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View Poll Results: Should Texas Pass an Open Carry Law for handguns?
Yes 46 58.23%
No 25 31.65%
Yes, maybe... 5 6.33%
No, but... 0 0%
Not Sure/Undecided 3 3.80%
A private citizen should NOT be allowed to carry at all 0 0%
Other (please explain) 0 0%
Voters: 79. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 11-18-2012, 05:13 PM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,754,958 times
Reputation: 3317

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Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Why am I (and I dare say, quite a few others), NOT suprised you don't want to read this? When one is young and naive and totally idealistic...then there is nothing worse than having your world vision destroyed by harsh reality and truth. Sorta like having to finally accept that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny
That was a sad day, wasn't it? I was 8 when my parents finally told me. I nearly cried after finding out. (Then, years later, I wondered why I never intuited that fact from clues all over the place in Christmas movies I always liked.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Thank you for summing up and explaining (in an extremely articulate manner) the simple truths of the matter. I wish I could have done it even a quarter's worth as well as you did!
When you espouse the "unpopular" position, you must cover all bases in order to convince people... or at least shut them up.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
Among those who don't realize 2nd ammendment is not about duck hunting, or even personal self-defence. Rather, that that larger intent was to assure that there would be an ultimate check on government tyranny via an armed populace with the means to resist it.
But this doesn't get taught in the history classes, because the politicians dictating education policy are exactly the ones who'd be on the losing end of that proposition.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
3. You did an excellent job of detroying the playing of the "race card." It almost always represents the proverbial "red herring."
We all know the truth, despite how many among us like to deny it just to appear politically correct. Many a time I have heard someone ask "why is it that the liberals are the first to flee these crime-ridden minority areas when they get the chance? If they think there's no correlation, why don't they stay?" The fact that they flee those areas means that they know the truth as well, even though they'll say something else in public. I wasn't stating anything that is not common knowledge... I merely went into the details that the liberals hope we don't understand... because if we don't understand those details, we might be susceptible to being swayed by their political correctness.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
I could go on, but I am hungry and feel like having some fried eggs, bacon, and grits! Talk to all y'all later!
You're making me hungry over here...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
Actually, I just don't have the will or the time to thoroughly read and respond to some stranger somewhere's novel. No offence to you guys, but I really don't care about you enough to start reading and writing massive responses to argue over the internet. No thanks
You started it, by opposing me on the truth of the crime difference between Toronto and Houston. Had you just accepted the truth rather than mindlessly blabbing the liberal propaganda that has unfortunately overtaken your mind, this wouldn't even be an issue. Tell me... you live in Austin... do you live in one of the "bad areas" or one of the nicer areas?

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
LOL And again, I don't blame you for not reading it. On a tangent? Reckon your previously described "knife throwing" skills would have stopped the Luby's cafeteria mass killings (in Killeen, Texas). I have no reason to believe you don't have these skills. If you say you do, then ok, maybe you do.
Not to mention the Fort Hood shootings, which were perpetrated against an unarmed bunch of otherwise highly trained marksmen (soldiers) who would have been more than capable of blowing Nidal Hasan away once he started shooting, had they been armed. But since they were disallowed from carrying guns where they were, now we have to spend years debating whether or not he should be forcibly shaven in court... all while paying him a major's salary... this has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars already, if not millions. It would have been much more expedient for a soldier in that room to do to him what he did to everyone else.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasReb View Post
BUT...how many knife fights have you ever actually been in? I mean in a real fight when what you can do on a dart-board, don't really matter. When you are facing an armed opponent who is hell-bent on either killing, or messing you up, bad? They came prepared to do just that. .
Good point, here. Everyone thinks he's big and bad, until the rubber meets the road. There's a lot to be said for the adrenalin and power boost that comes at the hands of being hell-bent to do something. I've never been much of a fighter but when I was younger, this guy picked a fight with me and wouldn't back down... I let it last a bit too long... he really angered me so I hauled off and cracked him one... he went down like a ton of bricks and had a black eye for a month. I didn't even know I was capable of punching someone that hard. Put that type of impetus behind someone who actually does know his strength, and things can get dangerous really fast... unless, of course, you have a gun.

Meaning: we should all carry one.
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Old 11-18-2012, 05:38 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
1,985 posts, read 3,301,319 times
Reputation: 1705
Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy View Post
That was a sad day, wasn't it? I was 8 when my parents finally told me. I nearly cried after finding out. (Then, years later, I wondered why I never intuited that fact from clues all over the place in Christmas movies I always liked.)



When you espouse the "unpopular" position, you must cover all bases in order to convince people... or at least shut them up.



But this doesn't get taught in the history classes, because the politicians dictating education policy are exactly the ones who'd be on the losing end of that proposition.



We all know the truth, despite how many among us like to deny it just to appear politically correct. Many a time I have heard someone ask "why is it that the liberals are the first to flee these crime-ridden minority areas when they get the chance? If they think there's no correlation, why don't they stay?" The fact that they flee those areas means that they know the truth as well, even though they'll say something else in public. I wasn't stating anything that is not common knowledge... I merely went into the details that the liberals hope we don't understand... because if we don't understand those details, we might be susceptible to being swayed by their political correctness.



You're making me hungry over here...



You started it, by opposing me on the truth of the crime difference between Toronto and Houston. Had you just accepted the truth rather than mindlessly blabbing the liberal propaganda that has unfortunately overtaken your mind, this wouldn't even be an issue. Tell me... you live in Austin... do you live in one of the "bad areas" or one of the nicer areas?



Not to mention the Fort Hood shootings, which were perpetrated against an unarmed bunch of otherwise highly trained marksmen (soldiers) who would have been more than capable of blowing Nidal Hasan away once he started shooting, had they been armed. But since they were disallowed from carrying guns where they were, now we have to spend years debating whether or not he should be forcibly shaven in court... all while paying him a major's salary... this has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars already, if not millions. It would have been much more expedient for a soldier in that room to do to him what he did to everyone else.



Good point, here. Everyone thinks he's big and bad, until the rubber meets the road. There's a lot to be said for the adrenalin and power boost that comes at the hands of being hell-bent to do something. I've never been much of a fighter but when I was younger, this guy picked a fight with me and wouldn't back down... I let it last a bit too long... he really angered me so I hauled off and cracked him one... he went down like a ton of bricks and had a black eye for a month. I didn't even know I was capable of punching someone that hard. Put that type of impetus behind someone who actually does know his strength, and things can get dangerous really fast... unless, of course, you have a gun.

Meaning: we should all carry one.
Wow, you guys should get married
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Old 11-18-2012, 05:42 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
1,985 posts, read 3,301,319 times
Reputation: 1705
Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy View Post
That was a sad day, wasn't it? I was 8 when my parents finally told me. I nearly cried after finding out. (Then, years later, I wondered why I never intuited that fact from clues all over the place in Christmas movies I always liked.)



When you espouse the "unpopular" position, you must cover all bases in order to convince people... or at least shut them up.



But this doesn't get taught in the history classes, because the politicians dictating education policy are exactly the ones who'd be on the losing end of that proposition.



We all know the truth, despite how many among us like to deny it just to appear politically correct. Many a time I have heard someone ask "why is it that the liberals are the first to flee these crime-ridden minority areas when they get the chance? If they think there's no correlation, why don't they stay?" The fact that they flee those areas means that they know the truth as well, even though they'll say something else in public. I wasn't stating anything that is not common knowledge... I merely went into the details that the liberals hope we don't understand... because if we don't understand those details, we might be susceptible to being swayed by their political correctness.



You're making me hungry over here...



You started it, by opposing me on the truth of the crime difference between Toronto and Houston. Had you just accepted the truth rather than mindlessly blabbing the liberal propaganda that has unfortunately overtaken your mind, this wouldn't even be an issue. Tell me... you live in Austin... do you live in one of the "bad areas" or one of the nicer areas?



Not to mention the Fort Hood shootings, which were perpetrated against an unarmed bunch of otherwise highly trained marksmen (soldiers) who would have been more than capable of blowing Nidal Hasan away once he started shooting, had they been armed. But since they were disallowed from carrying guns where they were, now we have to spend years debating whether or not he should be forcibly shaven in court... all while paying him a major's salary... this has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars already, if not millions. It would have been much more expedient for a soldier in that room to do to him what he did to everyone else.



Good point, here. Everyone thinks he's big and bad, until the rubber meets the road. There's a lot to be said for the adrenalin and power boost that comes at the hands of being hell-bent to do something. I've never been much of a fighter but when I was younger, this guy picked a fight with me and wouldn't back down... I let it last a bit too long... he really angered me so I hauled off and cracked him one... he went down like a ton of bricks and had a black eye for a month. I didn't even know I was capable of punching someone that hard. Put that type of impetus behind someone who actually does know his strength, and things can get dangerous really fast... unless, of course, you have a gun.

Meaning: we should all carry one.
I already proved you wrong with regard to Toronto and Houston. Regarding the whole "liberal propoganda", I think you've been watching too much Faux News. It is clear that it is corrupting your mind, so I'd get that checked. And I live in DT Austin.
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Old 11-18-2012, 06:00 PM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,754,958 times
Reputation: 3317
Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
Wow, you guys should get married
I'm already married. And, as it should be, I live a heterosexual life and as such would have no interest in marrying a man even if I weren't married.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
I already proved you wrong with regard to Toronto and Houston.
And then you woke up and realized that you haven't actually said anything about Toronto and Houston, but to complain about me having told the truth. But of course the reason why you haven't said anything about the actual reason for the difference in the crime rate between Toronto and Houston is because my reason is the correct one and nothing anyone else can say will change that... this is what you didn't say, instead disguising it as "I don't feel like arguing with you". Typical liberal.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
Regarding the whole "liberal propoganda", I think you've been watching too much Faux News. It is clear that it is corrupting your mind, so I'd get that checked. And I live in DT Austin.
I called it liberal propAganda, first of all, because that's the proper spelling of that word. As for watching Fox News, I can't do that because I don't have cable. The truth is the truth regardless of how any media outlet would like to spin it. I don't bother watching news... I seek facts.

Liberals are the strangest contradiction out there. They'll take something like a debate on whether or not "open carry" should be allowed, and get all indignant about guns being wrong, or open carry being wrong, or whatever. Then they'll look at those of us who speak out against the true ills in society and call us "intolerant". Well, guess what, libs... y'all are intolerant. You are intolerant of those of us who want to own guns and carry them for our own protection. You're intolerant of conservative Christian values. You're intolerant of people who quote the numbers and tell the truth about other people.

Conservatives don't automatically shoot someone down with pejorative terms like "intolerant", "homophobe", "xenophobe", "redneck", "reactionary", or whatever their equivalents would be, coming from someone on the other side of the political fence. Ever notice how we'd rather speak the truth and convince people to come to our side of the fence by showing how this is the way things really are... and liberals automatically become indignant?

Makes me think of that old 1947 movie "Miracle On 34th Street" where psychologist Mr. Sawyer tells some other people "when a fixed delusion is challenged, the deluded is apt to become violent".

Some things never change.

Last edited by RomaniGypsy; 11-18-2012 at 06:09 PM..
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Old 11-18-2012, 06:17 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
1,985 posts, read 3,301,319 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy View Post
I'm already married. And, as it should be, I live a heterosexual life and as such would have no interest in marrying a man even if I weren't married.



And then you woke up and realized that you haven't actually said anything about Toronto and Houston, but to complain about me having told the truth. But of course the reason why you haven't said anything about the actual reason for the difference in the crime rate between Toronto and Houston is because my reason is the correct one and nothing anyone else can say will change that... this is what you didn't say, instead disguising it as "I don't feel like arguing with you". Typical liberal.



I called it liberal propAganda, first of all, because that's the proper spelling of that word. As for watching Fox News, I can't do that because I don't have cable. The truth is the truth regardless of how any media outlet would like to spin it. I don't bother watching news... I seek facts.

Liberals are the strangest contradiction out there. They'll take something like a debate on whether or not "open carry" should be allowed, and get all indignant about guns being wrong, or open carry being wrong, or whatever. Then they'll look at those of us who speak out against the true ills in society and call us "intolerant". Well, guess what, libs... y'all are intolerant. You are intolerant of those of us who want to own guns and carry them for our own protection. You're intolerant of conservative Christian values. You're intolerant of people who quote the numbers and tell the truth about other people.

Conservatives don't automatically shoot someone down with pejorative terms like "intolerant", "homophobe", "xenophobe", "redneck", "reactionary", or whatever their equivalents would be, coming from someone on the other side of the political fence. Ever notice how we'd rather speak the truth and convince people to come to our side of the fence by showing how this is the way things really are... and liberals automatically become indignant?

Makes me think of that old 1947 movie "Miracle On 34th Street" where psychologist Mr. Sawyer tells some other people "when a fixed delusion is challenged, the deluded is apt to become violent".

Some things never change.
This has now become a political name calling game. I brought 100% accurate and up-to-date data to the table and you refuse to acknowlegdge it. Typical close-minded conservatives I'm done with this thread if you have nothing left to bring to the table. Have a nice night
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Old 11-18-2012, 10:23 PM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,754,958 times
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Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
This has now become a political name calling game. I brought 100% accurate and up-to-date data to the table and you refuse to acknowlegdge it. Typical close-minded conservatives I'm done with this thread if you have nothing left to bring to the table. Have a nice night
Except for the fact that your data had nothing to do with the level of gun-related violence in Toronto or Houston, nor any other cause of this crime in either city. All it stated was the number of murders, the population, the murder rate, etc.

I agree with all of those numbers. It didn't have any information on what caused that crime. You stated this stuff on a thread about open carry / gun laws. In so doing, you implied a causal relationship between gun laws and crime.

Maybe you could answer this: what "lurking variables" did you feel would explain away the racial/ethnic differential I postulated, as far as crime rate? Or if you don't want to answer that, maybe you can answer why you think that gun ownership, or "open carry", correlates with an increase in crime.

Austinite, would you live in "the ghetto" of a large city? (You said you live downtown in Austin. Most areas of downtown Austin are more like "business district" than "ghetto".) If yes, would you do it WITHOUT a gun?
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Old 11-18-2012, 10:35 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
1,985 posts, read 3,301,319 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy View Post
Except for the fact that your data had nothing to do with the level of gun-related violence in Toronto or Houston, nor any other cause of this crime in either city. All it stated was the number of murders, the population, the murder rate, etc.

I agree with all of those numbers. It didn't have any information on what caused that crime. You stated this stuff on a thread about open carry / gun laws. In so doing, you implied a causal relationship between gun laws and crime.

Maybe you could answer this: what "lurking variables" did you feel would explain away the racial/ethnic differential I postulated, as far as crime rate? Or if you don't want to answer that, maybe you can answer why you think that gun ownership, or "open carry", correlates with an increase in crime.

Austinite, would you live in "the ghetto" of a large city? (You said you live downtown in Austin. Most areas of downtown Austin are more like "business district" than "ghetto".) If yes, would you do it WITHOUT a gun?
Yes I would. I would live in a "ghetto" and without a gun. I didn't live in the best part of Tokyo when I was living there, but it was very enjoyable. Call me a hipster if you want, but I do think that an urban, gritty environment is somewhere I would live if I needed to.
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Old 11-19-2012, 08:25 AM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,754,958 times
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Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
Yes I would. I would live in a "ghetto" and without a gun. I didn't live in the best part of Tokyo when I was living there, but it was very enjoyable. Call me a hipster if you want, but I do think that an urban, gritty environment is somewhere I would live if I needed to.
I know that no race is comprised entirely of good people, but let's face it...

http://www.city-data.com/world-cities/Tokyo.html

Tokyo is comprised of 98% Japanese people and 2% everything else.

There's no logical reason to fear Japanese people, or Asians in general. Statistically, Asians are the race / ethnicity LEAST likely to commit crime. So I would imagine that the worst area of Tokyo is, comparatively speaking, nowhere near as bad as the worst area of New York City.

Here's a thread on another website about Tokyo and whether or not it has a ghetto, to back up what I just said:

Tokyo Ghetto? - SkyscraperCity

Now, Tokyo is stated to be a gun-free city. From what I can gather, Japan as a country is very anti-gun...

Gun politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, Japan's geography as an island nation, I imagine, makes it much more difficult to import illegal guns compared to how easy it'd be in the USA. We're talking about a small cluster of islands, which collectively house over 120,000,000 people. It ain't so easy to slip through the cracks when there are so many people that there really aren't cracks. In America, it'd be extremely easy to import guns through Mexico, just like a lot of people import immigrants and drugs through Mexico. Sometimes it's good to be an island.

Therefore, Japan has some definite advantages when it comes to gun control.

And it also seems as though Japan doesn't have a culture that glorifies crime (especially violent crime) in any way... meaning it's a heck of a lot safer for a regular citizen to be unarmed:

Osaka, Japan

Here's a good essay on crime and gun culture in Japan:

Japan: Gun Control and People Control

So to say that you lived in a not-so-nice area of Tokyo really means very little. Asian culture generally dissuades Asians from committing crimes... which could easily explain why they are the least criminal of all ethnicities. Ghetto culture in America glorifies crime so much that going to jail is often seen as a career-boosting move for gangsters.

Austinite, I doubt I'm going to convince you to come away from the dark side and join me in the belief that gun ownership and "open carry" is a good thing. However, I pose the following point for you to ponder.

You have stated that you carry throwing knives... even if you're excellent at throwing a knife, your implication was that you carry them for self-defense. How is that functionally any different from someone who carries a gun? You said that you could plant a knife three inches into someone's skull at a distance of several yards. How is that any different from someone who can plant a bullet several inches into someone's skull at a distance of several yards? Either way, the guy dies or at least suffers debilitating injury.

My guess is that you would not throw a knife at someone unless the person posed a definite threat to your life and/or safety. Law-abiding gun carriers would not shoot someone unless the person posed a definite threat to their life and/or safety.

Therefore, are we really that much different in our ideologies about weapons, when everything boils down?
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Old 11-19-2012, 05:12 PM
 
Location: Austin, Texas
1,985 posts, read 3,301,319 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RomaniGypsy View Post
I know that no race is comprised entirely of good people, but let's face it...

http://www.city-data.com/world-cities/Tokyo.html

Tokyo is comprised of 98% Japanese people and 2% everything else.

There's no logical reason to fear Japanese people, or Asians in general. Statistically, Asians are the race / ethnicity LEAST likely to commit crime. So I would imagine that the worst area of Tokyo is, comparatively speaking, nowhere near as bad as the worst area of New York City.

Here's a thread on another website about Tokyo and whether or not it has a ghetto, to back up what I just said:

Tokyo Ghetto? - SkyscraperCity

Now, Tokyo is stated to be a gun-free city. From what I can gather, Japan as a country is very anti-gun...

Gun politics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, Japan's geography as an island nation, I imagine, makes it much more difficult to import illegal guns compared to how easy it'd be in the USA. We're talking about a small cluster of islands, which collectively house over 120,000,000 people. It ain't so easy to slip through the cracks when there are so many people that there really aren't cracks. In America, it'd be extremely easy to import guns through Mexico, just like a lot of people import immigrants and drugs through Mexico. Sometimes it's good to be an island.

Therefore, Japan has some definite advantages when it comes to gun control.

And it also seems as though Japan doesn't have a culture that glorifies crime (especially violent crime) in any way... meaning it's a heck of a lot safer for a regular citizen to be unarmed:

Osaka, Japan

Here's a good essay on crime and gun culture in Japan:

Japan: Gun Control and People Control

So to say that you lived in a not-so-nice area of Tokyo really means very little. Asian culture generally dissuades Asians from committing crimes... which could easily explain why they are the least criminal of all ethnicities. Ghetto culture in America glorifies crime so much that going to jail is often seen as a career-boosting move for gangsters.

Austinite, I doubt I'm going to convince you to come away from the dark side and join me in the belief that gun ownership and "open carry" is a good thing. However, I pose the following point for you to ponder.

You have stated that you carry throwing knives... even if you're excellent at throwing a knife, your implication was that you carry them for self-defense. How is that functionally any different from someone who carries a gun? You said that you could plant a knife three inches into someone's skull at a distance of several yards. How is that any different from someone who can plant a bullet several inches into someone's skull at a distance of several yards? Either way, the guy dies or at least suffers debilitating injury.

My guess is that you would not throw a knife at someone unless the person posed a definite threat to your life and/or safety. Law-abiding gun carriers would not shoot someone unless the person posed a definite threat to their life and/or safety.

Therefore, are we really that much different in our ideologies about weapons, when everything boils down?
The ghettos of Tokyo are pretty bad. And you've never even been there so you don't even know.

The difference between a knife and a gun, is I can commit mass murder with a gun. I can maybe stab one or two people in a public area with a knife, but I would be easily taken down. With a gun, people will be more deterred from trying to stop me. Plus, the whole point of this thread is open carry, which I oppose. I don't open carry my throwing knife. Its like a pocket knife. And yes we have very different ideologies when it comes to weapons. I believe it should be made very difficult for even a clean individual to get a gun of any kind, with assault weapons, such as the ones used in the Colorado theater massacre, being banned all together. We just believe in different things for different reasons and I respect your opinion.
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Old 11-19-2012, 10:02 PM
 
Location: I live wherever I am.
1,935 posts, read 4,754,958 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
The ghettos of Tokyo are pretty bad. And you've never even been there so you don't even know.
True... I've never been to Japan.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
The difference between a knife and a gun, is I can commit mass murder with a gun.
Not one that you'd open-carry for personal protection. You wouldn't open-carry an AK-47 for personal protection... you'd open-carry a handgun. How many rounds could you store in a handgun? 10 or so? I guess it depends upon the caliber and the capacity of the magazine. I have a revolver, so I get six shots to take down any threat to my life... but at least I don't have to worry about my gun jamming.

And, who knows how many knives you could carry? How big are they? If you brought 100 knives with you and you are as skilled as you claim, you could commit mass murder with knives. What constitutes mass murder anyway? 3 people? 7 people? 20? It's easy enough to carry that many knives, I imagine.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
I can maybe stab one or two people in a public area with a knife, but I would be easily taken down.
Perhaps, but you talked about THROWING knives. If you could do it at a distance, you'd be able to pick off anyone who tried to take you down as you saw them running at you. However, I do agree that it'd be easier to take down a knife thrower than a shooter even in that scenario.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
With a gun, people will be more deterred from trying to stop me. Plus, the whole point of this thread is open carry, which I oppose. I don't open carry my throwing knife. Its like a pocket knife.
And what's so bad about open carry? When someone sees someone else, not in uniform, carrying a gun, two assumptions can be made. Either he is a law-abiding citizen (or undercover law enforcement officer) carrying it for his protection, or he is a looney who may be only seconds away from committing mass murder.

In the first case, it doesn't matter if he's carrying a gun because he isn't going to harm anyone with it unless they attempt harm upon him first. In the second case, at least you KNOW the guy has a gun, so that you can get yourself out of the situation if it bothers you so much... and then you're much more likely to be safe.

But let's face it... anyone who is going to commit mass murder is not going to advertise that fact ahead of time by showing his gun. Mass murderers want to blow away as many unarmed people in as close proximity as possible in as little time as possible. If his intended victims flee due to seeing his weapon, his mission has already failed. Any mass murder committed in recent years has been committed by someone who concealed his weapon and, almost entirely, his intent prior to committing the mass murder.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Austinite101 View Post
And yes we have very different ideologies when it comes to weapons. I believe it should be made very difficult for even a clean individual to get a gun of any kind, with assault weapons, such as the ones used in the Colorado theater massacre, being banned all together. We just believe in different things for different reasons and I respect your opinion.
What do you believe should be done to impede "clean" individuals from getting guns?

And what's so bad about assault weapons, if they're in the hands of law-abiding citizens? Frankly, if it's me against some criminal who is armed, I'd love to be able to spray a hailstorm of bullets in his direction so that I can be assured that HE is the one who is killed, and not ME or my family. (But alas, I don't own an assault weapon. That's one of the things on the "someday" list.)

Law-abiding citizens aren't going to use assault weapons to commit any type of crime any more than they'd use handguns. The fact remains that ANY restriction on gun ownership ONLY harms the law-abiding citizens. Criminals who want weapons will always be able to obtain weapons on the black market. Where there's a will, there's a way... just like drug users who want illegal drugs will always be able to obtain them on the black market. (How is it that this country has such a HUGE drug problem, with people talking all the time about drugs in this area and drugs in that area and drugs here and drugs there and DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS DRUGS.... when these drugs are illegal? Evidently, the facts that they're illegal and that mere possession of them could mean years in jail is NOT ENOUGH to dissuade the people who really want to have drugs!)
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