General Discussion
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A psychological paradox:
that those without guns
do not live in fear,
while those with guns do.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)I lived in the 'burbs and wasn't the least bit afraid. But when I moved out to the sticks, I felt that having a gun would be a good idea -- living so isolated from anyone around, even 911 was a lot further away. Mad dogs, snakes, coyotes, and goodness knows what else.
We moved back to the 'burbs after a decade or so, and I no longer feel the need for firearms.
Watchfoxheadexplodes
(3,496 posts)Equal?
That is my reason for owning a hand gun.
BSdetect
(8,989 posts)...... hope the invader/threat is not about to react as they see you reaching for a deadly weapon ....
Just wondering how that scenario makes you safer?
And let's assume you were not deeply asleep when you heard someone entering your home.
Watchfoxheadexplodes
(3,496 posts)So your answer would be to not own a gun?
I can get to it quick enough that keeps my mind at ease.
Unless a deputy was near my house a 911 call would on average get them there in 15 to 20 minutes.
2left4u
(186 posts)First off it's our right...just like free speech so it's not up for debate unless all our rights are suddenly up for grabs and interpretation.
"These (the armed forces) are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere....Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises."
Abraham Lincoln
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)There are limits and intpretations of free speech (yelling fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire), (political contributions are speech), limits on freedom from warrantless searches (officer safety), arguments about what constitutes due process. The right to bear arms in the Constitution seems to be tied to the need for a militia although the current Supreme Court sees the militia reference as suplusage.
It aint all cut and dried.
Dancing on the fringes, hence why elections are important...at present it's cut and dried until the law is changed.
BSdetect
(8,989 posts)And what about the possible escalation factor?
You can have a gun as is your right. That is not the point.
Good luck if you ever have to use it.
Rainbow Droid
(722 posts)TNNurse
(6,911 posts)those guns are not secure in the home.
askyagerz
(776 posts)I'm not scared of my fellow man so am not living in any kind of fear. Therefore I have no reason to own a gun.
Only reason I would own a gun is if I had a farm or ranch that needed protected from predators or I was a hunter. But neither apply to me.
billh58
(6,635 posts)that the fear of needing a gun is the point of the OP.
rgbecker
(4,806 posts)Somehow these folks are fearful enough to get a gun. They envision home invasions, robbers and killers stalking them and their families while being unprotected by the police. Then, once they get the gun, they have to worry about using it correctly and not accidentally killing their family members or friends or having it taken by unarmed intruder and used against them, up-scaling the entire episode.
And of course there is the drunken suicide, family argument or unhappy teenager. Kids getting hold of the weapons and playing around with their friends. How the NRA got to the insurance companies to not even ask if there are weapons in the house we'll never know.
Lots to be afraid of once there is a gun around the house.
erronis
(14,955 posts)So did the NRA also convince the insurance mafia to fight payments for wrongful and/or accidental death and injury by gun?
Wow!
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,750 posts)I have never in my life felt I needed a gun. I don't have one. I don't live in fear. Funny how that is.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)most the GOP lives in fear whether they have a gun or not
on the other hand I know some liberal who have guns but do not live in fear?????
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)and then you get a government that lies and cheats
becoming a government that you need to fear
ffr
(22,649 posts)Liberals aren't fearful of the same things though, not on a daily basis and nowhere even remotely on the same level.
erronis
(14,955 posts)Guess it's that "change" thing. Don't want to deal with changes in situation, people of different colors/religions. If they do travel overseas it's usually to enclaves of their same type.
0rganism
(23,856 posts)it's not that easily separable.
mac56
(17,561 posts)Just curious.
2left4u
(186 posts)Twice
anecdotal evidence is all they ever need
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)or feed the fear?
Or both?