"why do you need" & "speech doesn't kill"

[gunsmith]

In my frequent debates with the libs in Frisco,CA I all ways have to answer the "why do you need a gun" question. I usually reply with a why do you need a newspaper or Koran or Bible and tell them my rights are just as important as theirs. You know free speech and stuff, 9 times out of 10 they say that speech don't kill and I say my rights are not up for negotiation,but I am looking for a better answer.
How do you answer these questions?

 

[Nightfall]

"Why do you need a gun?"

"I'm a free man. Why the hell do I need to justify myself to you?"

I like that one.

 

[WR Olsen]

When people tell me that speech doesn't kill I tend to respond that while speech is in itself nutral how it is used can lead to good or ill. The speeches of Hitler lead to the deaths of millions while the recorded speeches of Jesus are full of compassion.

As to why carry a gun the answer is that life is valuable and I intend to protect my life from those who would deny me life.

 

[Mulliga]

Of course speech kills.

Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, et. al - one man with a mind and a voice can be the most dangerous thing in the world.

Some may fear what comes out of the barrel of a gun, but the things that come out of the mouths of men - hatred, paranoia, anger - are, in my opinion, more deadly than all the bullets in the world put together.

With the power of speech, you can destroy a man without killing him. You can tear down a society without firing a shot. You can execute millions without even lifting a hand.

The pen, more often than some people think, is mightier than the sword.

 

[Doug S]

When people tell me that speech doesn't kill I tend to respond that while speech is in itself nutral how it is used can lead to good or ill.

Reverse the argument on them. The above quote is true of speech, & the exact same thing could be said about firearms.

 

[tc300mag1]

My answer is usually bcuse i can and people have fought for me to have the fredom to own/carry a gun

And also what bizz is it of yours what i do if im in a foul mood

 

[JerryM]

NEED has never been the criterion as to whether a citizen can own anything or not.
Why do so many have so many autos? Certainly many families do not NEED every one.

I sure don't need all the clothes that I have, and that is true for so many things.

It is true that speech kills in effect. Sometimes it does kill.

Jerry

 

[Preacherman]

Actually, speech does kill - or, at least, cause death.

Case in point (one of many I could cite as examples): Back in South Africa, in the late 1980's, civil unrest was in full swing as the liberation movements / terrorists (both labels are appropriate) tried to overthrow apartheid by making the country ungovernable. Tempers were inflamed and raw on both sides. In this atmosphere, word spread around one township that a Black woman had been seen receiving money from a White man. The "goon squad" immediately assumed - without further inquiry - that this meant that she was a police informer. Within 24 hours, she'd been gang-raped (in front of her three children, who were forced to watch). After the local goons had had their fun, a gasoline-soaked tire was placed around her neck, and the head goon struck a match. She was burned alive.

Unfortunately, the goons didn't wait to hear the full story. I was the White man giving her money: and the reason she needed it was because her husband had been incarcerated on political charges, and her family had no source of income. I was trying to help her survive, with her children, until her husband's release, or until some other way to make a living came along. I shall always blame myself for not being more careful about giving her money in some way that could not be noticed...

So, if someone tells you that speech doesn't kill, cite that example. There are plenty more where that came from...

 

[PMDW]

Yes, speech doesn't kill. Exactly the reason you need a gun. Speech is fairly ineffective at stopping a 220 pound man charging you with a knife.

 

[Web]

"Why do you need a gun?"

My answer:

"Before I answer that, I want to point out that I don't have to need a gun to want and own one. Guns (or shooting) is a hobby of mine, as it is for many others. I have an interest and appreciation for guns, and that's an interest I share with millions of others, believe it or not. As for the practical reasons, have you ever heard of innocent people being victims of violent crimes? Yes? Would you say in retrospect that they had a need for a gun to maybe still be alive now? Yes? Do you know what the statistical chances you or I have of being a vicitm of a violent crime? Neither do I, but I do know there's a chance, and I know it's not that small. I choose to be prepared for that chance because all it takes is one time unprepared and all is lost. I have no intentions of putting me or my loved ones at that risk."

 

[Justin]

9 times out of 10 they say that speech don't kill

I beg to freaking differ.



Had Karl Marx never hallucinated an unworkable form of economics and put pen to paper, there are a lot of people who would have never been murdered.

 

[tony4311]

why do you need a car that can go 90mph when the speed limit is (insert local limit here)

 

[ducktapehero]

Ask them what kind of car they have. Is it a hybrid or something bigger? Ask if they own a motorcycle or a boat. Ask them if they have a pool. All these things, left unsupervised or used improperly, can kill too and none of these is a Constitutional right.

 

[Third_Rail]

Wow, Preacherman... that's awful, and a good example of many evil things.

 

[Black Snowman]

"Because I don't trust you with the rest of my rights either."

 

[Standing Wolf]

I usually reply with a why do you need a newspaper or Koran or Bible and tell them my rights are just as important as theirs.

Hmmmmm...

On the whole, leftists believe others' rights are inconsequential, and the rights they themselves don't exercise should be revoked.

 

[13.45]

speech doesn't kill, and neither do "guns"...

people kill, (or victimize, or oppress) and both speech and weapons can be powerful tools for good or evil. history has shown countless times that speech alone- without a supporting force of arms- cannot overcome evil, murder, and oppression

our founding fathers clearly understood this, and thus established both the right to freedom of speech and the rkba

 

[victory]

I found it's best to give them a direct answer that they weren't prepared for.

"Why do you need a gun?"

I need a gun so I can efficiently kill people.

"why do you want to kill people?"

I do not want to kill anyone, I may however need to kill someone dome day. Consider, if a man came to kill you, would you have the proper training and equipment to kill him first?

The anti's are right. Guns are designed to kill. They have been adapted to other purposes but their primary design is to aid man in the pursuit killing. It is man, however, who makes the decision on what to kill and it is often neccecary to kill for ones own survival.

Don't be a gun rights apologist.

 

[Nightfall]

why do you need a car that can go 90mph when the speed limit is (insert local limit here)

Problem with that is when you present this argument to antis, it just gives them ideas...

"Hey, you're right! People shouldn't be allowed to own cars that can go over the speed limit!"

Some people just have an overwhelming need to control the lives of others, and it rarely stops at firearms.

 

[jdkelly]

That is the most accurate come back I've heard...

"Because I don't trust you with the rest of my rights either.---Black Snowman"

That is the most accurate come back I've heard, because it is the truth.



Respectfully,

jdkelly

 

[RavenVT100]

There's a lot of stuff that people don't "need" yet fight bloody battles over nonetheless. Just look at the debate over copyright enforcement in the information age where we have content-providing companies attempting to enforce their copyrights by pressuring legislatures to make copyright infringement a criminal office, creating lawsuits, and influencing hardware manufacturers to implant DRM into computers. It's exactly the type of thing that they're trying to do to us with this "smart gun" crap, and the endless "regulations" that are supposed to be about "safety" but are really about making it so difficult to buy weapons that no one will want to.

The sick thing is that many members of the very same group of people who are protesting this heavy-handed copyright enforcement are the ones who support the majority of anti-gun measures. I'm sorry, but you don't necessarily need P2P software or MP3s or computers or even music. All of those things are wants, not needs. I see very little about guns being weapons that is at all relevant to the topic. Guns are designed to chamber and fire projectiles, or in the abstract, be weapons. They're not designed to kill in the way that say, nerve gas is designed to kill. Their purpose is far more abstract and less black and white than these disingenuous "guns are designed to kill" people would like you to believe. So don't stoop to that level.

I actually had someone tell me that there are no warning labels of any kind on guns and gun manuals, because they're "designed to kill" so if they "kill someone" it does not mean the product was defective because it was fulfilling its "intended purpose." This is how these people think. That when a weapon comes off the assembly line, the company actually intends for it to be used to injure and kill people--civilians, children, whatever--and gun manufacturers do not care if their products are used in crimes. I don't know about you, but every NIB weapon I've purchased (and even some that were most decidedly not NIB, such as my CMP Garand) were accompanied by a manual with at least two warning messages per page, sometimes more.

 

[ksnecktieman]

I need it for the same reason I need a fire extinguisher,,,, the fire department will not be there as quick as I am when there is a fire, and the police will not be there when I need them either.

In a perfect world we could remove fire extinguishers, spare tires, first aid kits, and defensive firearms. Can I take yours away?

You can choose which you wish to have, allow me the same choice.

 

[David W. Gay]

Little girl: "Why can't you just be nice?"

My first thought was, jokingly, "What's need gotta do, gotta do with it??"

But then I read Preacherman's post. That was an exceptionally harsh real world example of what a line from "Blade - Trinity" explains quite succinctly:

Blade: "Because the world is not nice."

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Of course speech kills. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, et. al - one man with a mind and a voice can be the most dangerous thing in the world.

What Magilla said.

Do you think Hitler pulled all those triggers and gassed all those people?

Speech CAN kill. It can kill entire cultures and races.

That's why I need a gun and I want all of you, my neighbors, family and friends to own and practice with guns. Guns have been the great equilizer for 2+ centuries.

Free speech - the ability to say whatever you like - without a gun, a fist or a gang to back it up is an extremely rare thing in human existance.

Your friends' ability to criticize our government, trash American history and generally say what ever the he** they want is backed up by Cops, Bailiffs (protecting the courtroom where the ACLU lawyers practice and get paid by our tax dollars), Sheriffs and Military Personnel.

All of whom are packin'.

An even more difficult concept for your friends to grasp will be that that the entire concept of a limited government, one that CANNOT send in storm troopers to infringe upon certain rights, and one that must be democratically elected, is backed up by the right of average Americans to keep and bear arms. A force no Army could ever match.

What seems like a "small" or even "reasonable" infringement like the AWB or gun registration to a non-gun person is historically proven to be a good first step toward totalitarian rule.

Keep in mind: Totalitarians in Germany, Cambodia, China, Soviet Union and other places do not rule without a very strong base of support. Totalitarian regimes do not just spring up out of nowhere or invade from outside. The people rounding others up for execution were their former neighbors and friends.

I'm not saying that your friends are interested in genocide, but we are straddling the pinnacle of human achievement. The biggest food crisis in the Western world is OVEREATING! In all but the last 20 years of human existance, the fact that every person in a country has more than enough food, and the poor are subsidized to the point that they can actually be considered FAT, would be deemed Utopia. Yet, we have people fighting this unbridled prosperity. This all balances on a tax base of free commerce, optimism and continual financial growth.

We are standing on the shoulders of giants, but I personally do not think it would take a lot to knock it down. Just imagine a nuclear version of 9/11, a power grid failure for one week, or a Great Depression 2. Once the bubble bursts, it's people like Hitler, Mao, Stalin, etc. that pick up the pieces by dividing and murdering.

When it gets to that point, it's either JOIN or DIE.

The bottom line: Do your friends want to rely solely on the kindness of strangers, politicians, cops and the military if a major catastrophe hits?

Will they remember the Bill of Rights or join the new regime?

 

[jefnvk]

Here's my response, more or less:

'Why do you need...'

'I don't'

'Then why do you have one'

'One! I'm well into the teens'

'What can you do with so many guns'

'Well, most of my guns are collectible pieces of history. The others are for hunting. Would you complain if I were collecting art'

'No. But why do you need guns?'

'Why do you need art?'

'Art makes life better. Guns make life worse'

'You are completely missing the point. I CHOOSE to have guns. Not only do I choose to have guns, it is my right. You choose to like art. I find most art to be pointless and wasteful, but I am in no way trying to take art away from you. You disagree with my choices, and you try to deprive me of them. Me owning guns is harming exactly the same amount of people as you owning art. 0'