Not my wife too!!

[9mmforMe]

So my wife is in her last semester of lawschool and she has always said she has no problem with people owning guns. Well we were talking and she said she thought there was no good reason to have a magazine with upwards of 30 rounds. I asked her how many would she feel comfortable with. She said the "regular" amount would be fine. I told her that would be around 17 rounds and she balked. She said, "What about the old days when you just had 6 in the little circle thingy." I gently tried to give her some background on development of firearms in modern society, but she would have nothing to do with it. She ended the conversation with..."Well hunters don't own guns to kill" :banghead:

The scary thing is that many of her classmates, reportedly, feel as she does. And these are supposed to be lawyers someday?

 

[TurtlePhish]

Ooooh, boy... That doesn't sound good.

 

[powell&hyde]

Uh Oh!!, sounds like someone has been talking to her. Was everything ok when you two first met?

 

[flatlander937]

Does your wife enjoy shooting?

Who says people shouldn't buy $250,000 cars -because they want to-? They're just able to run people over at faster speeds.

Cars kill more people than guns, after all.


You don't NEED to need something for it to be available/legal. I don't like Porsches(mainly because I've had to work on a few), but I don't think anybody else should not be allowed to buy them.


I don't smoke and don't care for the smell... but I'm not going to tell others they can't(unless it's in my house/car/etc)... I don't know off the top of my head but I'm sure cigarettes kill more people annually(lung cancer, etc) than firearms do as well.




Does somebody that commits murder by shooting 3 rounds from a gun that holds 7 rounds deserve to be sentenced for less time than somebody that commits murder by shooting 3 rounds from a gun that holds 50 rounds?

What if somebody commits murder with a hammer? There is no gun involved so logically you should either give them even less time than the guy with the 7 round mag... or push to outlaw all hammers.



Think about that.

 

[TurtlePhish]

^ Logic at its best. Explain something along those lines to your wife very calmly... maybe she'll see the light.

 

[loki.fish]

"Well hunters don't own guns to kill"

Do they just cook animals alive then?

 

[MEHavey]

Gently remind her that the framers did not write 2A for hunting purposes.

They wrote it to preserve the ability of The People to secure a free state, and to protect its Constitution '...against all enemies, foreign and domestic,...'

"Hunting," "sporting" and "self-protection" are but by-products of the real reason for having weapons in the hands of The People, a principle understanding that ought to be up front/imprinted in all 9th grade Civics classes.

 

[HOOSIER70]

Nope they comit sucide

 

[TurtlePhish]

Gently remind her that the framers did not write 2A for hunting purposes.

They wrote it to preserve the ability of The People to secure a free state, and to protect its Constitution '...against all enemies, foreign and domestic,...'

"Hunting," "sporting" and "self-protection" are but by-products of the real reason for having weapons in the hands of The People, a principle understanding that ought to be up front/imprinted in all 9th grade Civics classes.

Exactly! Non-gun or anti-gun people nowadays seem to think the only reason people own guns is for hunting... they don't seem to realize that they have a much more important use. Not to mention they're just fun to blast away with on a good day at the range.

 

[flatlander937]

Some more off the top of my head:

Police generally carry Glocks or similar 9mm polymer handguns that hold around 17 rounds... the only reason they have firearms is for self defense(they are NOT legally obligated to protect any citizens from ANYTHING, though many officers live up to their oath to "protect and serve" and have/will put themselves into harm's way for others)... they're not running around just threatening people to do what they want.

If they feel the need to carry something with a ~17 round magazine just to stay safe while working in the STREETS AND PROPERTY THAT YOU YOURSELF WALK/DRIVE ON, then why shouldn't the average citizen be allowed to have the same protection?

How well is the 10 round magazine cap for California and stuff working out? How many criminals abide by those laws? Like it or not, technology brings about innovation, and one of those things is increased magazine capacity with the advent of the self-loading auto pistol. It's out there, it's not going to just go away. Bad guys get them illegally, so to be the "better person" you should handicap yourself by not being allowed to carry whatever you want?




What about fancy watches? Like guns, they do one thing... watches tell time, guns go bang. That's really about it. Yet some people will buy $20,000 watches because they can. Do they need that to survive? Not at all. Does it make them happy? If so, then go for it, it's not trampling on anybody else's rights... so why is your wife trying to do so?

 

[hapidogbreath]

Wife was anti gun and still is though she does realize that they are not going away and she married a gun nut figured she should learn to shoot a few of my toys... She can keyhole a 2" spotter at 15 yards with my SIG 229 and put 30 rounds into a 6" plate at 100 yrds with my RUGER 556. God I love that woman!!!!!

 

[jfrey]

Another example of so called educated people not knowing much about anything but education. They don't understand anything but their view.

 

[9mmforMe]

Well my wife said she didn't mind guns at all when we first met 6 years ago. She has since then gone through lawschool and more importantly focused her attention toward the Va Tech murders. She doesn't go shooting with me, unfortunately. I try to reason with her but she is very good at circumlocution. She also thinks that the constitution is antiquated and that the 2A was for militia men with muskets. The one good thing is that she doesn't try to limit my shooting practices and that I'm teaching our young daughter the basics of firearm safety and beyond as she gets older.

 

[bikemutt]

Seems to me everyone at some point draws a line in the sand wherever that might be. The government says no to fully automatic weapons, most folks seem OK with that, or at least they are quiet about any disagreement.

My wife can't for the life of her understand why I "need" so many revolvers; I sure as heck can't figure out why she "needs" so many shoes, and so it goes.

Seriously though, most lines in the sand are negotiable, others have already suggested good analogies that should help you, to help her, draw her's differently.

 

[Apuuli]

Sure, the 2A wasn't written with AK-47's in mind. But it was written for a specific purpose: to give the people the ability to resist a tyrannical government.

Tyrannical governments certainly still exist and arise even in a post-industrial age, so fear of tyranny isn't antiquated.

A modern tyrannical government can only be resisted effectively with modern weapons.

Basically, your wife is saying that because the Constitution (from the 1700's) gives the federal government the power to raise an army and navy, the US Army and Navy should be limited to musket toting boys in blue and wooden sailing frigates with black powder cannon. After all, those are the weapons the framers had in mind, right? (Don't forget no modern doctors or medicine should be allowed.)

For our army and navy to be effective in their roles (even in places the framers never considered) they must have up-to-date technology.

Similarly, for the people to be able to protect themselves against government gone bad (or people gone bad), modern technology is needed.

Granted, some firearm uses do not require modern technology: collectioning and hunting. But the others do.

 

[9mmforMe]

I agree, bikemutt. And I have used those and other arguments and she is quite recalcitrant. Ahh well...back to the head banging...lol :banghead::banghead::banghead:

 

[Shadow 7D]

Um, you ought to have her read some supreme court decisions
then go talk to a prosecutor, and ask the procecutor how they deal with their safety
after all, cops are just minutes away, when seconds count.

 

[dprice3844444]

women,can't live with em,can't live withoutem. time to tradem for 2 twentys

 

[loki.fish]

Here's another way to look at it, but it brings religion into the mix, which may cause other issues.

If she thinks the Constitution is antiquated, which is only around 235 years old, what does that make the Holy Bible, which is a whole lot older?

I don't mean this comment to start a religious debate, it's just an analogy....perhaps a bad one.

 

[9mmforMe]

Not such a bad analogy actually. My wife is a very devout christian and I'm curious what her reaction would be to that argument. Thanks loki.

 

[doom]

She REALLY needs to brush up on her legal history, gentlemen, I direct your attention to the reason we should NOT need/have a draft:

§ 311. Militia: composition and classes

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

I'm pretty sure that if Congress did call forth the 'unregulated' militia again, they would not have enough firearms to supply it with, nor enough ammo, hence the second underlying purpose of the second amendent. It's our right to keep and bear firearms, not JUST more defending ourselves out of the home, or in the home, but also our right and responsibility to defend this nation from foreign invasion (which has not occurred in over 200 years, thankfully).

I'd ask her how she'd feel about being required to drive a car that can ONLY have a
capacity for 6 gallons of gas.

 

[Fremmer]

Lol, my advice is to snag a hottie going to the pharmacy, dental, or medical school, they were always significantly better looking and a whole lot nicer than the law school girls.
On a more serious note, take her shooting with you, let her shoot a. 22 rifle and have some fun!

 

[Carne Frio]

Can she document when a gun actually killed someone ?
Usually it takes a person to make it do that. I have heard
of a few times when a dog causes them to fire.

 

[9mmforMe]

LOL...Fremmer!

I truly think she is conflicted and has not critically thought out the logic. I don't want it to turn into a big thing so I'll just work on her slowly and hope she doesn't fall closer to the dark side.

 

[Art Eatman]

Life is plumb full of problems--but this isn''t one for THR...