Armed America

[Aliantha]

Oh look, it's another fucking weirdo!

(Could be UG though. Looks a lot like a black kilt lol)

[Hagar]

I really don't get the whole gun culture. I don't know anyone who openly admits to owning a gun. I have over 200 regular customers, countless irregular customers and dozens of friends and acquaintances, and guns just don't get a mention. You can go around all day in Brisbane and you might see a cop with a sidearm if you looked for it.

Sure, we played with air rifles as kids, and my dad used to shoot rabbits in the bush as a kid, but the .22 he had was gone long before I came along.

I know it's in your Constitution, but why does that guy need ten guns?

It's scary.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I also go for days on end and never see a gun. You have the wrong impression, Hagar. That doesn't mean they're not out there, just not as visible as you seem to assume.

[Hagar]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I also go for days on end and never see a gun. You have the wrong impression, Hagar. That doesn't mean they're not out there, just not as visible as you seem to assume.

You could be right. The impression I have is that gun ownership is so exalted, almost a rite of passage, and that it it really is a "right" to own a gun, necessity doesn't enter into it. I get this from the web and TV - I've never been to the USA, so it is all second hand.

I don't doubt that there are guns out there (over here), but our gun ownership laws are so different: if they're there, you don't see them. I can't ever imagine seeing a website like "Armed Australia" (sure 'nuf there probably is one).

It's not that I want to come over all "Michael Moore" at you, it is that I see the attitude toward guns as the single biggest difference between Australian and United States cultures. And, as far as differences go, its a whopper.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Michael Moore? Not at all, I commented because I see foreigners on the net seem to have a distorted picture of the US from TV, Hollywood, and the rabidness? ... rabidinity? ..... conviction, many of us show on the subject.

[monster]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Michael Moore? Not at all, I commented because I see foreigners on the net seem to have a distorted picture of the US from TV, Hollywood, and the rabidness? ... rabidinity? ..... conviction, many of us show on the subject.

I find guns far more prevalent here than I expected them to be (I'm a Brit in a very liberal city in the US). I did not expect them to be on sale in Walmart. I try not to allow irrational fear into it, although most of the people I meet who are "enthusiastic" gun owners are the ones I'd least like to let near a firearm. I should probably just stop going in Walmart. When you're brought up that guns are more taboo than vibrators for men, it takes some getting used to.

My main fear is of children accidentally getting hold of them and playing with them, and frankly -having lived in Birmingham UK (which had quite a few shootings in the time I was there), I don't see any more incidents of that here -where because guns are legal, decent security cabinets are readily available and pruchased by the responsible- than I did there -where the gun owners are the irresponsible-type who would not buy a cabinet even if their gun was legit.

That said, the illegal killing with guns thing in the UK isn't any worse than it is here, in my experience, and the people who are getting killed are usually more bad guys. There might be more deaths if guns were more readily available, simply because of how crowded it is there compared to here. It's a small island with a lot of people on it. Living on a remote farm there just means you can't hear the people iin the next farm having sex. So many people in such a small space and with a completely different culture means that comparing gun law here to gun law in the UK is comparing apples and oranges.

And guns are not completely illegal in the UK, just a lot harder to get and more control on the types available. There seems to be a misconception that "gun control" means outlawing firearms altogether, and that guns are not allowed at all in the UK/Europe. Statements like "if your government allows you" just betray ignorance. If the people wanted guns, they'd have them. The UK is a democracy too. And in a smaller country, it's harder for the government to be remote from the people. Watch Prime Minister's Question time if you want to see how a people can ensure their government listens to them. Oh dear, I'm off on a tangent. But the UK don't have guns because they don't want them. It works for them, so why criticize?

I quite fancy learning to shoot targets. But I don't want to own a gun. I don't fear intruders/muggers etc. Such a fear would be irrational given where I live and where I go. Ask me again when I move elsewhere or all law and order breaks down.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Michael Moore? Not at all, I commented because I see foreigners on the net seem to have a distorted picture of the US from TV, Hollywood, and the rabidness? ... rabidinity? ..... conviction, many of us show on the subject.

Perhaps some of what you might view to be distorted has become that way because of the conversations that go on over the net.

I for one realize quite plainly that what you see on tv isn't true. I also realize that the media 'distorts' every story to suit themselves, whatever the motivation is. My views about gun culture in the US largely stem from online discussions on the subject which has only led me to believe that in some ways, the 'distorted' view portrayed by the media overall is not as distorted with regard to guns as it is for other issues.

I think Hagar's sentiments would be quite aptly applied to the views of most mainstream Aussies.

[Hippikos]

Oh, and the cat needed killin'.

Can't you see the poor thing's begging for mercy?

I also go for days on end and never see a gun. You have the wrong impression, Hagar. That doesn't mean they're not out there, just not as visible as you seem to assume.

Them 200 Mio must be somewhere? Maybe they only use it for gun fetishist calenders?

[Hippikos]

Another interesting pic, if you look more closely. Blood stains on the cushion and target practizing in the back. I think I'll give CSI a call...



"One of my first memories is learning to shoot a gun in my backyard." How old was she? Must have been 3-5 years? Shooting a gun at that age?

[Scopulus Argentarius]

Pictures are nice...noticed lots of Dogs and only a couple of cats featured in the group of pix...

Lotsa Gun people are Dog people (goes back to hunting I 'spose)

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I may or may not stick my shovel in here. You ask me, the quotes in the captions have a slightly defensive overall tone that I don't think should be there. The gun people are the antigenocide people, and anyone caught demanding an apology for that deserves drowning in a sheep-dip.

Meanwhile, speaking of O.K. Corral, who else saw the recent Bizarro comic on "Shootout at the O.K. Chorale?"... "I don't like your tone, Mister."

I'm getting rid of my guns...
"Back away fuckers... I've got a loaded light-bright & I'm not afraid to use it!"

[Aliantha]

You have a gun fetish UG? Very interesting...

[Urbane Guerrilla]

:p

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I think it's a Sopranos reference, Bruce.