasons, I don't look or think of them fondly.

Now I know that in some parts of the country, hunting is a time-honored tradition. Coming from a long line of urban folks, it isn't in my family (although I've been tempted to shoot a few pigeons), and I can respect that. But what baffles me is the almost religious fervor that some gun rights people hold in the act of (and the right of) possessing a weapon. It is something that I'll never understand. I have a friend down the street who I sometimes have a drink with who has several guns (he doesn't keep them in the city because of the laws) and he's one of those guys, we joke around about it good naturedly sometimes, because I just don't get it (however he grew up learnng how to hunt in the country, I grew up where forests were in 'preserves' by the expressway

[LoveBoating]

From alexander59: I truly believe a good dog and a alarm system is far better protection.

Problem with the "good dog" idea: A good Watch Dog/Dogs are great to have if you live in a remote area. If you live in a subdivision/housing development, like we do, these "watch dogs" can bark at anything and at anytime....including in the middle of the night when people are trying to sleep. That is what our next door neighbor's two dogs do and the barking wakes us up in the middle of the night. And, their barking could be because of a rabbit, coon or whatever that is around or because other dogs are barking. Plus, not everyone can have a "watch" type dog.
As for the alarm system: some intruders/thiefs have figured out ways around them. Just like an auto, alarm it and someone can still break into it.....people are just that "gutsy" today.

[HappyandMarried]

Ask anyone in China, Cuba, or any other impoverished communist nation if they wish they had a weapon. What do you think they would say? If the ordinary people have weapons the government remains in check (somewhat).

What do you think would have happened in Tiananmen Square if the protesters had weapons? I'll tell you - communism would have fallen, and we would have democracy in China! You wouldn't have Kim Jong Il reaping billions from development, corruption, and the blood and sweat of the workers.

How about Cuba - what would have happened to Castro if the ordinary citizenry had weapons? By now he would be dead, and Cuba would be better for it. Democratic Cuba - maybe. But a dictator would not be in power, and the people would have a say in how their country is run.

People who say they "don't understand" or "don't agree with" gun ownership are the first people who will go running to someone they know owns a gun, begging for protection in time of national crisis (terrorist attack?).

And yes, we will protect you because you are Americans.

And we won't say "I told you so".

[j33]

See it isn't your desire to own weapons that throws people like me for a loop (me not understanding something does not make it wrong). It is your opinion that those of us who don't are somehow 'wrong' or morally defective in some way that is a bit off-putting (if I am incorrect in that assumption, I apologize, but I have often got that impression from strong gun rights advocates).

[HappyandMarried]

Originally Posted by j33

It is your opinion that those of us who don't are somehow 'wrong' or morally defective in some way that is a bit off-putting (if I am incorrect in that assumption, I apologize, but I have often got that impression from strong gun rights advocates).

Not at all - I think neither. Just asking a question about the people of communist nations, if you thought they would like a chance to own weapons.

And stating a fact that someone without a weapon will go to someone with a weapon for protection in times of national crisis.

[HappyandMarried]

People have the right to chose what they support and don't support.

But it is very funny that everyone against gun ownership will seek a gun owner when they need protection. They seem to be against gun ownership until the stuff hits the fan and their life is in danger, then they convert rather quickly.

Kind of like the old saying "there are no atheists in foxholes".