On Mon, Nov 17, 1997 at 08:17:32PM -0700, Benjamin Chad Wienke wrote:
At 09:09 AM 11/17/97 -0800, Kent Crispin wrote:
You quite clearly don't know what you are talking about, little boy. My Dad got me my first gun when I was around 8, 40 some years ago. By the time I was your emotional age (12) I knew that guns weren't toys.
Well, you got the edge on me there; I got my first when I was 12, but my dad let me shoot his .357 Magnum when I was 7.
I recall a period of time when some punks were following me around because I had ratted on one of their friends. I got tired of it, got a B-27 silhouette target, and shot out the X-ring with my Para-Ordnance P10.45. I nailed the used target to my front door, and started wearing a fanny pack, and it was amazing how the punk sightings diminished dramatically.
Sometimes leaving a bloody dogs head on their doorstep works, or putting a few rounds in the side of their car...
I never even had to draw my gun--all I had to do was convince them I carried one and was willing to use it effectively if necessary. Of course, if you would rather be shot than live with the consequences of shooting someone that is your choice. But saying that having a gun wouldn't make a difference is pretty ignorant--it can make a HUGE difference IF you are willing to use it--and pay attention to your surroundings such that you have the gun in hand before you are in the middle of a circle of assholes with drawn weapons.
There are many circumstances that don't involve a circle of assholes with drawn weapons. Perhaps you have a job that allows you to carry a gun; most don't. Perhaps you drive with your weapon on your lap, and are always on the lookout for snipers; but I doubt it. Maybe you have eyes in the back of your head, and can read people's minds, but I doubt that, too. The cold fact is, Ben, if I wanted bad enough to kill you, you would almost certainly be dead, never knowing it happened. That's not magic -- you could do the same to me, and if you gave 10 minutes thought you would realize this is so. All this stuff about always being on guard and being totally aware of your surroundings is silly macho bullshit. And even if it wasn't, it's an braindead empty argument -- if you were always on guard and totally aware of your surroundings you would never need a gun for anything, anyway. And Ben, it's not that I would rather be shot than live with the consequences of shooting someone. If that really were the choice I wouldn't give it a second thought. But that's almost never really the choice. -- Kent Crispin "No reason to get excited", kent@songbird.com the thief he kindly spoke... PGP fingerprint: B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44 61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55 http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html