It's stupid to even bring up nukes, because then you're pretty much changing the topic from tyranny and oppression to all-out genocide. We're not talking about all-out genocide, obviously no amount of firearms are going to stop something on the scale of a nuclear holocaust.

Yes! What does he have, a knife? Screwdriver? His fists?
There are thousands of responsible gun owners in the US that no one will ever hear about. I keep a gun to protect my family and home from intruders. It is a tool that I will use incase the doorlocks and security alarm fail to do their job. And yes, if a "person" actually makes it past the first 2 defenses I have no problem using any tool at my disposal to keep my family safe.

Why Do You ask? To protect us from tyrannical government is the first thing that comes to mind.

You're right man, I obviously don't agree with you on a lot of things. But we agree this society is still pretty fucked up.

We're going between the 2 areas here, where we think guns are needed and getting wires crossed I think.

I think the arguements for guns are totally flawed, but they should be allowed. I'm like Rochard but I don't totally agree with him either.

I'd love to have a security system on my property that electrocuted all unknown visitors and left them unable to move until an authority arrived, but it wouldn't protect me against a government of tyranny because they could shut off the power most probably.

I can tell you that I listened to every possible heavy metal song I could get my hands on and played the most violent video games and look here ... who started this thread???

Blaming games and tv and music is the ultimate in blaming others for something that ultimately is the responsibility of the person usually doing the complaining.

I will soon be a father and if my daughter would kill someone I wouldn't try and find which game she played caused the event to happen. Unless she is mentally ill, I would feel responsible for the most part.

You do not know shit. :2 cents:

I know you find that hard to believe, but you are very ignorant when it comes to this topic.

I'm not putting the blame solely on video games and entertainment, but I believe they play a part in the conditioning of young people's minds.

I don't think people just wake up one morning and they are "mentally ill homicidal maniacs" all of the sudden, it is a process over time influenced by many outside variables.

I believe people are predisposed to be a certain type of person and here are 2 examples:

1. A rich kid that has great parents and the best possible upbringing but has a need to try drugs and goes heavier and heavier until who knows what...

2. My own cousin, we both watched wrestling together as children. Every single time Hulk Hogan would come out my cousin would rip his shirt. Same as every time we watched the hulk ( green monster ) on tv he would cut open his pants to rip them. He later on went on to be impulsive and out of control. That was the way he was and ended up on the wrong side of the law and in jail due to bad decision over bad decision. I was sitting right next to him watching the same shows and never would have considered ripping any of my clothes.

He's not actually.

Exposure works in more ways than one. This is just one. If you never heard of a person killing someone else, breaking into a home, etc. would you buy a gun? No, simple answer.

Exposure is obviously reporting on the news, the news is the latest on what is happening in society, and society has a long way to go and needs help. So there ya go.

If you never heard of a gun or someone being killed with one, would you need a gun? No.

The problem with an arguement is nobody wins, so I don't really want to get into another one tonight.

Anyway, the only reason weapons exist is to try and gain an advantage on someone. If we didn't feel need to do that, we wouldn't need weapons. I personally don't feel that need.

... Why do you open your fucking mouth about owning guns?

I didn't start this thread to start shit so please if I did , Sorry. I wanted to understand something that deep down I couldn't. Just in the replies you see how passionate some of you are on the subject. What I was looking for was answers without emotion. Smart people telling me why they own one. I guess I'm no closer to understanding...

For self defense! Where I live I dont trust hardly anyone and a lot of houses get broken into.

Bullshit. You have plenty of answers in this thread. Either you are too stupid to understand or you have an agenda. I think it is you who is emotional about this subject.

No one yet understands it. Don't beat yourself up.

Why are we still fighting and killing people over stuff that doesn't matter? Nobody knows.

If we had a law that said no guns in a household with someone who has autism, multiple personality disorder, or is on medication and the mother followed the law, she would be alive today, and her son would have been prevented from doing this, plain and simple.

I think video games has a part in it. Clearly the majority of us will play video games and never ever kill anyone. However, if you play video games and then are mentally ill, even if only mildly... That's where the problem is.

Having a gun does not always mean you will be able to stop the person who broke into your house. Making the decision to shoot another person and potentially take their life is a life changing event, and some people are just unable to cross that line. You can go to the range every weekend to fire your gun, but when it happens in the middle of the night you are confused, adrenaline kicks in, your knees get weak, your vision gets blurry, and it's a hard thing to do.

Everyone says they can do it, but when it comes down to it most cannot.

I saw someone shoot another person once. After the first shot the shooter locked up, and became completely incoherent.

Something else you need to think of is the legal issues. Common sense dictates that if someone breaks into your house, you shoot them. However, if even someone breaks into your house you just killed an unarmed man and you will sued in court by a spouse or child or what not, and for right or wrong... You'll spend the next ten years fighting legal bullshit in court - When all that was needed was a freaking alarm system.

Funny how all you people seem to live in the same shithole neighbourhood full of rapists and murderers. I would move yesterday.

I don't need a gun to defend my house, my family and stop a tyranny from happening. Neither do 99% of the other people in western countries. Except for people in America. Funny.

If I never heard of a gun? How about we stick with reality.

Okay, you obviously know little about autism. Typically, an autistic might act out in the moment if they felt personally threatened rather than concocting and carrying out an elaborate revenge for some perceived past injustice.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Why do you act like you are defending something, I asked a question , I didn't accuse anyone of anything and in case you didn't notice I haven't passed judgement on anyone here who said they owned a gun. But thanks for the gratuitous insult.

Oh and by the way, wanting to understand something isn't a sign of stupidity it is a sign of wanting to learn about something you don't yet understand. Did you know what you know before you knew it? I don't think so. Here is your participation medal.

I am not defending anything. You asked a question and it was answered. Now, either you are too stupid to understand the answers or you dont want to understand. I have a feeling you were not looking for real answers in this thread and the thread was rhetorically written (why do you primitive yanks want to be John Wayne type of euro sentiment).

So, I will give my answer to your question since I still am an American.

Self Protection- As a father and husband it is my duty to protect my family. My home has deadbolt locks on the doors. I have a very expensive monitored security system. And I have a gun. If the locks fail or the windows are broken the security system is armed. Alarms go off and the police are called. Now, if someone is still trying to enter my home the next line of defense is a handgun. For me, this is how I protect my 2 children, wife and myself.

I do not go prowling the streets olooking for evil-doers. I am simply a man fulfilling my responsibilities to my family.... legally. Do I feel threatened or am I a paranoid person??? No. But I can not ignore the remote possibility that something may happen and I must be prepared.

Never mind what you feel I was thinking and leave your insults to yourself, we were having an intelligent conversation until you came along but thanks for your answer non the less.

Do you live in a really bad or really good neighborhood? The security seems slightly excessive for the burbs. Just wondering, not judging.

The thing you have to worry about most is not criminals entering your house, criminals attacking your family or the government turning into a tyranny but some random moron with a gun shooting you in the face because of road rage. Or some random guy with a gun in a bar who you get in an argument with who shoots you because he is afraid you might have a gun and might use it. That is the state your 3rd world country is in. Your country isn't a shithole because of the criminals, every country has those, but because everyone and his retarded brother has a gun and is told every day they have the right to use it.

I live in a country where only criminals have guns. And when i look at the US i am damn happy with it. I wouldn't want it any other way.

You think you were having an intelligent conversation??

Your question~ Americans, why do you own a gun?
My answer(as an american)~ For protection.
Your comment~What I was looking for was answers without emotion. Smart people telling me why they own one.


I have not insulted you yet because I was giving you the benefit of doubt. I think you are removing that doubt every post you make.

I live about 15 minutes from downtown Atlanta in a fairly nice neighborhood. You do not have to go very far to reach some very bad places.

I cant argue with any of that. The only thing I can do is try to protect my family and I feel that having a gun in the house is a necessity. It is one of the things I can do to keep violence away from my family. The plain fact is there are guns and I have to plan accordingly for the safety of my family AT HOME.

BTW, wasn't there a german or scandanavian that shot up a bunch of kids on an island?? There are sick people everywhere.

You seem to be wanting an argument and believe me you are providing me with great material for one but I will let you insult as you wish , I for one will redirect this thread towards it's initial purpose and let the users of this board talk and if you think I'm stupid so be it.

I know NOTHING about autism.

My point is this kid - this twenty year old or whatever he was - had MULTIPLE issues. I don't think the autism was an issue here, but chances are he was on medication for that, and that's a warning sign. Might not be a problem at all.

His brother said the shooter had a ?personality disorder? and was ?somewhat autistic". Bingo. "Personality disorder" screams "mental health issues" and screams "medication" and screams "who the fuck allowed firearms into that house"?

If you have anyone in the house who has mental illness, is on medication, or has problems with anger management, you cannot have firearms in the house. It should be a law.

Anyone that sees any kind of doctor or shrink for mental issues gets put on some list - Let's just call it "the can't buy guns list". When anyone is put on that list it should be cross referenced against a list of gun owners. If anyone in his family or same address has a firearm, someone needs to look in this. Then when someone goes for a gun permit, it should be cross referenced against the "can't buy guns list" to see if anyone in their family or address has mental illness problems.

In this case, the mother bought firearms, and the moment the kid got any kind of treatment for mental illness or any similar medication, a report should have come out at the local police station saying "This woman has guns and her son has mental illness, this is not allowed".

I have a friend of mine who is partially retarded, and mentally he'll forever be a seventeen year old. Yet he's allowed to have an AR15 too.

I own many guns for many reasons the main being protection

someday I may have to protect future generations from a tyrannical government

should that day come in my lifetime I WILL take up arms against my government.

Simple as that

I have the same thing. Three doors leading to the outside came with dead bolts, and of course the sliding glass door. I also have a home alarm.

The best part is my dog - a black lab. Not overly aggressive or threatening in any form, but if anything is wrong she does this soft vicious growl. For some odd reason it's the one thing that always wakes me up instantly too.

Are there people who disagree with this? No, no one can't be that stupid.

Good post, but I thought we already had something like this in place? Maybe it doesn't include any household member.

I love dogs and grew up with dogs, but where my life is right now I just don't want a dog. It would be unfair to it because I am pretty busy and wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time with it. Maybe someday in the future, but if I am going to be a dog owner I want to be a good dog owner and my schedule, life and so on don't really make for the right situation right now.

Jack the ripper tore apart a lot of women in London long before there was every anything even remotely like TV and video games.

Humans have tortured, killed and imprisoned each other since the beginning of recorded time. Wars have been started over stolen lovers, lives have been taken simply because people were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The reality is that humans are violent creatures. Some are worse than others. Do I think mental illness plays a role in this? Without question. Are pharmaceuticals playing a role in this? Probably.

All this said, violence among young people is at the lowest that it has been over 20 years so there isn't an epidemic of violence, but we do seem to have more of these mass shootings than in the past.

I actually think it is more the news media fault than anything else. Disturbed individuals see the impact of these types of shootings played over and over on the news. They interview people not really connected with the shootings, the president cries on TV for the victims. I THINK desparate people see this as a way to give their life significance before they end it all. In the past these people probably just offed themselves in anonymity.

I agree with a lot of this. In the past many of these people just shot themselves, but now they see a chance to go out with a bang and be famous and they do it.

I really enjoy shooting and the mastery of proper gun handling as a skill and art. And guns as crafted objects and fine tools are a pleasure.

People that do not know proper gun handling principles and protocols really bug me lol.

I was shooting not that long ago, and there was a guy there who obviously thought he was a big shot, with new expensive combat shotguns - and the IDIOT walked around with the action closed, holding the shotgun horizontally, not caring wether or not the line of the barrel crossed other people's bodies.

It was incredibly dumb. it was an informal situation - if it had been a range he would have been kicked out. I guess I was a gun asshole - I had to tell him, "Barrel up, or barrel down, never let the barrel point at something you dont intend to kill".

Wjy do people not know these basic things anymore? But, my experience is, more and more people have no idea that gun handling principles even exist, much less what they are.

90% of the people are idiots and they are also allowed to carry a gun.

Yet every gun owner calls himself a responsible gun owner. Every single one of them!

Residential crime. I'ts not that complicated.

Already had my car and garage broken into. I would imagine at some point in my life someone will up the ante and try to get into my house. That's what the gun is for.

Other people keep baseball bats under their bed. I'd rather keep my distance.

It's easy to sit behind a keyboard and live in some idealistic make believe world where bad things never happen to people. Mass murder is not unique to America.

I have weapons for only one reason. Protection. Hopefully, I can live my entire life and never have to use one. I feel the same about all my insurance policies. Why risk injury or loss of property when the insurance policy is cheap.

I don't live in USA, but in my uncivilized country ( yes,I think it is uncivilized as every country out there where most of people think that is normal to have guns somewhere at home and live that way), there are much more deaths when kids take parent's gun or when people use it during some argue (actually almost never heard that gun in house helped anyone). And answer that you are having it because of protection is idiotic and it is clearly showing global fear and paranoia made precisely by letting people to have guns. I would never want to have gun because there are tons of situations where I can't control myself. I don't when take screwdriver in my car to avoid using it and later be sorry for a lifetime. Also, I don't want to destroy my life with idea that I am ready to kill someone and to feed that state of consciousness. I am leaving that to uncivilized people stupid enough to live in peace and appreciate that.

For some strange reason I read your post in a Russian accent. :1orglaugh

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh I am not sure if he is pro gun or not. His avatar is interesting tho. That avatar is exactly why I keep a gun in the house, because there are sick fucks out there.

oh, 100 stupid fucking uncivilized American gun loving assholes.