Do you want a gun?

Saw this video in another thread, which reminded me that I want protection. Then again, my building has locks made for businesses. I locked myself out of my apartment two weeks ago. Two locksmiths failed to get me in. The first tried for three hours. I had to keep waiting until my roommate arrived with his key. Might be good to have a gun for weirdos on the tram to and from work, but my workplace doesn't allow weapons on the premises, so that's not happening. If I lived in a house, I would definitely get one.

so much about that op is frightening. glad i'm not american

I never thought I would be a gun owner personally. They don't really interest me and I never thought I would ever need one. Now I own two one for the downstairs and one for the upstairs.

My mind changed when I noticed American society start to regress. More people are desperate, addicted, and/or poorer than ever, income inequality is at an all time high, and more people are stuggling than ever before. That means desperation and theft increase, and I want to make sure my wife and I are on even grounds if someone where to break in.

Yes, I wouldn't mind a collection of Old West style weapons such as the Colt Single Action Army, Winchester Repeating rifle and a Volcanic pistol. I also wouldn't mind a pistol to carry on my person for protection purposes, but that's illegal in Canada so I'm shit outta luck.

I got one. In the style of what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote it. And if that doesn't work, I can always use the mini cannon.

Though atm I am more into nerf guns as they are ever so slightly more kid friendly. The lack of a loud bang has reduced the number of neighbour complaints down to zero.

part of me wants a gun because they seem kinda cool and i like shooting guns in video games.

but also I have no use for a gun and think it would be ridiculous to own one for personal defense in my current life. maybe for hiking/camping in areas that have grizzly bears which i do sometimes but its never been an issue

I have guns but only for self-defense.

No because I have depression and I don't trust myself.

@warmblur: That's smart. I was lucky I didn't kill myself with the one I had. I don't need one. At any rate I'm a lot healthier now, mentally, than I used to be. Good luck getting well.

Ive got 20.G winchester. But i do want a pistol,once ive got some extra money, maybe with the tax refund

I plan on getting a gun because my neighborhood is starting to look ghetto af and we've already had a drive-by here not too long ago. Luckily it didn't go through my bedroom because that's where it occurred.

The landlord has tried really hard to secure the place with cameras but people keep smashing them. It's one of those neighborhoods that tries to pull a "safe place" facade when really we got gangs and drug dealers roaming the area.

reading through this thread there's some posts that make america sound like some kind of third world, lawless country.

it's not like i live in a particularly affluent area of england but i never, ever feel like i need to arm myself, protect my property or that i'm ever in any kind of danger when i go out, particularly mortal danger where i'd need a firearm to protect myself. it's scary to think the world's most powerful country is a place that requires you to carry a gun to protect yourself from "weirdos" on the tram to work

I've actually wanted a new gun for awhile. I've always wanted a 9mm but never had one.

Thank you, I'm glad you're doing better now.

Me, too. I want a gun to shoot objects, not people. It isn't for hunting or self-defense. It's just for sports and just having fun. I want to shoot with with a AR 15, m4 carbine, ak-12, American eagle. Aaaaannnd, that is the only guns I know on top of my head.

If you think that's bad, the Pizza boys won't come to my hood lol. Can't say I blame them.

No thanks.

A lot of poor people on the tram, especially the one that goes through the free fair zone downtown (where I live). Last year, some thug made a threatening gesture. Stomped his foot really hard right in front of me (after I had trouble hearing him) and then sniggered at my reaction. I know he was just fucking with me, but a lot of these people are sick in the head.

I was going to say something along those lines as well. Which sucks because I really do enjoy target shooting and would like to do it more often.

It really depends on where you live. There are rural areas with high crime, where cops don't exist and you pretty much only have a sheriff to rely on (and he is probably asleep when the crime happens, anyway), so you need to fend for yourself.

It's not so much that America is a terrible place as it simply has some terrible places that, yes, are pretty much exactly like a third-world country.

My friend keeps a shotgun by the front door. Or he used to, now it's in a smarter spot, but still accessible.

Negative.

but why do you need a gun? is it you worry he would have a gun, so you need one just in case?

as a brit it seems like an extreme reaction to me. if everyone reacted like that every man and his dog will have a gun - just in case - then you've got a lot of armed and twitchy people wandering round, and all it takes is for one to have a bad day and you've got a potential michael douglas falling down situation on your hands. pretty scary thought to me.

@Byshop: what's your take on all this? you're a smart guy who's got his shit together. do you feel the need to arm yourself for safety?

I have my opinions on the topic, but I'll try to be fair here. I own a cabinet full of guns, but I'm in a unique position where I didn't buy any of them. I inherited them from my father when he died. I haven't fired a gun in over 20 years, although I'd like to get down to the range and start because like anything else the proper use of firearms is a skill. My dad owned them for sport shooting, so skeet and targets out at ranges or in the woods. Mostly he bought them because he was a history nut, and half of them a replicas of civil war or WWII era firearms (plus one real Enfield rifle). He did not keep them specifically for self defense, so they were kept in a gun cabinet on the other side of the floor from my parent's bedroom.

Do I think you need a firearm for safety in the US? My general answer to that question is no, but I have to acknowledge there are a lot of factors that go into that. Speaking in general, yes, if someone breaks into your house (especially if they are armed) you would probably feel better if you were armed, too. There are a couple flipsides to that, though. For one, the number of instances where a home or business owner successfully defended themselves with a firearm from armed robbers is vastly outnumbered by the number of instances where someone was injured or killed as the result of an accidental shooting in the US each year. There are other statistics that suggest that the proliferation of guns in this country isn't necessarily the best idea. I train BJJ, so a lot of the guys I train with are former/active military and/or law enforcement. Most of my friends in that circle are likely pro-gun, and I don't mind that because these are people are people who I trust to be able to handle them and use them safely. I even gave one of our instructors a little bit of props/crap because in a self defense class, even working with wooden training "guns" his trigger discipline was so ingrained that even with a fake gun he held it and treated it like a real gun at all times and never had his finger on the non-existent trigger (to be honest I do the same thing). However, access to firearms is not limited to people with sufficient training. Literally any asshole can go buy pretty much whatever they want, and that's a little scary.

Now that said, I'll also say that the US is a big place. Individual states are bigger than a lot of countries and we are more densely populated than many. While I don't keep guns for self defense where I live, I also don't live anywhere where I feel I need to and that's quite on purpose. However, not everyone in the US is affluent enough to get to choose that. While I don't keep guns for self defense, I wouldn't say that I never would. I don't feel I need to here, and many places in the US I think it's perfectly fine not to. If I lived in the middle of the woods? Oh hell yeah I'd have at least a rifle. If I lived in a high crime area where I thought break-ins were likely then I'd consider it but I'd also consider other forms of theft/break-in deterrent like bars and other physical obstructions, cameras, sensors, etc. Even where I live, I put together security as part of my home automation build-out complete with a full set of security cameras around the property that I can access from anyway, just in case. Do I think I need it? Not really, but it's nice to have and more importantly it's a deterrent that can't possibly harm anyone or get me in legal trouble.

So no, the US isn't the wild west and no, there are lots of US citizens who don't keep guns for self defense, but there are a lot of people who do think that.

-Byshop

@Byshop: thanks for the well considered post.

it'd be interesting to know stats on how many gun owners "successfully" defended an armed robbery of their house vs. those who didn't. i'm not sure if the video in the op is a successful defence. if the woman killed the guy that's something she has to live with forever. he could've been really young, under peer pressure, financially desperate etc... and now he's gone; over one stupid mistake. he was the provocateur so you can't blame the woman, but what a thing to have to live with.

i think that sense of perspective is important. the us is 40x bigger than the uk - not just england - and that scale is quite hard to imagine for me. i'm glad you're in a position to live somewhere in which you don't feel the need to arm yourself for self defence and it's reassuring to hear a counter to one or two bleak pictures painted in this thread. i really feel for ezekiel and others who aren't as fortunate; and your line about how any asshole can buy a gun is indeed scary and does go some way to rationalise some of the views in this thread.

that does sound like a cool collection to own tbf

You're welcome. I'm always happy to engage in a meaningful discussion on these forums. I get where you're coming from with this question because to someone outside of this country all the chatter back and forth can paint a really weird picture.

I'm a big guy, and like I said I've been training BJJ for a long time. I did not enlist in the military, even though both my parents did and I know many people who have. My oldest son once said something to me that gave me pause. He said "Daddy, you're so big and strong. Why didn't you join the military because you'd be really good at killing people!" He was probably five when he asked me this question.

****. Part of being a parent is fielding questions like this in a way that still crafts your kid into being a good person. I explained to him that good and bad weren't as clear as they might have been in stories. A good person might do bad things if they thought it was the right thing to do. If I successfully killed someone, that's not something I could ever take back. What if that person wasn't really a bad person but they were doing a bad thing because they thought it was right? "From the mouths of babes", kids are really good at asking the really challenging questions without even realizing it.

Yeah, that's me trying to be fair. I have my perspective, but I also want to acknowledge the many differences between the US and the many countries who have banned guns with a great deal of success. I think reasonable gun control laws wouldn't be a bad idea, and while they might not be 100% effective if they saved -any- lives they'd be worth doing. I'd happily turn over some of my firearms to support an idea like that, but at the same time I also don't own a collection of AR-15s and AK-47s.

There is literally one gun that I don't own, but that I would buy if I could find it for a reasonable price and it's purely for nerd-factor. That gun is a Mateba Autorevolver. It's a semi-automatic revolver made by an Italian company that is out of business. The reason I want this gun (beyond the pure novelty of the gun itself) is because it's the firearm that Kosuga used in the Ghost in the Shell film (or at least a version of it) that everyone else on the team gave him crap for using.

-Byshop

Nope. The past few years of all this gun violence has really turned me off from ever owning one/shooting one for fun/everything. Get that stuff away from me

I don't see the need for it. I live in Switzerland which barely has any crimes and I have a top modern house. The only weapons I own are Katanas I only have because I like how they look.

I want to fire one one day, but I don't think I want to own one.

I don't fear the world. No need for a gun.

Nah, guns are awful

I remember Bill Cosby (yes, THAT Bill Cosby), sounded off on gun violence one time. And it stuck with me.

He was a security guard once, and was required to carry a gun. He said, having that gun, having that power, was scary because it made you more fearful and ready to use that power. And idk, maybe there is truth to that. Maybe there are better ways to deal with things, and maybe having a gun for protection would make you more likely to overreact and kill someone. Look at what happened with the guy killing the young kid who knocked on the wrong door the other day.

I have thought about owning a handgun for protection before, but maybe it would be smarter to buy a sturdy baseball bat or a gnarly knife. I still think it would be cool to go to a shooting range and fire guns at targets, that might be kinda fun. At least I'd learn proper gun use.

I don’t really want a gun so much as I need one.

OP, two locksmiths couldn’t get your door unlocked, one trying for three hours yet a simple key your roommate had worked? That makes no sense. If a key works, a locksmith should have absolutely no trouble. A safe, sure. But a door?

Nope. And I don't live in America, so gun crime isn't a big worry on the other side of the ocean.

Are you a locksmith? The first tried pulling the handle from the other side with this bent metal rod and a wire that go under the door, but he couldn't get a good grasp of the handle. He also tried picking the lock itself, but said it has too many ridges or teeth. He took three hours. Told me at the end that it was a lock used for businesses. The second locksmith only tried picking at it for about twenty minutes. Also said it was a lock used for businesses. He asked for money, but let it go after I told him my money was in the apartment.

@Byshop: Well said!

@Byshop: Thanks for sharing. You bring up a good topic within a topic -- the conversations we have with our families regarding safety, guns, and the sanctity of life. They're not always easy to have, but very necessary.

Yes, I really need a gun, because people are everywhere.

I'd like to learn to hunt and I've heard pretty much any bolt action 223 will get the job done.

I'd also like to own a 1911 a1 just for fun. I love the design and of all the pistols I've shot it's the one I've been most accurate with.

**** Yeah!! Already own a Smith&Wesson M&P 15 Sport II. Getting a Glock 19 sometime end of April or early May. Planning on getting a Mossberg 500 shotgun, a Ruger American rifle, and Ruger 10/22. Guns are awesome!!!! :D