I NEED your help and thoughts - UPDATE

[Parrishco]

Below is an article from yesterdays student newspaper. Im sure you can see the topic. I am writing a rebuttal artical and would greatly apprectiate your ideas on the subject and any weak points you see in his argument.

[dave_in_delaware]

Wow. Sounds like Scott Hendrix doesn't know what he wants. He starts off strong and positive, with all his experiance about guns. But then says something so assinine like "handguns have no place whatsoever in the hands of private citizens."

and to compare how many people died due to AIDS vs guns is pointless. Apples and oranges.

and to even bring race into the picture is stupid. Black, white, tan, green... everyone is at risk for a violent crime upon them. Anywhere. And anyone can commit a crime.

I'll bet he'd be so thankful to a CCW holder if he/she saved his ass from a sever beat-down, or a robbery, or his girlfriend's rape. How would he feel then about private citizens carrying handguns? What a fool.

Check out this thread, it should have plenty of reasons why private citizens should carry handguns:
http://www.hs2000talk.com/viewtopic....=carry&start=0

I've seen a list of reasons why private citizens own guns. Here's a cut-n-paste:

1 - "Go home and watch the 11pm news for a week and then we'll talk about why I own guns."

2 - "It is a proven fact that when disaster strikes, lawlessness inevitably follows. Look at what is happening in New Orleans right now - that's why I own guns."

3 - "Lawful gun owners in the U.S. use their guns over two million times each year to save themselves and others from robbery, rape, murder and maiming. I own guns because like them, I refuse to become a victim of violent crime."

4 - "Guns save lives, plain and simple. That's why I own them."

5 - "Over 150 million disarmed citizens were killed by government bureaucrats during the 20th century; that's why I own guns."

6 - "Guns in the hands of lawful citizens prevent crime. The cities and states in America with the most repressive antigun laws also have the highest crime rates; that's why I own guns."

7 - "I own guns because when it comes right down to it, we are on our own as far as our personal safety is concerned."

8 - "I own guns because I have a moral obligation to protect my family."

9 - "I own guns because you never know when you will be picked as the target of a violent criminal. I intend to be ready to protect myself if today is the day."

10 - I own guns because when you call 911 for police help in an emergency, you get put on hold."

11 - "I own guns because the Supreme Court has ruled that we have no right to police protection - we are on our own. That's why I own guns.



Hope that gives you a start. And never mind about the whole 2nd Amendment giving us the right to bear arms.

[mr0w1]

Wow, as a "doctoral candidate" in history, you'd think he'd have some idea of what happens when the citizenry is disarmed. How every instance of it EVER has resulted in increased crime. Convenient fact to forget.

Here's the fundamental flaw with his argument -- he only counts dead people. He doesn't count the number of people who are saved by guns, where the bad guy wasn't killed. A conservative estimate of the number of times this happens is around 2,000,000 each year. Yes, two million.

And apparently he isn't aware that gun purchases through a dealer is subject to a NCIS background check. I checked -- there aren't "floods of guns" in the streets. I felt foolish out there with my cast net. I didn't catch a damned gun.

Here's something else - "168 murders in Germany w/ guns". Great. How many murders with ANYTHING other than guns. Why didn't he use England, the poster child of the civilized world's attempt at total gun bans.

The man is an idiot, who has contrived and filtered his statistics to say exactly what he wants.

Doctoral candidate. Psh.

[beardman2]

you can't kill yourself with a long gun or baseball bat?

[mr0w1]

Originally Posted by beardman2

you can't kill yourself with a long gun or baseball bat?

Damn. Killing yourself with a baseball bat would suck.

It's like, have you ever tried to punch yourself in the nose? It's hard!

[Parrishco]

I agree that killing yourself with a baseball bat is quite a feat. I suppose thats why those statistics are so low...

[beardman2]

LMAO...woops. Ok so you can't kill yourself with a long gun? jump off a bridge? or kill someone ELSE with a baseball bat?

[docrice]

Guns are a piece of technology like anything else, with both responsible and irresponsible uses. Should we dismantle the Internet because child porn can be downloaded from it? Should we ban trains because people step across its tracks at the wrong time? Should we ban gas stoves because it can cause fire, leading to serious injury and death?

The problem isn't weapons - it's about the users creating an application with it. We'll always have questionable individuals among us. God can come down and make disappear all the guns in the world, and people would still find ways to kill one another. Human nature is partially governed by instincts which don't always lend themselves for the better of the community.

Banning guns is only a reactive, bandaid treatment to a wider issue. Many of us (including me) are guilty of only looking at the surface of problems and not finding a solution to address the root cause of it.

We have a nice set of gun control laws in CA. Well, in looking at Richmond and Oakland homocide rates this year, it's apparently working.

[Parrishco]

Originally Posted by mr0w1

Here's the fundamental flaw with his argument -- he only counts dead people. He doesn't count the number of people who are saved by guns, where the bad guy wasn't killed. A conservative estimate of the number of times this happens is around 2,000,000 each year. Yes, two million.

Mr0w1 do you know where I can find verification on this (or even info) or this said by a quoteable person?? As to be above reproach I am trying to make a endnote version to prove my facts.

[docrice]

I don't know about quotes, but maybe there's something in here:

http://www.gunfacts.info/