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Kids with guns and gun safety

Puppycow

Penultimate Amazing
Puppycow
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
34,477
Location
Yokohama, Japan
Let's say you always keep your guns unloaded and safely in a cabinet.

In this case, you are unlikely to have an unfortunate accident like these people, but if you had an actual home invasion, maybe you wouldn't be able to get to your gun and load it in time to do any good. OTOH, if you keep it loaded and close to you at all times, the odds are that you may have an accident.

Despite all the guns in America, it seems a pretty rare thing for someone to have one ready for self-defense when an actual crime happens, but unfortunate accidents seem to be pretty commonplace.
 
You could keep a loaded handgun in a small safe in a nightstand and be ready to go in a few seconds. I don't bother with the safe if I am home, but I don't have any kids.

And according to a survey conducted by the Department of Justice, there are 1.5 million defensive gun uses a year.
 
how is it that any kids from rural arizona survive to adulthood? It should be a genocidal bloodbath, what with all these little kids getting guns for their birthdays and stuff
 
dtugg said:
You could keep a loaded handgun in a small safe in a nightstand and be ready to go in a few seconds. I don't bother with the safe if I am home, but I don't have any kids.

And according to a survey conducted by the Department of Justice, there are 1.5 million defensive gun uses a year.
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According to a survey?

According to a survey there are probably 1.5 million ghost/bigfoot/ufo sightings too. :rolleyes:
 
Puppycow said:
According to a survey?

According to a survey there are probably 1.5 million ghost/bigfoot/ufo sightings too. :rolleyes:
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Surveys are a valid way to gather information. Just because you don't like the results doesn't mean you can ignore them. Keep in mind that this result is in line with about a dozen others.

And your analogy is stupid. While there might be surveys indicating there are a similar numbers of ghost/bigfoot/ufo sightings, all that means is that that many people thought they saw those things not that they really did. How can one think that he used his gun for self defense but he really didn't?

How do you think that the Department of Justice should go about figuring out how many defensive gun uses there are. Not everyone will call the police and I am pretty damn sure that this isn't a statistic that police departments keep anyway.
 
At home, I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old. I have already been teaching my four year old gun safety. When I am downstairs, I keep a loaded pistol in a cabinet above the fridge (Which I have actually had to use). Upstairs, I keep a loaded pistol in our nightstand. The four year old is never left alone while downstairs, and our room upstairs stays locked when we are not in it. Oh, I also maintain a "Zombie assault pack" in my closet. It consists of an AK47, 6 fully loaded magazines, one pistol with 3 additional magazines, combat knife, and first aid kit.
 
Puppycow said:
According to a survey?

According to a survey there are probably 1.5 million ghost/bigfoot/ufo sightings too. :rolleyes:
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Do you think someone could be mistaken that they used a gun defensively? That what they thought was their gun was actually a banana or something?
 
Puppycow said:
How can someone think they have been kidnapped by aliens but really they haven't been?
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I know I haven't been kidnapped by aliens because the last time they tried I shot the hell out of them.
clint.gif
 
Quad4_72 said:
Oh, I also maintain a "Zombie assault pack" in my closet. It consists of an AK47, 6 fully loaded magazines, one pistol with 3 additional magazines, combat knife, and first aid kit.
Click to expand...

I am not necessarily against gun ownership. Ultimately, I do find that the perpetrator is the criminal and not the tool used to perpetuate a crime.
I am troubled though by many of the thought processes that seem to go along with ownership of these tools.

I know you are kidding about the zombie part, but honestly, wtf do you need an AK and 6 magazines for? Are the Russians invading your neighborhood?

Should people be allowed to own fireworks? Yeah, probably. They are dangerous, but seem to be limited in the catastrophe they could cause. Should people be allowed to own dynamite? Probably not. Dynamite could cause a catastrophe.

Now, just replace "firework" with "handgun/shotgun/rifle" and with "dynamite" with "Assault rifle".
 
I guess we can just throw out every survey ever conducted because maybe the respondants are lying. Or does that just count for the results we that we don't like.
 
dtugg said:
Surveys are a valid way to gather information. Just because you don't like the results doesn't mean you can ignore them. Keep in mind that this result is in line with about a dozen others.

And your analogy is stupid. While there might be surveys indicating there are a similar numbers of ghost/bigfoot/ufo sightings, all that means is that that many people thought they saw those things not that they really did. How can one think that he used his gun for self defense but he really didn't?

How do you think that the Department of Justice should go about figuring out how many defensive gun uses there are. Not everyone will call the police and I am pretty damn sure that this isn't a statistic that police departments keep anyway.
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Genuine question:
Why do you have a firearm as your avatar?

In the sense of fair play, I chose my avatar because I think it is funny. It is a reference to a TV show.
 
Mr. Purple said:
I am not necessarily against gun ownership. Ultimately, I do find that the perpetrator is the criminal and not the tool used to perpetuate a crime.
I am troubled though by many of the thought processes that seem to go along with ownership of these tools.

I know you are kidding about the zombie part, but honestly, wtf do you need an AK and 6 magazines for? Are the Russians invading your neighborhood?

Should people be allowed to own fireworks? Yeah, probably. They are dangerous, but seem to be limited in the catastrophe they could cause. Should people be allowed to own dynamite? Probably not. Dynamite could cause a catastrophe.

Now, just replace "firework" with "handgun/shotgun/rifle" and with "dynamite" with "Assault rifle".
Click to expand...

I love guns and love to shoot them. It is a hobby of mine to customize assault rifles and collect pistols/rifles. I go out to farms and shoot with my buddies. It also applies to my chosen profession, which is an Armored Cavalry officer in the US Army.
 
dtugg said:
I guess we can just throw out every survey ever conducted because maybe the respondants are lying. Or does that just count for the results we that we don't like.
Click to expand...

What we do is take self reporting with a grain of salt, attempt to compensate for bias, look for reasons people might misremember events or misrepresent them, and compare to other sources. In this case corroboration from police reports would be a good start.

I suggest you look at Emet's link which addresses this issue quite specifically.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research...use/index.html
 
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