I've been hearing a lot of chit chat, whining, blustering, and filibustering lately about guns and bearing arms. Here's an interesting point I picked up from Reuters news agency:
"U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said."
That was in 2007.
310 million = Total number of non military firearms in the United States as of 2009. Project those numbers, and that means that there are now over 350 million firearms in American citizens' hands, right now, in January 2013.
In 2011 34% of adults in the United States personally owned a gun; 46% of adult men, and 23% of adult women. In 2011 47% of the adult U.S. population lived in households with guns.
Imagine those numbers, if you will.
I don't have a gun in my house. I've owned guns, including a handgun which I used for target shooting, only. When it became a liability by virtue of it's presence in my home, I sold it to a collector and made money on it. Hooray for me, eh?
I was in the US Army, during the Vietnam conflict. Hell yes, I had a rifle. The Army said "weapons are for shootin' and guns are for fun". Well, having the right tool for each job, is important. I was expected, like my son who followed me in the military, to kill or be killed. Probably both, eventually. Folks, that's war. That's where firearms are really a necessity.
Nowadays, I don't hunt. I'm not looking to kill anyone, or be killed by anyone. I don't have a firearm, for those reasons. I simply don't need it.
I'm in favor of hunters, sportsmen, and hobbyists, target shooters, etc., having the right tools to ply their trade. Our Constitution guarantees us, as American citizens, to have this right. It should not be taken away, but not for the reasons that the NRA would have you to believe.
We don't have to have them in the house to protect ourselves from anyone. First of all, the chance of anyone reading this article has of being assaulted, his house burgled while he's home, or attacked by a rabid murdering bastard, are nil. It's not going to happen. There were 114,825,428 households in the US as of the 2010 Census. There were 2,159,878 burglaries Only 75 % of those were residential. = (approx) 1.5 million homes were burgled. Realistically, your home has about 1:100 chance of getting broken into.
Let's just say your house does get broken into at some point. Most likely, you are not at home. 90% of burglaries happen when nobody is home. Can you defend that with your gun, from work or vacation?
Another scenario: It's the middle of the night. The druggie down the block knows you have prescription drugs in your home. Like every criminal does, he considers them his. He walks in at 2:45 AM, catching you in deep REM sleep. You are quickly taken out by a baseball bat to the noggin, and he removes your stash. You get home from the hospital, and check your gun safe. Yep, ole' "Bessie" is still in there, all safe and sound. What did you expect? You sleep upstairs, and the gun safe is in the basement, where the floor is strong enough to carry it's weight.
Here's some scenarios I love. I know where I'd be with a gun under my pillow, protecting my middle-class abode and empty nest, from intruders. Which one would fit you best?
Some 26 year old in need of cash to buy his next fix, breaks silently into my home in the middle of the night. My faithful Labrador retriever wanders downstairs and scares the bejesus out of him with a wet lick to a dangling hand, as he traverses the dining room. I realize the dog has left the room, because he left the door open on his way out, and go see what's up. I hear the invader whisper "sit", to my faithful companion, and go back to my pillow for my trusty 357 Magnum, long barreled handgun. It's six round cylinder is filled with heavy load, armor piercing bullets. I creep down the stairs, but they creak. Scenario 1, (A): The burglar hears me coming, and heads for the door to make good his escape. He gets away, and I round up the Lab who has followed him to his bicycle parked at the curb. Scenario 1, (B): The burglar hears me coming. As I hit the light switch, he greets me with a punch in the nose. I fall, down and out for the count. He spots my prize revolver, and takes it with him to sell for his next supply of drugs. Another gun in the hands of criminals. Scenario 2, (A): The burglar hears me creaking down the stairs. He is straight enough to remain calm and wait around the corner for me to appear. As I enter the dining room, he grabs for the gun, illuminated by the flashlight in his left hand. Decades younger and 30 pounds heavier, he takes the gun, pushes me down, and runs away. I'm out a perfectly good weapon, and some crook has a reliable firearm all his own. Scenario 2, (B): He hears me coming. He waits for me to hit the dining room, where he grabs me and we tussle. I'm getting the upper hand, and suddenly he gets the gun pointed at my chest. He squeezes the trigger, and 'game over' for Mr. Model Citizen. Scenario 3: this is the one you all dream about. I come down the stairs undetected by the intruder. I suddenly hit the light switch, catching him red handed, with my lap top in hand. I tell him to drop it. He throws it in my face, instead. Now, I make one of two stupid life choices. I shoot him, and call the cops They praise my bravery and quick witted ability to take charge of my domicile and protect it to the limit. The media makes me out to be a hero, and I'm on the CBS Morning News, chatting with Charlie and Nora. Or: Same scenario except I wing the bad guy. He wheels and heads outside. In the heat of the moment, adrenaline pumping, scared as I've ever been, I squeeze off another round as he runs down my steps. He falls to the ground, dead, with a giant hole in his chest where the powerful projectile exited from the back shot. The cops come. I'm arrested for criminally negligent homicide, found guilty, and spend the rest of my life in a crowbar hotel.
You have a right to bear arms. Are you really the best person to be bearing it? Is it really necessary? Not only is it unlikely that you'd ever have to, you can't defend your home with a gun. Could you pull the trigger? It's harder and a whole lot messier than you think, citizen. Then, you have to live with it forever. You don't want to go there. Believe me.
We'll never see a time in the USA, where citizens are forbidden to bear arms. It's simply responsible, to see that only those who are appropriate to have them, have them. Gun control doesn't mean swooping down and taking honest, upright citizens' guns away. That will never happen. (For one reason, more citizens have more guns than the authorities will ever have, and you outnumber the authorities, by many thousands to one.) But, if we can keep a small percentage of firearm mayhem from happening, "gun control" is worth it.
Trust the military and cops to protect you. That's what your tax dollar is buying in the security department. That's a "dead bang fact."
"U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms, according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said."
That was in 2007.
310 million = Total number of non military firearms in the United States as of 2009. Project those numbers, and that means that there are now over 350 million firearms in American citizens' hands, right now, in January 2013.
In 2011 34% of adults in the United States personally owned a gun; 46% of adult men, and 23% of adult women. In 2011 47% of the adult U.S. population lived in households with guns.
Imagine those numbers, if you will.
I don't have a gun in my house. I've owned guns, including a handgun which I used for target shooting, only. When it became a liability by virtue of it's presence in my home, I sold it to a collector and made money on it. Hooray for me, eh?
I was in the US Army, during the Vietnam conflict. Hell yes, I had a rifle. The Army said "weapons are for shootin' and guns are for fun". Well, having the right tool for each job, is important. I was expected, like my son who followed me in the military, to kill or be killed. Probably both, eventually. Folks, that's war. That's where firearms are really a necessity.
Nowadays, I don't hunt. I'm not looking to kill anyone, or be killed by anyone. I don't have a firearm, for those reasons. I simply don't need it.
I'm in favor of hunters, sportsmen, and hobbyists, target shooters, etc., having the right tools to ply their trade. Our Constitution guarantees us, as American citizens, to have this right. It should not be taken away, but not for the reasons that the NRA would have you to believe.
We don't have to have them in the house to protect ourselves from anyone. First of all, the chance of anyone reading this article has of being assaulted, his house burgled while he's home, or attacked by a rabid murdering bastard, are nil. It's not going to happen. There were 114,825,428 households in the US as of the 2010 Census. There were 2,159,878 burglaries Only 75 % of those were residential. = (approx) 1.5 million homes were burgled. Realistically, your home has about 1:100 chance of getting broken into.
Let's just say your house does get broken into at some point. Most likely, you are not at home. 90% of burglaries happen when nobody is home. Can you defend that with your gun, from work or vacation?
Another scenario: It's the middle of the night. The druggie down the block knows you have prescription drugs in your home. Like every criminal does, he considers them his. He walks in at 2:45 AM, catching you in deep REM sleep. You are quickly taken out by a baseball bat to the noggin, and he removes your stash. You get home from the hospital, and check your gun safe. Yep, ole' "Bessie" is still in there, all safe and sound. What did you expect? You sleep upstairs, and the gun safe is in the basement, where the floor is strong enough to carry it's weight.
Here's some scenarios I love. I know where I'd be with a gun under my pillow, protecting my middle-class abode and empty nest, from intruders. Which one would fit you best?
Some 26 year old in need of cash to buy his next fix, breaks silently into my home in the middle of the night. My faithful Labrador retriever wanders downstairs and scares the bejesus out of him with a wet lick to a dangling hand, as he traverses the dining room. I realize the dog has left the room, because he left the door open on his way out, and go see what's up. I hear the invader whisper "sit", to my faithful companion, and go back to my pillow for my trusty 357 Magnum, long barreled handgun. It's six round cylinder is filled with heavy load, armor piercing bullets. I creep down the stairs, but they creak. Scenario 1, (A): The burglar hears me coming, and heads for the door to make good his escape. He gets away, and I round up the Lab who has followed him to his bicycle parked at the curb. Scenario 1, (B): The burglar hears me coming. As I hit the light switch, he greets me with a punch in the nose. I fall, down and out for the count. He spots my prize revolver, and takes it with him to sell for his next supply of drugs. Another gun in the hands of criminals. Scenario 2, (A): The burglar hears me creaking down the stairs. He is straight enough to remain calm and wait around the corner for me to appear. As I enter the dining room, he grabs for the gun, illuminated by the flashlight in his left hand. Decades younger and 30 pounds heavier, he takes the gun, pushes me down, and runs away. I'm out a perfectly good weapon, and some crook has a reliable firearm all his own. Scenario 2, (B): He hears me coming. He waits for me to hit the dining room, where he grabs me and we tussle. I'm getting the upper hand, and suddenly he gets the gun pointed at my chest. He squeezes the trigger, and 'game over' for Mr. Model Citizen. Scenario 3: this is the one you all dream about. I come down the stairs undetected by the intruder. I suddenly hit the light switch, catching him red handed, with my lap top in hand. I tell him to drop it. He throws it in my face, instead. Now, I make one of two stupid life choices. I shoot him, and call the cops They praise my bravery and quick witted ability to take charge of my domicile and protect it to the limit. The media makes me out to be a hero, and I'm on the CBS Morning News, chatting with Charlie and Nora. Or: Same scenario except I wing the bad guy. He wheels and heads outside. In the heat of the moment, adrenaline pumping, scared as I've ever been, I squeeze off another round as he runs down my steps. He falls to the ground, dead, with a giant hole in his chest where the powerful projectile exited from the back shot. The cops come. I'm arrested for criminally negligent homicide, found guilty, and spend the rest of my life in a crowbar hotel.
You have a right to bear arms. Are you really the best person to be bearing it? Is it really necessary? Not only is it unlikely that you'd ever have to, you can't defend your home with a gun. Could you pull the trigger? It's harder and a whole lot messier than you think, citizen. Then, you have to live with it forever. You don't want to go there. Believe me.
We'll never see a time in the USA, where citizens are forbidden to bear arms. It's simply responsible, to see that only those who are appropriate to have them, have them. Gun control doesn't mean swooping down and taking honest, upright citizens' guns away. That will never happen. (For one reason, more citizens have more guns than the authorities will ever have, and you outnumber the authorities, by many thousands to one.) But, if we can keep a small percentage of firearm mayhem from happening, "gun control" is worth it.
Trust the military and cops to protect you. That's what your tax dollar is buying in the security department. That's a "dead bang fact."
