Why people hate guns?

[Zeref]

i personaly prefer cold wpns,but packing a gun for self defense in worst case scenarios seems legit to me even tho ppl consider it dangerous

[AppleShy]

We live in a world of fear and were everyone is constantly paranoid

[PizzaSHARK]

While I agree with these 2 examples... I'm sure you can see why some people might not think the benefit-risk ratio is good enough. Guns pose a danger to society as a whole, but the benefits are only for specific individuals. Is it worth the trade-off? I mean... if you're a gun owner you probably think it is. But when your kid gets shot and killed... it's easy to believe that the trade-off isn't worth it.

I agree, but I think it's important to look at it from a more distant viewpoint. Granted, I'd hate to give up my guns, but I would also support legislation to restrict gun ownership if it could be conclusively proven that allowing citizens to relatively easily own guns causes problems.

That said, I think it's also worth noting that Japan tried to seduce Mexico into assisting the Axis powers with an invasion of the United States during World War Two. Supposedly one of Mexico's big reasons for telling the Japanese to fuck off was that a very large percentage of the American populace is armed.

[Catta]

I agree, but I think it's important to look at it from a more distant viewpoint. Granted, I'd hate to give up my guns, but I would also support legislation to restrict gun ownership if it could be conclusively proven that allowing citizens to relatively easily own guns causes problems.

That said, I think it's also worth noting that Japan tried to seduce Mexico into assisting the Axis powers with an invasion of the United States during World War Two. Supposedly one of Mexico's big reasons for telling the Japanese to fuck off was that a very large percentage of the American populace is armed.

All it took was airdrops to arm the populace of denmark and norway...

[Extrazero8]

The reason people hate guns is varied.

Some hate guns because they have never been exposed to them. They see them in movies and TV as magical killing machines. They have a fear from ignorance.

Others hate guns because of trauma. These people hate guns because they blame the machines for the death of a friend or family member. They also could have been threatened or felt threatened by someone with a gun.

The video below is a clip from the show 30 Days. The episode is titled Gun Nation. The woman in the video blames guns for the death of her therapist.


Something like that doesn't happen to a person in the right state of mind. In order to get over her fear of guns she probably should have had therapy before going to a shooting range.
EDIT: I want to point out I'm not making light of the woman's pain or making fun of her. I put the video in to show how deeply a person can hold their view on guns.



People that fear guns from not being properly exposed to them can normally be swayed to the pro-gun side with a few trips to the shooting range. In the last 10 years I have made gun owners out of 7 of my friends or co-workers with very little effort.

People that have a fear/hatred of guns due to trauma will probably never change their mind. If you engage someone like that in a discussion keep in mind they blame guns for their personal loss, whatever it may be, and the best you can hope for is view point understanding.

[Paranoid Android]

Only 2 people carry guns on them at all times ...serious criminals ...or people who are paranoid ...so that is why I am against people having guns on them . If you have a gun at home for home defense that is a whole other story.

Well said. I had an arguement forever on this post with someone claiming a crackhead or on drugs is going to jump them. I even gave stats that less 1% people get robbed. Violent crimes even less. I agree with you and like I said many times most swear in their minds that one day they are going to be some hero and come to someone's help and pull out their weapon and apply a precise double tap to a perp. Hollywood man, Hollywood.

[Kasierith]

Well said. I had an arguement forever on this post with someone claiming a crackhead or on drugs is going to jump them. I even gave stats that less 1% people get robbed. Violent crimes even less. I agree with you and like I said many times most swear in their minds that one day they are going to be some hero and come to someone's help and pull out their weapon and apply a precise double tap to a perp. Hollywood man, Hollywood.

Really.... you again? You've gone from misunderstanding the variety of social circumstances in the United States to being upright ignorant of the views of others. Believe it or not, a countryside and a city are different. I hope you can get that at least. But seeing as last time we danced around this with your rightful insistence that overall crime rates are low and most people aren't even in the slightest bit of danger and my pointing out that that "most people" isn't so insignificant, here's some food for thought for you.

http://www.sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=3631 please, compare those crime rates to your national average. 1/9/11 to 2/5/11, so roughly one month... 512 reported cases of violent crime reported to the police, 2213 property crimes, 2225 other crimes; 4950 crimes within a month that were reported to the police (and those are official reports only; if someone doesn't report a crime it doesn't get added). The population of San Fransisco (the city, not the overall area nearby, which was the location of the crime reports) was 805,235 in 2010. So if you average this out, every month a crime was reported against 1 in every 162 people every month. Change that to a year, assuming that the same number of crimes occur every year (and I chose January because crime rates tend to rise in December and in the Summer, so I was attempting to avoid the spikes), and you get 1 person in every 13.56 being the victim of a crime. If you want to check exactly which types of crimes were committed, please, be my guest.... but you still get 1 in 131 people reported to be victims of a violent crime per year, and 1 in 30.3 the victim of property crime (3.3% reported).

Considering that the majority of those 805 thousand people are not in poverty, and are at significantly less risk of being attacked, I think I can feel safe in saying that those numbers are going to be significantly higher in percentages for certain parts of the city. But I know you won't take my word for that.... so here you go.
http://dougmccune.com/blog/2010/06/0...was-elevation/ Notice that there is a SIGNIFICANT spike in almost every type of crime (all but two of them) in one part of the city.

If you need more evidence that there are concentrations of crime in certain parts of the country, and even concentrations of violence within those specified cities... please, tell me. It won't be hard to bring more up

[Deleted]

I own some guns myself. I don't go to the range as much as I used to but I have the biggest respect for guns. Before I owned a firearm I thought to myself they were cool I want one. I still think they're cool, and I still like having them. BUT a lot has changed. As mentioned before I have a lot of respect for them and don't make any fun about them as I used to before. From what I've experienced myself, and if everyone would be like me I'd say "YES please own a gun so you learn about it and respect it" but not everyone is like me, which is fine. Also the fact that not everyone is allowed to own one is also good. In my country you have to pass 3 tests at a psychologist before you're even allowed to take the handling course.

The test was super annoying and made me feel very vulnerable when doing it. Also very unsure since everything was like a trick question. If nothing else I know I'm not a mental case or suicidal ^^

All in all I'm not against guns, but I am against giving a license to just anyone. If you're fit to own one, sure why not. If you're a criminal... Well there's easier ways of getting a gun. And if you're suicidal, well there's other options for that as well.

Also I have absolutely no problem with people that are against guns and would never try to change their mind, as long as they don't try to force me into giving away my guns.

[Paranoid Android]

Really.... you again? You've gone from misunderstanding the variety of social circumstances in the United States to being upright ignorant of the views of others. Believe it or not, a countryside and a city are different. I hope you can get that at least. But seeing as last time we danced around this with your rightful insistence that overall crime rates are low and most people aren't even in the slightest bit of danger and my pointing out that that "most people" isn't so insignificant, here's some food for thought for you.

http://www.sf-police.org/index.aspx?page=3631 please, compare those crime rates to your national average. 1/9/11 to 2/5/11, so roughly one month... 512 reported cases of violent crime reported to the police, 2213 property crimes, 2225 other crimes; 4950 crimes within a month that were reported to the police (and those are official reports only; if someone doesn't report a crime it doesn't get added). The population of San Fransisco (the city, not the overall area nearby, which was the location of the crime reports) was 805,235 in 2010. So if you average this out, every month a crime was reported against 1 in every 162 people every month. Change that to a year, assuming that the same number of crimes occur every year (and I chose January because crime rates tend to rise in December and in the Summer, so I was attempting to avoid the spikes), and you get 1 person in every 13.56 being the victim of a crime. If you want to check exactly which types of crimes were committed, please, be my guest.... but you still get 1 in 131 people reported to be victims of a violent crime per year, and 1 in 30.3 the victim of property crime (3.3% reported).

You are trying to back up you paranoia with stats that back up my reason. All those stats above wheterh you are saying 1 in 131 reported victim violent crime (wild guess but I believe less 1% or 1 in 30.3..again wild guess here...less 1%). 1 in 13.56 less 1%. So do you understand this is where your paranoia comes in you have a less 1% chance of being attacked. Also you you try to reinforce your stats by saying ones not reported (again paranoia). Even if you double that its less 1%. So you carry a weapon around for that 1 in 20 chance. I also looked where San Fran is the 25th safest city to live in. Actually pretty good consider its population, climate and sadly being next Oakland (think it was 4 or 8th non-safest). Obviously San Fran is very expensive to live inn and with Tech and other business its very well to do.

You also mentioned in post about some drug user knocking on your door twitiching, red eyes and such (sorry couldnt find that post). Again so if someon who knocks at door and with these symptoms I'm glad you can diagnose they are a drug addict and blow them away. God help me if I ever have these symptoms or a drug reaction from legal prescription, knock at your door for help or call help and BOOM! I'm dead.+

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/26/saf...le-real-estate...

[Kasierith]

You are trying to back up you paranoia with stats that back up my reason. All those stats above wheterh you are saying 1 in 131 reported victim violent crime (wild guess but I believe less 1% or 1 in 30.3..again wild guess here...less 1%). 1 in 13.56 less 1%. So do you understand this is where your paranoia comes in you have a less 1% chance of being attacked. Also you you try to reinforce your stats by saying ones not reported (again paranoia). Even if you double that its less 1%. So you carry a weapon around for that 1 in 20 chance. I also looked where San Fran is the 25th safest city to live in. Actually pretty good consider its population, climate and sadly being next Oakland (think it was 4 or 8th non-safest). Obviously San Fran is very expensive to live inn and with Tech and other business its very well to do.

You also mentioned in post about some drug user knocking on your door twitiching, red eyes and such (sorry couldnt find that post). Again so if someon who knocks at door and with these symptoms I'm glad you can diagnose they are a drug addict and blow them away. God help me if I ever have these symptoms or a drug reaction from legal prescription, knock at your door for help or call help and BOOM! I'm dead.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/26/saf...le-real-estate...

The link you sent isn't working, did you leave out a letter or something? It's coming up with page cannot be found... sorry for the trouble

1 divided by 13.56 is 0.073746... if you put a percent, that is 7.3746%. This is grade school stuff, try to keep up. 1 divided by 30.3 is 0.0330033 repeating, so.... 3.3%. Even the one statistic not above 1%, the reported violent crime, is 1 divided by 131 = 0.00763, transferred to .763%, which combined with your agreement that you can double the amount to account for non reported, brings it to 1.526%. Here's something to help you out with this, please tell me if you find this useful. http://www.ehow.com/how_6552591_do-percentages.html

I mentioned that if i looked through a peephole, and i saw someone with red streaks under his nose (inhalents) and twitching (quite a few street drugs) than I would want to take every available precaution, but also would not want to avoid answering the door because it is very rare that a person will break into your house if you are there. I never said once that I would shoot them immediately. It is your clear paranoia of gun owners that influences this perception. Neither do I carry a gun around with me everywhere; first, it is not permitted at my workplace or school, and going around in daylight through crowded I have a beyond minimal chance of ever actually needing it.

Also, referring to safest place to live.... look at that dispersion again. There are places where the crime rate doesn't even blip. New York has a long lasting reputation for crime, very possibly highly inflated, but if you know where to go and you live in most places in the city you'll never get any trouble. If someone is selling real estate they are not going to put you up in a dark part of the city

[PizzaSHARK]

All it took was airdrops to arm the populace of denmark and norway...

And if your country has already been invaded and the bad guys are in place to prevent that sort of thing from taking place? Additionally, people who own guns are generally trained in the caring and use of them. Handing a gun to someone who has no experience using one isn't going to do much good.

[BLCalliente]

Putting aside the others, people change their religion with regularity. Have a look at the data on the growing number of non-religious Americans ("nones" in some categorizations) for examples. Hell, our President was a convert between strains of Christianity if I'm not mistaken (I might be!) and at least one of the Republican Presidential candidates (Gingrich) converted from Protestantism to Catholicism.

Sorry if I was unclear there. I meant religious vs. non-religious, not interfaith mobility.