Defending the Truth

“The thing about a gun in the house, legally, is this: if you have a domestic with your partner, and you both get extremely angry with each other, how easy it to storm to the bedroom, get the gun, load it, and in a fit of blind rage, pull the trigger at your partner?”

About as easy as it would be to club her with a table leg, or push her down the stairs, or throw a paperweight at her, or stab her with a butcher knife, or push her through a plate glass window, or…. Well, you get the point.

If your love life puts in into that much of a rage, I’m thinking either: A: you have serious issues, or B: You’re REALLY with the wrong person.

”If you have a gun in the house, you automatically raise the stakes in any confrontational situation.”

Really?
I’m 40 years old this week. I’ve never in my entire life lived in a place where there wasn’t at least one firearm. I’ve been in or witnessed quite a few domestic disagreements. Some of them pretty serious. (Ever seen what happens when a fight between two teenaged sisters turns physical? Trust me, it ain’t pretty.) No gun was ever used in any of them.
Guns are commonplace in households in the part of the country I live in. Domestic shootings are extremely rare.

”If someone is breaking into your house, a gun is not required in order to evict the invader from your property.”

That’s true only for some people. See, I’m a stout guy, and powerlifting is a regular hobby of mine. So, I could easily swing a bat with enough force to break whatever part I happen to hit on whichever clown decides he’s stupid enough to try breaking into my house. And that’s IF he gets past my dogs. So, no, I don’t employ any of my firearms in a “home defense” role.

But, say I was a 95-pound grandmother living totally alone.
Many grannies in my neck of the woods keep a scattergun in the closet. And “home invasions” are almost unheard of.
Hmmmm… imagine that….

”Guns in daily life are such a bad, bad idea.”

Says you, but speak for yourself.
I’ve lived with them my whole life. And when I’ve lived in places far enough from the nearest neighbor, they’ve been right handy for a little target practice, or getting some small game for dinner. I think my firearms are a very good idea. And, I know people who work outside, in remote areas, often alone, in prime grizzly habitat. For them, a gun in daily life is a smashingly good idea.

Guns in daily life around people who are stupid, reckless or ignorant of the proper handling of firearms are a bad, bad idea.

“I don't get how anyone can justify keeping a mechanism purely designed to kill in their household.

A gun is not “designed to kill.” A gun is designed to throw a high-speed projectile (or, in the case of a shotgun, a pattern of small projectiles) with relative accuracy. Beyond that, yes, some firearms, such as military infantry weapons, are primarily designed to kill people. MOST firearms owned by private citizens are designed for hunting or target shooting. Yes, every gun has the potential to kill.
But then again, so does every cutting edge. Trying to argue all guns are designed and ultimately good only for killing people is like trying say there’s no difference between a steak knife and a broadsword.

This should go in your signature! Such a great sentence!

I say a Claymore would be better then a broadsword lol. But true that would make a perfect sig

We disagree on the original purpose of the invention of the gun, Mouse,but I agree with everything else you said. Does a gun have the potential of being dangerous? Sure. I agree wholeheartedly with that. But, in every accident involving firearms that I have read about; usually the person handling the firearm really did not know what in the heck they were doing. That is why I would be all for regulation requiring training (so many hours for class and hands-on training) for this. An ignorant, untrained person handling a firearm is lots (infinitely, I would say) more dangerous than the gun itself. I believe training cuts, if not eliminates accidents,as a trained person would never say they shot something or someone by accident- if this happened, it was because they meant to shoot.
I could accept this as a revision or addition to the Second Amendment; but banning guns outright? No-never.

"We disagree on the original purpose of the invention of the gun."

Actually, no, I don’t think we do.
You are correct in saying that THE gun – as in the concept itself, yes, was born primarily as a combat weapon.
That’s not what I was arguing against. I was arguing against the notion that ALL guns have the sole purpose, design or intent to kill people.
Many things have been either invented initially for war, or perfected or vastly improved during war.
Barbed wire, aircraft, rockets and hand-held telecommunication devices are just a few I can think of off the top of my head.
And firearms, like many others, were and have been re-cast in to civilian roles.

Offtopic for a second... Good to see you again Mytmouse! Long time, no see! Welcome to the forum!

What I meant was that I truly believe the gun was invented with the sole purpose of making killing efficient. Whether in war, a gun has much longer killing distance than a sword; or hunting, where a gun allows one to kill at again a much longer distance. That's what I believe the original intent of the inventor was.
Granted, there are some who would use this tool to evil end. There are those who do not. You cannot group all firearm owners in the group who do. The firearm itself is not the criminal, the user is when they choose to use it for an illegal purpose.

"What I meant was that I truly believe the gun was invented with the sole purpose of making killing efficient. Whether in war, a gun has much longer killing distance than a sword; or hunting, where a gun allows one to kill at again a much longer distance. That's what I believe the original intent of the inventor was."

And again, I agree. It was only later that certain firearms were designed for other purposes -- such as shotguns designed soley around trap shooting, or rifles made with the sole intent of bench-rest shooting at paper or iron targets.

jaaman... good to see you too!!