As A Self Identified ' Skeptic ' or ' Proponent ', How Do You Feel About Gun Control?

Do you believe in tighter gun control?

  • As a proponent, I believe current gun laws are good enough

    Votes: 2 11.8%
  • As a skeptic, I believe current gun laws are good enough

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • As a proponent, I believe current gun laws are too strict

    Votes: 3 17.6%
  • As a skeptic, I believe current gun laws are too strict

    Votes: 1 5.9%
  • As a proponent, I believe current gun laws are too relaxed

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • As a skeptic, I believe current gun laws are too relaxed

    Votes: 3 17.6%

  • Total voters
    17

Iyace

Member
I'm very interested in finding common ideological trends that various groups support or oppose. Feel free to merely answer the poll, or elaborate a bit on your position below. I don't mean for this to be a debate thread ( I'm very pro-gun ), I just want to hear different opinions and how you came to them. Bear in mind that state laws and federal laws are different ( in the US ), and that there are different laws in other countries. If you wish to elaborate on non-US gun laws, do it.
 
I'm pro-gun control - haven't followed the debate in Canada close enough lately to have any idea how effective the current policies are.
 
I'm pro-gun control - haven't followed the debate in Canada close enough lately to have any idea how effective the current policies are.
I think you guys are leaning towards more relaxed gun laws regarding handguns. You have some of the most strict handgun laws in the world, though.
 
Since gun laws differ from country to country, the results of this poll may be difficult to interpret.
Hi PlausOne. This is a problem... Perhaps it's easier if we just characterise ourselves as broadly pro-, or anti- gun? (whatever that means :))
 
How about we add to the poll:

-As a proponent I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths

-As a skeptic I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths
 
How about we add to the poll:

-As a proponent I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths

-As a skeptic I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths

Nice and loaded...
 
How about we add to the poll:

-As a proponent I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths

-As a skeptic I believe we should do everything we can to reduce gun related deaths
That's a semi tautology though.
 
Since gun laws differ from country to country, the results of this poll may be difficult to interpret.
That's why I said in the first post to vote, and then state what your stance is in another country. I'm just interested in people's mindsets on the issue.
 
Can't really answer your questions as I don't really know how best to label myself, and I'm from the UK where we don't generally have any access to guns. I'm generally ok with this in the UK, but the Tony Martin case raised serious issues for me with how the law works in the UK, but I don't know what the solution is.
 
I don't live in the USA so I don't follow your debate closely. I live in a country where gun control is very tight and yet I am dismayed to see more and more of our police carrying guns. I also lived in South Africa for a while where guns are common and gun crime was (and still is) terrifyingly common. I knew people, friends, who were killed and also knew people who set themselves up as "neighbourhood watch" - actually vigilantes - and went out looking for people to shoot, like it was a game. I was horrified to hear them laughing about blowing a hole in a "suspect". Needless to say that the gun crime rate in South Africa was at the heart of my decision to return to the UK, especially after being car-jacked at the point of an automatic gun. I was lucky, they decided just to take the car. Many were not so lucky and were killed for their car. I never carried a gun while I was there - mainly out of principle - but also, the stats suggested that gun owners were more likely to be shot than non gun carriers. My experience is that I, without a gun, survived my car-jacking while a good friend who almost religiously had a gun within reach, was shot and killed for his car. Not scientifically significant, just my own experience.

I suspect that your poll might show that people with divergent views on psi might find common ground on this subject. I'm inclined towards pacifism, don't like military intervention as a means of solving political problems, don't like the idea of shooting someone who steals my property, don't support the death penalty. These are very emotional subjects and I hope this poll does not trigger (pun, sorry) the rancour that seems to dominate the debate in the USA.
 
I'd prefer not to live in a world where gun ownership is a necessity for survival. All weapons are lightning conductors, they occupy our head space, we have to continually acknowledge their presence and negotiate conditions in which we would be prepared to use them. I prefer to be free from such considerations. If someone wants to mug me I am the innocent party. If I pull a gun on them, having prepared for such an eventuality, am I completely innocent? Or have a contributed to a world of violent escalation?

Where do we draw the line on our own sanity in gun use?
 
I'd prefer not to live in a world where gun ownership is a necessity for survival. All weapons are lightning conductors, they occupy our head space, we have to continually acknowledge their presence and negotiate conditions in which we would be prepared to use them. I prefer to be free from such considerations. If someone wants to mug me I am the innocent party. If I pull a gun on them, having prepared for such an eventuality, am I completely innocent? Or have a contributed to a world of violent escalation?

Where do we draw the line on our own sanity in gun use?
Well, in most cases, I feel that we do live in a world where gun ownership isn't necessary for survival.
 
Excellent article. (Only slight problem for me is that I lean towards conspiracy with the Aurora and Sandy Hook shootings)

Here's another article I read in Harper's:

http://harpers.org/archive/2010/08/happiness-is-a-worn-gun/
Haven't read that one either. Scanned it, and it looks pretty good.

I'm a CCW holder here as well. Definitely controversial.

He makes a good point though ( don't know if he elaborates it later on ), that guns are for far more than just personal defense. For some of us, they're just fun to shoot!
 
Haven't read that one either. Scanned it, and it looks pretty good.

I'm a CCW holder here as well. Definitely controversial.

He makes a good point though ( don't know if he elaborates it later on ), that guns are for far more than just personal defense. For some of us, they're just fun to shoot!

Does that fun include shooting animals for sport? I have to say up front that I also find that justification for owning guns repugnant.
 
Does that fun include shooting animals for sport? I have to say up front that I also find that justification for owning guns repugnant.
Nah, I shoot competitively ( probably put 1000 rounds down range a week in practice, and when I go to matches ). So just paper and steel for me. I've never shot at anything that was living.
 
Haven't read that one either. Scanned it, and it looks pretty good.

I'm a CCW holder here as well. Definitely controversial.

He makes a good point though ( don't know if he elaborates it later on ), that guns are for far more than just personal defense. For some of us, they're just fun to shoot!
Yeah, I found it pretty good and was a little surprised to find it in Harper's. By and large, a main point he makes is just how careful and cautious people who carry concealed weapons generally are . . . and I believe it, too.

To me, aside from liking a level of potential protection and refusing to feel helpless with a wife and child in the house if there were someone breaking in, they (potentially) represent the difference in having or not having food . . . and yep, they are fun to shoot.
 
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