I recently had the not so pleasant experience to discuss the topic of firearms with several people. After doing so it still puzzles me as to how certain people can be:
1. afraid of an inanimate object and/or
2. willing to depend on others for their safety and/or
3. so naive to think that nothing could ever happen to them, or if it did they would be able to stop it with mace or "grab a knife".
These were basically what the discussions came down to. One person was robbed and is now afraid of guns because they remind her of the incident. Amazing how people blame the instrument instead of the person using it. I asked her if she was ever in a car accident would she be afraid of cars for the rest of her life. Didn't like that question too much.
The next one said that he felt guns were "unneccessary" because there really is not a lot of violent crime around. That the "media blows it out of proportion". His comment was that I have lived my life this far and not needed a gun so why do I need one now? I asked him if he's gone through life and ever been saved by his seatbelt, no?.....why do you still wear it then? To which you get the standard response "my seatbelt isn't meant to kill people".
The third really put it all together for me. This was a girl that I was really considering getting into a relationship with. She had proved very logical up to the point guns came up, when she said "I don't like the idea of guns". When questioned if she was alone in the middle of nowhere and several large men wanted to hurt her would she want a gun, she grudgingly admitted "yes in that extreme situation". But then she went on to say that she would NEVER be in that situation and that she'd live in a nice neighborhood and lock the doors. She was another one saying guns are not "neccessary" (god I hate that word) and what about "all the cops you hear that shoot people accidentally". Or what if you hear a noise at night and end up shooting your family member.
So after all this it FINALLY struck me as to what the problem is. These people can't trust themselves to be responsible enough with a gun. They think that it would be more likely that they would screw up and injure or kill someone than they would use it to successfully defend themselves. This is truely sad to me as I can't imagine having that little confidence in myself to think I was not capable enough to keep a weapon for defending myself and had to leave it up to others.
Anyone else come to a similar conclusion? It definately gives new creedence to the term "sheep".
1. afraid of an inanimate object and/or
2. willing to depend on others for their safety and/or
3. so naive to think that nothing could ever happen to them, or if it did they would be able to stop it with mace or "grab a knife".
These were basically what the discussions came down to. One person was robbed and is now afraid of guns because they remind her of the incident. Amazing how people blame the instrument instead of the person using it. I asked her if she was ever in a car accident would she be afraid of cars for the rest of her life. Didn't like that question too much.
The next one said that he felt guns were "unneccessary" because there really is not a lot of violent crime around. That the "media blows it out of proportion". His comment was that I have lived my life this far and not needed a gun so why do I need one now? I asked him if he's gone through life and ever been saved by his seatbelt, no?.....why do you still wear it then? To which you get the standard response "my seatbelt isn't meant to kill people".
The third really put it all together for me. This was a girl that I was really considering getting into a relationship with. She had proved very logical up to the point guns came up, when she said "I don't like the idea of guns". When questioned if she was alone in the middle of nowhere and several large men wanted to hurt her would she want a gun, she grudgingly admitted "yes in that extreme situation". But then she went on to say that she would NEVER be in that situation and that she'd live in a nice neighborhood and lock the doors. She was another one saying guns are not "neccessary" (god I hate that word) and what about "all the cops you hear that shoot people accidentally". Or what if you hear a noise at night and end up shooting your family member.
So after all this it FINALLY struck me as to what the problem is. These people can't trust themselves to be responsible enough with a gun. They think that it would be more likely that they would screw up and injure or kill someone than they would use it to successfully defend themselves. This is truely sad to me as I can't imagine having that little confidence in myself to think I was not capable enough to keep a weapon for defending myself and had to leave it up to others.
Anyone else come to a similar conclusion? It definately gives new creedence to the term "sheep".