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Originally posted by: starkiller
Specifically, I recall a story where 2 men attempted to rob a Blockbuster Video. They went in with a shotgun and demanded money from the cash register. A man with a conceal-carry permit and his weapon pulled it out and told the 2 men than if they didn't leave, he'd shoot them. They must not have thought he'd do it, because they did not leave. So he shot them both (both in the leg I believe).
Without conceal-carry, not only would the criminals have gotten away, but they might have shot people in the store as well. By injuring the criminals, the man prevented several crimes.
It may seem like the man did the right thing but consider this. Maybe the guy was just going to take the money and run and didn't intend to shoot unless someone put up a fight.
If that is the case, the best thing to do is to let the criminal steal the money and let him leave, and then call the cops to deal with the criminal. That way no one gets hurt. What if the man had missed and hit an innocent bystander? What if he missed and the criminal went nuts and started shooting people?
do we need guns? maybe.
do we need assault rifles? no. I say ban all assault rifles.
someone meantioned the need to have guns to defend against our government if it turned against the will of the people. Do you really think ordinary citizens could stand against the trained US miltitary? with their tanks, fighter jets, nuclear missiles, and other hightech weapons using handguns? come on this is 2005 not 1776. If the military turns on us, wheither we have guns or not, we are toast.
also meantioned was the fear of a child playing with the gun as a toy and shooting him or herself. Someone tried to refute this by saying that kids are smart enough to know not to play guns. I would agree most kids are smart enough, but the fact is every once in awhile it happens. A kid plays with a gun and accidentally shoots and kills him/herself or someone else. No matter what you do, you are not going to be able to stop it from happening. You can lower the chance of it happened, but it will stll happen every once in awhile as long as people own guns.
someone else meantioned learning martial arts instead of getting a gun. What if the criminal also knew martial arts? What if the criminal was too strong for martial arts to work against? Please show me, via the use of the martiat arts how I can stop a bullet.
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
The second question: Yes, I'd perhaps call the cops. As would do 99% of the population here, who dosen't own a gun. I see your point, the "cut the middleman" thing and "protect" your own people. But what I intend to do is to make sure those criminals never get to my house. We should focus on making sure people don't get into crime at all. We should focus on preventing violence to happen in first place, instead of just grabbing a bigger gun and shooting whoever trespasses my properties.
the problem with your logic here is that you can do everything you can do to prevent violence, everything to prevent people from becoming criminals in the first place, but there are still going to be criminals and there is still going to be violence. That is just the way humanity is. But by all means do everything you can do to prevent both. Now, in the instance meantioned, I would want to have a gun. Yes, I'd also call the cops but odds are the cops would not arrive in time to prevent the criminal from doing harm to me or my family. The only way in this instance to prevent the harm is to defend myself and my family. You might try reasoning with the guy, but he may just be a nutcase who came to your house for the sole purpose of shooting people for the joy of it, or perhaps his intent is rape. If either were the case the only thing you can do is defend yourself.
would a total gun ban work? I doubt it. They tried to ban alcohol in the 20's, it didn't work All it did was make the mob more powerful. We have been fighting a war against drugs that hasn't worked. Drugs are illegal but people are somehow still getting them. You shut down all the gun factories, illegal ones are going to pop up. Allow only cops and soldiers to carry them, criminal will steal them. Also in order for the cops and soldiers to get guns someone has to make them, all the criminal has to do to get a gun is find a dishonest person who works at the factory that makes the guns for the cop and the soldier and bribe the guy. Finally unless all countries ban guns, if guns are made illegal in the USA, a person can just go to a country where gun are still legal and buy one there and then sneak it back into the USA. Criminals will always find a way.
I think the best bet is some form of gun control where people can only buy guns of limited power and not guns that are designed to be used by the Terminator and Rambo, where we can limit who can buy guns via the use of gun licenses, where we can do extremely thorough backround checks. I don't like it, but I don't know what else to do.
Conceal weapons? I still can't make up my mind on
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Originally posted by: ricarleite
I understand and accept your point of view on guns, but I hope that this conversation will at least bring some wisdom on both of us... So, after all we discussed, I ask you to yes, keep the gun, it's your right if you want to, but please do be careful... Don't show it off to people, if you're going to transport it unload it first, if you have kids make sure they can't reach it/find it and if (or when) they are old enough, explain to them that what that is and they should never touch it or anything... And if you ever realize you'll actually need it, do think if you really need it, if you're merely fighting with someone, if the person is harming you but is clearly unnarmed, don't use it... And if you REALLY, have to use it, please try aiming for the leg or something, I mean, incapacitate someone should be your goal, you're not trying to get more kills as possible, right?
on this we agree except for aiming for the leg. I know this sound horrible, but every expert tell you not to do this. Why? because a person wounded in the leg can still shoot back. Also there is a greater chance of missing your target if you aim for the leg instead of the chest or the stomach. Then maybe after you miss, the criminal shoots at you and doesn't miss(and he is probably not going to aim for the leg). Sorry, but ask any expert on the subject and that is what they will say. I wish it were not true.
sorry for rambling on like this, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on the issues.