Me And A Gun

[Posh]

This is a watch forum.

...and Posh, in my opinion, they gave you too much leash (latitude).

And another thing, why don't you just start your own blog? It's obvious that your rambling, self-indulgent threads are designed for your own inflated ego.

Start a blog and post a link with the address. Then, the poker playing, Poshists will follow you there and kiss your a$$ somewhere else in cyberspace.

This is a watch forum.

R

Oh. Okay. I see. The fact that there's a section of topics not pertaining to watches is okay as long as it's not mine.

I hope you're going into every thread that has nothing to do with watches and making sure they know to "stay on topic."

No? Just mine? I'm honored.

[SFA437]

Who's going to stand there and not try to defend their lives against imminent danger? You don't need a gun for that. Sometimes you need the strength and will to survive.

Shooting at the walls of heartache, bang bang. I AM the warrior.

Strength and the will to survive are a mindset and are the singular most important tool to surviving a violent encounter. There are however other tools. Everything from a kubotan to pepper spray to a firearm.

Stand in front of me while I shoot at you with a 357- all the will and strength in the world won't help. Quite simply you will die. If you run, you will die tired. If you move to cover and return fire you stand a chance.

Uh, DC isn't THAT bad. I feel safe there. I do know guy friends who have been mugged in Georgetown and Charles Village, Baltimore. In all honesty, the guys I know who got mugged could've been mugged by Elmo or Cookie Monster. I mean these are your typical yuppies or hipsters. They just have "victimize me" written all over them.

Me and my girls put on our ***** face and go to town, without men around. You don't need a gun when you have on your ***** face. You better recognize!

I chose DC because it consistently ranks, along with other cities where firearm ownership is restricted, in the top 10 per capita murder rates. Again you've touched on mindset. I've done details in Port Au Prince and Petionville Haiti unarmed and came out unscathed. Wasn't fun but a brain is your best weapon, everything else is secondary.

A gun is not going to stop a determined 280 pound man from raping a 110 pound woman. My mom has had patients who had guns, on their person and in their homes, and knew how to use them who were still victims of sexual assault, both by strangers and people they knew.

Again, mindset. Along with having the firearm, the person must also be mentally prepared to take human life. Not many people have that within them in the US due to social conditioning. I have seen 110 pound women and dead 280 pound rapists. I've also seen what you describe.

A few of these people now realize that a gun doesn't guarantee ANYTHING.

You are 100% correct. A firearm GUARANTEES nothing. What it does do is help to equalize a disparity in force. Notice I did not say it DOES equalize a disparity in force, just that it helps. Again mindset and training come into play here. Not just "I know how to load and unload it" or "I can put holes into paper" but proper training.

A gun DOES NOT make you automatically safe. But that it does is what I hear from gun proponents all the time and there's evidence everywhere to the contrary.

Nothing makes you automatically safe, nor have I ever said that. I take my evidence from the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Report Annexes. 1.1 million defensive uses of firearms in 2006 (haven't seen 2007's stats since I'm where I am). That does not mean someone was shot- simply the presentation of the weapon in most cases dissuaded the skell from his/her chosen course of action.

If you don't feel safe enough just armed with your wits, since most times that's all the "weapon" we have, then nothing is going to make you feel secure.

So you propose I do patrols through Baghdad armed only with my wits? Surely you jest . Here's a question for you- if wits are enough, why do police officers carry firearms? Even better why does the Secret Service carry them? Surely you do not posit they have no wits about them....

A gun isn't a "tool." A band saw is a tool. A gun is an istrument designed and devised with only ONE real purpose: to destroy and end life. That's why they were invented and that's continue to be made. Why does everybody glass over this fact like it doesn't exist?

A firearm is indeed a tool. It is used to harvest game, it serves as a badge of office (a military officer's sidearm), it serves as a visual deterrent (a police officer's sidearm) and it serves to defend one against violence.

As for destroying life, there is something I instilled in every rookie I had on my range (over 400). In a deadly force incident, you do not shoot to kill. You shoot to live.

As I stated before, if I was not armed on numerous occasions I would be dead. I'm happy with the drugged out lunatic on the slab rather than me.

[Yggdrasil]

Not in any order: rocks/sharpened sticks/ax/arrows/spears/swords/cannon/Greek fire/trebuchet/guillotine/musket/shotgun/pistol/grenades/smart bombs/laser weapons/etc.


From the dawn of man there has been weapons. To create an efficient weapon that makes killing easier. There are many purposes of such weapons, violet crime is a misuse of the weapon. Responsibility lies in the user and the intent of the user. Whether it would be to kill a deer for game, sport, food, enjoyment, population control. To kill the dangerous armed intruder/criminal in your home. To apprehend a criminal, to use as deterrent for other forms of violent crime. Or in war to follow the objective of the commanders, to defend, to protect, to bring justice.

You may not agree, you may feel guns are useless and bad for humans. That is your right. But that right most likely was won at one point in time with weapons.

Guns are power, guns are as great a force in evil as they are good. It depends who is holding it.

[Pugwash]

I will not be commenting on this thread, apart from to ironically post I won't be posting.




.

[bebenn]

This thread should be in the "Off Topic" forum, not the General Replica Forum.

[pc12drvr]

More children robbed of childhood

It all depends on what you see as upsetting based on your value system.

Just stirring the pot. . .

(Stir. . .Stir. . .Stir. . .)

[capt_cope]

You know I don't even know how to respond to posh. I honestly didn't think anyone was that dull. Yes! It MUST be the guns that's why we have children soldiers! Don't forget that pens are the culprit behind misspellings, and bridges cause suicide.

Did you forget to go to high school philosophy or something posh? That's probably the most obviously false argument I've ever seen.

[Posh]

We were taught 1st hand the danger of guns, what they should be used for ONLY and why.

What are they ONLY for exactly and why? That's my question to you.

I respect your opinion, but I have issue with this post because this is a watch forum. Not a social commentary forum, not a weapons forum, not a creepy artist forum, not a manbag forum. This is a watch forum.

I'll be the first to admit, in the past, I posted a few threads regarding off - topic subjects that I found interesting. However, what I realized, is that they were annoying. Although, well received, they were annoying because this is a watch forum.

I believe that we're surrounded by enough ****e on a daily basis. I don't want to visit the forum dedicated to my beloved hobby and see photos of kids holding weapons. That's not what this forum should be about.

This is a watch forum. Kyle

Thank you for respecting my stance on guns. Um, my section is about all things replica, as can clearly seen. I've talked about bags, cars, watches, shoes, clothes, travel, art, philanthropy AND my own thoughts and opinions, if feel like expressing them. Everyone is welcome to provide a counterpoint on or support of these opinions; I won't censor anybody because I don't like them or what they say. You probably were not here when I did a post to let people know what the section was for and what it would contain. Posh's section is exchange for ideas and learning.

Due to the largess of the site principals, I was given a great deal of latitude in what topics I wanted to present to the RG readers. If you don't like my social, education, art, relationship, etcetera commentary, by all means ignore it and focus on the replica topics. Or just ignore the whole section completely; that is the beauty of free will.

Nobody's putting a GUN to your head and telling you to read my articles.

I don't mind the images, either.

However, I feel compelled to note that Tori, despite the name of her song, was not held at gun point. She was threatened and held against her will with a knife.

Thanks you for clarifying. She has said that at that time she thought he had a gun when he threatened her until he produced the knife. After the event, she dreamt that it was a number of different weapons, including a gun, which is why she brings a number of weapons, real weapons including a real gun, into the performance of that song as Pip. Seeing Thelma & Louise, writing the song and afterward having sexual assualt victims tell her about their experiences at the end of guns and her position on guns, she has felt the title to be apt.

That's in part why I used the picture of her with the knife instead with other weapons.

More children robbed of childhood

It all depends on what you see as upsetting based on your value system.

Just stirring the pot. . .

(Stir. . .Stir. . .Stir. . .)

Guns make you feel powerful and for people with no power whatsoever, it can be a rush, even if you don't use the item in question for deciding if someone can can continue to live. The psychological component of being around a gun, holding gun, pointing a gun at something or someone, cannot be ignored. I held a $100,00 Purdey rifle in England which in addition to being as beautiful as any sculpture I've seen was also deadly. I find it very difficult to see a piece of art that also doubles as a thing that destroys a life; art was never meant for one living creature to kill another living creature.

If you're a weak, disenfranchised, ineffectual or scared person, having a gun, which gives you the ultimate power, which is the power over life and death, is a feeling that a lot of people actuallyy enjoy. That's scary to me. I would think hard before being around someone who enjoys owning lots of guns, holding guns, shooting guns and all that. I'm automatically wary of that person, which I don't forsee changing. And I don't mean an adult who sharpshoots or clay shoots; those people aren't shooting living things.

There is NO real need for any person in the civilized, Western world to know how to shoot or even own a gun. Let's be real, no one needs one. If you're not in the military, what's the reason? To shoot deer so they won't die? Because that's the argument you hear with hunters, the fact that deer won't have food because there will be too many of them going after what's available for them. We kill them so they won't die. I have never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. Also, nobody in the Western world is going rise up against the government so you can take that out of the equation. The government has done plenty of things to plenty of people in America and everybody sat on their hands took it.

I rushed him but I was sure to ask my friend to give me pictures from all over the world, every country is represented and I actually augmented the photos just now. I didn't have time to put them all in last night. So it's not just "infidel haters," it's every country in the world showing children having fun with real guns and fake guns, but you can't be sure who has the real guns and who has the fakes ones. This could easily be about parents but I'm talking about parents because some don't have any due to war or other variables. I guess you could say this is a photo essay of children, which embody life, hope and happiness, with guns, which embody death, destruction and despair.

A child should not have to think about their own mortality. I'm sure most kids wouldn't think about guns unless some adult, or adult-produced form of media, got them to think about it. Kids want to play with their friends an have fun, not learn to shoot or "respect" a Stayr-AUG. Children need to be children.

[Posh]

Is it just me or are about half of these pictures of children with TOY guns? That seems a little deceptive to mix them in like that. It would be like putting pictures of little girls with realistic looking dolls in an article about teen pregnancy. The talk about child soldiers like its a new concept is also deceptive, children have been fighting wars since they were invented. Its sucks, but all war sucks for everyone who is involved. Argue to end wars all together, not to make them more civilized or more tolerable by putting in "rules". The more horrible and terrible a war is and the more people who know about it the less likely we are to do it again.

That being said I will put out there that I think private gun ownership in the US should be illegal. There is just no reason for it. You are far more likely to kill yourself or a loved one then to defend your home. The argument about the constitution is just silly, its says "the right to bear arms" which does not mean the right to own any weapon I want and carry it when ever I want. I am an engineer and know how to make chemical weapons but I don't think anyone is comfortable with that. As for letting the kids use the guns I don't let my kids use the table saw and its a lot less dangerous then the 12 Gauge.

The developing world is another story, people there live by a set of rules so different then what we know in the US. Having to kill an animal so it doesn't eat your children is a reality in some parts of the world. Pirates, kidnappers, thieves, rapists, and murders who work with or sometimes for the police are real concepts in the developing world. Teaching a child to shoot in that world makes sense. Us judging those people for doing that and casting a disgusted look at the father teaching his kid to shoot in that world seems a little pompous and arrogant to me. That's why people in those countries hate Americans. We judge them and look down on them and don't understand them or their lives at all.

You know what? You make a terribly good point here. If a child needs to use a weapon in Darfur to keep keep herself or family members safe from "cleansed" or sexually assaulted, I would say go for it. But you run up against raiders who are many with better and more guns. But I do see what you mean here. I just wants kids to be able to be kids without having to deal adult realities. That's just what I feel.

There's plenty of time for gun play when you're an adult; Uncle Sam (and some mercenary companies) are giving people the chance to take the lives of other people with guns if they want it. So why not wait a few years?

[painm8ker]

I just wants kids to be able to be kids without having to deal adult realities. That's just what I feel.

There's plenty of time for gun play when you're an adult; Uncle Sam (and some mercenary companies) are giving people the chance to take the lives of other people with guns if they want it. So why not wait a few years?

Lets hope some day we live in a world where this is possible. 2/3 of the world lives in such a way that it isn't. In another thread you posted that "money is the great equalizer" in the super safe developed world that true. For the other 2/3 of the worlds population guns are. To your point about the bad guys being better armed and many, I suggest that the part of helpless victim while possibly safer is not preferable to many and not something a child should have to endure either.

Your spot on about the US and developed world though, having a gun here around children is just irresponsible.

[SFA437]

Your spot on about the US and developed world though, having a gun here around children is just irresponsible.

I don't get why you think ignorance is better than education.....

[Guanaco]

What are they ONLY for exactly and why? That's my question to you.

Self defense of course [aka protection], target practice and hunting. What do you think I was gonna say? Shoot everyone I can see?

[The_Monkey]

Guns make you feel powerful and for people with no power whatsoever, it can be a rush, even if you don't use the item in question for deciding if someone can can continue to live. The psychological component of being around a gun, holding gun, pointing a gun at something or someone, cannot be ignored. I held a $100,00 Purdey rifle in England which in addition to being as beautiful as any sculpture I've seen was also deadly. I find it very difficult to see a piece of art that also doubles as a thing that destroys a life; art was never meant for one living creature to kill another living creature.

If you're a weak, disenfranchised, ineffectual or scared person, having a gun, which gives you the ultimate power, which is the power over life and death, is a feeling that a lot of people actuallyy enjoy. That's scary to me. I would think hard before being around someone who enjoys owning lots of guns, holding guns, shooting guns and all that. I'm automatically wary of that person, which I don't forsee changing. And I don't mean an adult who sharpshoots or clay shoots; those people aren't shooting living things.

These feelings of power are the very reason kids should be educated about guns when they are young, so that they understand that while a firearm gives them a lot of potential power they also carry heavy consequences for misuse.

One of my dad's friends has a Class III license, so he can legally own just about anything... I've gone out shooting with him, the only gun he's ever handed me that I got any sort of "rush" from, just holding it, was a Thompson, and that was more of a "holy sh*t, I'm holding the same kind of gun as Al Capone" type thing. I've gotten to shoot MP5s, AKS 74s, M-16A1s (fully automatic as apposed to 3 round burst), even an M2... I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun to pump rounds into an empty hillside, but I never had any feeling of power, and I have a feeling if it wasn't such a rare thing to be able to do that, it wouldn't even be fun. The reason is I've been brought up around guns, they're a necessary fact of life on a farm (use 'em to shoot ground squirrels who chew through irrigation lines, buggers cause a metric sh*t ton of damage), and I know the consequences of using them against other people... if you exercise that power that a gun grants you, chances are things aren't going to work out well for you.

[The_Monkey]

Posh, you seem to have a view that all any gun is good for is shooting people... that's simply not true. I have a feeling you could really get behind a certain Assault rifle... an Olympic target pistol (under CA state law, they are considered Assault Rifles), these shoot low velocity .22 Caliber bullets that are designed for the sole purpose of punching a hole in a piece of paper, in terms of danger to human life they rank below a rock. They won't even break skin from more than a few feet away, let alone kill anyone or any thing.

Fact is, most kids who learn to shoot in a civilized nation do so for sport... it's target shooting, it's great fun, and a wonderful opportunity for children and their families to form loving memories that they will keep with them for the rest of their lives. My grandfather died when I was 12 years old, some of my fondest memories of him were from days we would spend at his friend's shooting range shooting at pop cans and clay pigeons with .22s and 4/10s.

Of the people I know, the ones who learned to shoot with their parents (usually their father), and did so on even a semi-regular basis, without fail, have had much healthier relationships with their families than those who didn't. The ones who did shoot never really went through a "wild teen" phase, have never had any serious trouble with the law, and never gotten into fist fights with their parents... each of those things has been done by at least one of my friends who has never held a gun. Does that prove anything? No, my sample size is far too small to prove anything, and my friends personalities are exceedingly varied, but I do find that clear break to be interesting.

The pictures you posted are all of children in war torn areas, they carry guns because that's just how it is there. Rather than focus on getting rid of the guns, perhaps the focus should be on eliminating the environment in which these children are forced to carry guns.

And yes, guns are used in crimes, but take a look at countries where guns aren't as prevalent, like say Britain, the same crimes are still commited, they just happen at knife point rather than gun point. The person commits the crime, the gun or knife just happen to be there. And personally, given the choice, I would much rather be shot to death than stabbed.

[TTK]

these shoot low velocity .22 Caliber bullets that are designed for the sole purpose of punching a hole in a piece of paper, in terms of danger to human life they rank below a rock. They won't even break skin from more than a few feet away, let alone kill anyone or any thing.

Are you on medication....if not you should be....try whispering that in the ears of all the corpses that have been killed with a .22LR...yes ..on ocassion......even a pellet gun .22....!

[Yggdrasil]

Everything has the potential to kill...whether it be guns or Step ladders/slippery showers/electric toasters/hair dryer/Stairs cases/fruit cake/,etc.

Human life is fragile. All life is for that matter.

Besides guns these things would also kill if used for that purpose: A knife//large hands/big sticks/sharpened sticks/rocks/cars/pillows/high heeled shoes/heavy objects like candle sticks/frying pan/sculpture/hammer/rope/hard cover book/a towel/ plastic bag/Legos/rolled newspaper/CRT monitor/clipboard/wooden or metal chair, etc.

[Dave123]

Everything has the potential to kill...whether it be guns or Step ladders/slippery showers/electric toasters/hair dryer/Stairs cases/fruit cake/,etc.

Human life is fragile. All life is for that matter.

Besides guns these things would also kill if used for that purpose: A knife//large hands/big sticks/sharpened sticks/rocks/cars/pillows/high heeled shoes/heavy objects like candle sticks/frying pan/sculpture/hammer/rope/hard cover book/a towel/ plastic bag/Legos/rolled newspaper/CRT monitor/clipboard/wooden or metal chair, etc.

The difference though is that guns only have ONE purpose,to kill,the rest have more then one purpose.

As for fruit cake,that depends on who's grandmother made it,it can have that same one purpose as well....

[Yggdrasil]

The difference though is that guns only have ONE purpose,to kill,the rest have more then one purpose.

As for fruit cake,that depends on who's grandmother made it,it can have that same one purpose as well....

Exceptions:

Starting Pistols



Water Gun:



Paint Ball Gun:



We are in agreement on fruit cake..that is evil stuff.

[skitoolong]

The difference though is that guns only have ONE purpose,to kill,.....

This is just simply not a true statement.

[Brightlight]

This is just simply not a true statement.

Hmmm, let's see. Can you mend bicycles with them? Cut cheese, hammer in nails, fix holes in the roof,? Put holes in watch straps, light fires, write letters? Nope?

I'm afraid their primary purpose is to kill. Whether you use them for target shooting (so you have the ability to kill at a greater distance or with more accuracy) is of no consequence.

Unless you know different of course. If you do, share it with us, don't just say a statement isn't true.

[The_Monkey]

Are you on medication....if not you should be....try whispering that in the ears of all the corpses that have been killed with a .22LR...yes ..on ocassion......even a pellet gun .22....!

Olympic target pistols, and rifles for that mater, do not fire the .22LR round, which is, indeed, deadly. They use a shortened .22 caliber round... I've had bullets fail to penetrate cardboard at <20 yards. If you were to hit someone in the eye, then yes, the possibility exists that it could kill them. However, taking a baseball coming off a bat to the forehead has an equal chance, people let kids play baseball every day, and they are much more likely to be struck in the head by a baseball on accident than they are to be accidentally hit with a bullet fired by someone who knows what they're doing.

Oh, and Posh, here are some pistols that are not designed to kill anything except for dead tree pulp.

[Beretta]

With all due respect, please leave this type of opinion thread in other venues or in the off topic section if you must. I dont come here for this.

[Blobe]

With all due respect, please leave this type of opinion thread in other venues or in the off topic section if you must. I dont come here for this.

lol with a nick like yours indeed.
don't shoot yourself tho :/

[Beretta]

lol with a nick like yours indeed.
don't shoot yourself tho :/

Yeah my nick. Dont worry, I'll be careful

[Posh]

With all due respect, please leave this type of opinion thread in other venues or in the off topic section if you must. I dont come here for this.

I'm going to post my reply to Razorphish one more time because it kinda coincides with what I would say to this reply, with a special tweak for you:

Thank you for "all due respect" concerning my stance on guns and children with guns. Um, my section is about all things replica, as can clearly be seen. I've talked about bags, cars, watches, shoes, clothes, travel, art, philanthropy AND my own thoughts and opinions, if I feel like expressing them. Everyone is welcome to provide a counterpoint against or in support of these opinions; I won't censor anybody because I don't like them or what they say. Posh's section is an exchange for ideas and learning.

Due to the largess of the site principals, I was given a great deal of latitude in what topics I wanted to present to the RG readers. If you don't like my social, education, art, relationship or other miscellaneous commentary, by all means ignore it and focus on the replica topics. Or just ignore the whole section completely; that is the beauty of free will.

Nobody's putting a BERETTA to your head and telling you to read my articles, YET.