Reply #137: Owning a firearm isn't a decision to be made lightly? [View All]

Oh come on. That's absurd. Conspicuous consumption and impulse buying is a great American tradition. That's how come I have a Flo-Bee (vacuum-cuts hair) and a Clapper ("clap on/clap off"). If I ever thought about it before I bought something, I wouldn't own anything.

Thank you for your offer. Don't think my sarcasm and silliness means I haven't gained some insight from the responses to this thread. I now know what kind of gun I can legally purchase come Monday, which is a start. I admit I know NOTHING about guns, never having owned one, held one, known anyone who was a gun enthusiast, etc. But that apparently is not a criteria the government uses in determining whether I can be a gun owner or not, is it? In fact, many of you sound much more responsible than the government in this regard.

And I'm not against a person exercising their right to own one. I just never have. I had truly never considered purchasing one until last week when my own government after three years of terrifying me decided I'm not paranoid enough. They had to relax the gun laws.

Who's in charge there anyway? A bunch of chicken hawks who worship guns, bombs and death. And who hate Democrats like me. People like Zell Miller. The contorted look of hate on his face when he gave his electrifying speech at the GOP convention scared the bejabbers out of me. After witnessing the behavior of guys like him and Heston, I must now add to my worries about rampaging criminals, sociopathic teenagers, and overly aggressive trigger happy cops, a bunch of senile old men in Depends pointing their guns at me! And I'm supposed to feel safe?

If this law is so trivial and meaningless, why is everyone here so excited to see it lifted? It sounds like a law only meant to make me feel safer without restricting much of anything that is truly dangerous, so it shouldn't matter if it's lifted. To the vast majority of us who don't own guns, however, the action seems to indicate the government calling open season on its citizens.

Can't you see how scared these laws make those of us who don't own guns? We don't see the responsible gun owners. All we see are the criminals and the cops using them way too often to kill. Not to mention their use in Hollywood to entertain us while killing things.

Lots of liberals have started asking ourselves questions about our positions where guns are concerned. When I hear people shooting guns on the streets at night, when kids pack them to class, when the dumbest rightwing Republican card carrying NRA, gun toting nutcase (see Michigan Militia, Terry Nichols' brother, and Charlton Heston in "Bowling for Columbine") has them, it makes me think I am failing to provide adequately for my own defense. Because I am the one these people hate. And as I've discovered since the current administration has been in power, my government also hates me.

When I go to the gun shop to buy my weapon, will anyone there be half as concerned about safety as people here have been? Will they prevent my senile old neighbor from buying one? The teenager down the street who plans to take it to school? The home invasion robber who plans to visit my neighborhood? Will they urge these folks to take safety classes, to learn to use the weapon responsibly? They apparently failed to do so when all the rightwingnuts went and bought theirs.

Ted Bundy? The DC Sniper? The nutjob white supremacist who attacked the Jewish pre-school in Los Angeles? These people all bought their guns in my fair city.

I think liberals across the country (especially ones who know nothing about operating them safely) should purchase guns in massive numbers. Talk about ratcheting up the level of terror a notch.

I really didn't mean to keep this thread alive by continuing to respond. My thread was moved to this decidedly pro-gun forum from GD where there are lots more who think like me.

At this point, I'm fairly certain Monday will come and go without me bringing home a gun. It will take at least until Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest to do the background check. And by then, I might change my mind and buy a hummmer instead.

PEACE