[pbradley]

Originally Posted by marleypumpkin

Well, I guess I stand alone on this. Which I respect if you disagree w/ me, but there's no need to belittle me because I feel differently than someone else. I'm just trying to offer my opinion.

Says the guy that, moments ago, praised myself for wisdom of seeing beyond the all good and all bad of a thing and insinuated that !@#$%! (I assume really at me through proxy) are blind to this.

[gmku]

Yeah, it's okay if you piss him off here. Just don't piss him off if you see him coming down the street and he's packing.

[marleypumpkin]

Originally Posted by gmku

as an added last note from me, I relish the freedom I enjoy NOT to carry a gun, NOT to have the extra burden and worry and responsibility of packing.

Okay, if I'm gunned down some night walking away from Starbucks, you all can say, he should have owned a gun. Then maybe he'd have stood a chance. Yes, well, I doubt it. As I've said, the violence that kills us is usually random and unstoppable.

I refuse to live in fear, basically, is what it comes down to.

Much respect for yr thoughts & beliefs. I overstand the reasoning behind the decision not to own a gun. It is a touchy subject, but others have the freedom to worry about what threats there are in life, & if they want to own a fire-arm to protect themselves from them.

[pbradley]

Originally Posted by marleypumpkin

Basically my stance is this, freedom of choice, & freedom of privacy. Each person has the right to their own choice, & if one chooses to own a gun, they have a right to privately own something they feel is best for their situation in life.

As though every gun buyer sits down and has a deep self-reflection before purchasing a gun. I still stand by my point that gun ownerships breeds a self-sustaining environment of anxiety easy to turn violent accidently or otherwise.

The choice to own a gun is the choice to tell one's community that he or she fears them.

[marleypumpkin]

Originally Posted by gmku

Yeah, it's okay if you piss him off here. Just don't piss him off if you see him coming down the street and he's packing.

To be honest, I don't own a weapon of any kind, but as usual you all overlook my argument that freedom of choice is better than a set law that everyone has to abide by. & generally people can make the right decision when it comes to something as simple as when to shoot a gun & when not to shoot a gun.

[gmku]

It's much like nuclear proliferation. The more gun ownership out there, the more likelihood of violence.

It's insane.

[gmku]

Originally Posted by marleypumpkin

To be honest, I don't own a weapon of any kind, but as usual you all overlook my argument that freedom of choice is better than a set law that everyone has to abide by. & generally people can make the right decision when it comes to something as simple as when to shoot a gun & when not to shoot a gun.

I was just stating that for effect.

My point is that proliferation of gun ownership breeds violence. It's inevitable. It just seems to me that the saner direction in life is toward nonviolence, and I see purchasing a gun as a step in the wrong direction.

[marleypumpkin]

Originally Posted by gmku

My point is that proliferation of gun ownership breeds violence. It's inevitable. It just seems to me that the saner direction in life is toward nonviolence, and I see purchasing a gun as a step in the wrong direction.

I can agree w/ those sentiments. Non-violence is the more wise decision, but again, different scenario's & circumstances dictates different decisions, & results.

[gmku]

Okay, well let's call an end to this thread at six pages. I think we've about exhausted the arguments.

Peace, everyone.

[marleypumpkin]

Originally Posted by gmku

Peace, everyone.

I could not agree more. It's been fun though. Haha (gotta laugh every now & then)

[pbradley]

Eh, I'm not going to go anymore into arguing the validity of libertarianism.

Either way, England and the rest of the world (Australia and Germany represented in the link) still dig our gun-totting badassness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNtjSH750Js

[gmku]

We could so wipe out England in one fell swoop. It wouldn't even be funny.

I don't know why Condoleeza hasn't already thought to do it.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by marleypumpkin

I'm just open minded enough to see the good & bad in everything. You are obviously stuck in yr liberal sided mind.

its not "liberal sided". i can buy a pro-gun argument. i just need it to be a good one.

Originally Posted by HECKLER SPRAY

The Good and the bad, that sounds a bit manichean. Is it the only way of thinking you have, yankies ?

he's not a yankee. he's from tennessee. where gun-toting is a god-given right.

Originally Posted by gmku

Guns are for cowards.

exactly. but there are places and locations when i'm a coward-- driving a lonely highway at 3am for example-- and i might want to have a pistol handy.

Originally Posted by Glice

'Gun', to a great many Americans, represents 'freedom' or 'liberty'. Which is why Herr Pumpkin can replace the object of representation with the ideal of the representation - in one post, 'weed'.

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha--- exactly.

Originally Posted by gmku

I refuse to live in fear, basically, is what it comes down to.

smart man.

but you do occasionally shit your pants in terror, don't you? i mean, we all do, as humans...

well not shitting literally of course-- but the hairs on the back of the neck standing up & shit--- it happens. mostly it's just a racoon going through the trash or shit like that-- ha ha ha

[acousticrock87]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

but you do occasionally shit your pants in terror, don't you? i mean, we all do, as humans...

well not shitting literally of course-- but the hairs on the back of the neck standing up & shit--- it happens. mostly it's just a racoon going through the trash or shit like that-- ha ha ha

Fear is valid when there's a reason. It's a protective reaction. But it's bad to fear something that isn't an actual threat, or at least an immediate threat.

Like getting caught for avoiding taxes. Psh.

[Cantankerous]

aight so if we're being serious

i don't even know why i own a gun, because the only way i would be protected is if i carried it in my purse which i will never ever do. and being that it's very unlikely that someone would try and break into my apartment given the secureness of the building and the location, especially if i was there, there's no way i would ever need to use it anyway. it just sits at the top of a closet in a box.
my grandpa's rifle is another story, i have it because i'm the only grandchild and he has no sons.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

my grandpa's rifle is another story, i have it because i'm the only grandchild and he has no sons.

is he the one who went senile & did all kinds of crazy shit for which hayden said something like he was an original american genius?

[Cantankerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

is he the one who went senile & did all kinds of crazy shit for which hayden said something like he was an original american genius?

no, the other one.

THAT grandpa has never owned a gun in his life, he has dementia, which affects the decision making part of the brain. the craziest thing he did was burn the house down because he put some oil in a pan on the burner and left it on while he mowed the lawn, but he does other things like puts ground meat in the kitchen cabinets instead of the fridge, thinks it's okay to make a left on red etc etc. but he's a great grandpa.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

no, the other one.

THAT grandpa has never owned a gun in his life, he has dementia, which affects the decision making part of the brain. the craziest thing he did was burn the house down because he put some oil in a pan on the burner and left it on while he mowed the lawn, but he does other things like puts ground meat in the kitchen cabinets instead of the fridge, thinks it's okay to make a left on red etc etc. but he's a great grandpa.

i'd like to hear more stories from him. didn't he used to do weird shit to save money or something? why was it that hayden called him a genius?

[Cantankerous]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i'd like to hear more stories from him. didn't he used to do weird shit to save money or something? why was it that hayden called him a genius?

oh, he made my dad and the other 5 kids use national geographics for shin guards when they played soccer and sled on cardboard boxes. he's cheap.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

oh, he made my dad and the other 5 kids use national geographics for shin guards when they played soccer and sled on cardboard boxes. he's cheap.

ah ha ha ha-- brilliant.