Guns Popular Christmas Gift

According to the FBI, which processes requests for background checks of prospective gun buyers, 129,166 such checks were performed on Black Friday, Nov. 25, breaking the previous single-day record -- set on Black Friday 2008 -- by nearly a third.

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Analysts who focus on firearms say the increase is part of a years-long trend toward increasing gun ownership. In a recent Gallup poll, 47 percent of respondents said there was a gun in the household, up from 41 percent a year ago.

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Concealed guns can range anywhere from $300 to $1,000 or more. McLauren says many owners have several guns to match what they are wearing or the time of year. For example, people often have larger guns in the winter when they have more clothing to conceal it and smaller guns in the summer when they wear shorts and less clothing. Bigger guns may be able to fire faster.

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"It's just a nice way to show you care and give somebody something they mightbe able to use to protect their lives," he said.


http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2011/dec/07/guns-popular-christmas-gift-ar-856168/


O come all ye well-armed...

I got my gun as a Father's Day present, but I do have ammo on my Christmas list.

but I am not sure of which one to get. The decision is between the Laserlyte system or the Sure Strike model. I figure it would be a good tool to help stay proficient during the winter months. If anyone has experience with any such systems, any input is appreciated.

I think we'll do a family gift instead this year and save some money. Seeing as how I'm waiting for a certain Martin D18 to come back from the repair shop later this year I really don't want to spend much right now.

Only problem was my best friend was buying it for his wife for her "conceal" carry pistol, I just happen to work with the FFL.

than to receive a killing machine?

1) Not everyone who gives gifts for the Christmas season is Christian.
2) While Christ may have been called the Prince of Peace by others, he never called himself that.
3) Firearms are not "killing machines" no matter how many times you repeat that falsehood
4) Even if they were, killing is not inherently wrong.
5) Christianity is NOT against self defense.

What's your point?

...Luke 22:35-36.

And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.
Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

:)

I could, of course, quote you several things that directly contradict that, but everyone finds whatever they want in the Bible. If you can justify slavery and genocide, then it seems anything goes.

I, too, love peace, but there are times when violence comes to us. Christianity doesn't ask that people go umprepared to meet the violence foisted upon them by the world, and neither should you. Is a firearm the only method of doing this? No, but it is an extremely effective tool in certain situations. Ask the police, and remember that the police generally show up AFTER the "civilians" (police officers are also civilians) have had to deal with the very worst part of the situation on their own.

I inferred from your "...Prince of Peace..." comment that either you held that Jesus was absolutely peaceful and eschewed violence and its means in all forms or were simply mocking Christians as disingenuous that have no problem being armed and prepared for self-defense. No matter which, my reference and quote highlight only that both positions are invalid from the standpoint of hermeneutics.

If you intended something different, please feel free to share. Your point is very well taken as many will frequently misinterpret a quote or passage merely to favor their position. I only inferred as I did because of your reference from Isaiah 9:6, (the source of the term "Prince of Peace".)

Many Christians take the position that while two combatants are needed to have a fight, only one is required for an assault or murder.

Many, many intelligent, eloquent and respected people have made it clear why self defense has a valid position in a civilized society. To list a few:
"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self defense." John Adams
"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." The Dalai Lama
"The Second Amendment was meant to accomplish two distinct goals...First, it was meant to guarantee the individual's right to have arms for self-defense and self-preservation. These privately owned arms were meant to serve a larger purpose as well...and it is the coupling of these two objectives that has caused the most confusion. The customary American militia necessitated an armed public...the militia (being)...the body of the people. The argument that today's National Guardsmen, members of a select militia, would constitute the only persons entitled to keep and bear arms has no historical foundation." Joyce Lee Malcolm
"Without doubt one is allowed to resist against the unjust aggressor to one's life, one's goods or one's physical integrity; sometimes, even 'til the aggressor's death." Thomas Aquinas
"Though defensive violence will always be 'a sad necessity' in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men." Augustine of Hippo

Have a good evening.
:donut:

Damn thing hasn't killed anyone.

Do you ever stop and listen to how ridiculous you sound?

That's a fact. I don't know why you're so scared to face up to reality.

What do you do with your gun? Open beers like Homer Simpson? Mow the lawn with it? Cut up veggies for dinner?

They are a tool designed to throw a chunk of lead accurately over distance. What you choose to hit with that lead is up to you.

Personally? I use mine as overpriced hole punches. I find them extremely effective when I wish to poke a sub-half inch hole in a piece of paper from between 7 and 200 yards away.

Guns aren't designed to kill.

When used properly: they save lives, provide hours of enjoyment for the family, and for some harvest game.

We had to destroy the village in order to save it.

more like destroying (or threaten to) an attacker to same me.

Sometimes, one must take a bad life to save a good life.

I was just making a joke about how the "Prince of Peace" seems to have a lot of gun-toting followers.

:hi:

...you may have meant 22:36.

:donut:

Thank you very much for correcting it.

Have a nice day.

:donut:

That prince of peace? lol. I suppose their were "sporting" swords and "assault" swords in Jesus' time.

Really charming stuff. Like any other topic in the Bible, the accounts of Jesus contradict one another. One minute he's giving the Sermon on the Mount and the next one he's telling you to get a sword. They couldn't even keep their myths straight.

non-violence and pacifism are not the same thing. If Jesus supported pacifism, I missed it. The turn the other cheek and give all cloths etc. was a form of protest aimed at getting the Roman citizen in trouble with their own authorities.

maybe a sig 229, or a ruger 1911, or a taurus 1911, or a taurus 9mm revolver, or a S&W 656, or a.... :)

So, not this year.

He has been shooting both mine and Loving Wife's for the past year. A great present for a great kid!.

branding of Santa as a rude toter by some here?

Or maybe "Bold Enabler". He's also the "Enslaver of Elves" not to mention the unspeakable atrocities he commits towards reindeer.

I'd never thought of how poorly he treats those harmless animals.

That's what we're supposed to do during a home invasion or burglary, right? I just abandon my home and let that fat fart do what he wants.

He's finally getting his life turned around.

to stay on his good list to keep from getting a lump of coal eehhhh?

Smart move!

...the "Merchant of Death" that explains a few things:

- for example what Santa does during the other 11 months
- how Mr. Bout (aka Santa) has always seemed to be in several places at once like....
- how he is in my local mall today and a Manhattan Jail
- and it's no wonder with that army of elves he was able transport boat loads of AKs from former Soviet states (I understand elves are magic)

;)

But I think a lot of it also has to do with gun ownership becoming more socially acceptable over the past few years.

While there are certainly those look down their noses at anyone crass enough to own guns, I don't know them personally.

and about half just own 1 or 2 guns. I have exactly *one* friend who doesn't own any guns at all. He's said that in case of civil unrest he'll rely on us to arm and protect him.

Our reply (channeling the pastor from Blazing Saddles): "Son...you're on your own."

gonna count on Divine Intervention to show him hos the darned thing operates?

school of thought. A fun guy to game with, but doesn't have a lot of real-world practical knowledge.

Credit where it's due, he's deadly in World of Warcraft. :rofl:

I just tell those people that they better have some indispensable skill if the want protection... and they'll be a serf along with the rest of the grasshoppers.

There was a vice president for academic affairs, an asst. vice president, a dean of liberal arts, two English faculty member, the head librarian, and the institutional researcher.

Three of them shot guns regularly for recreation/training, three owned guns because they were family owned but rarely shot, and only one of them didn't own or shoot guns.

is a PhD in Sociology, a real pointy headed intellectual type. The man simply does not miss, can see the wind, and has an instinctive feel for how a bullet will spin drift at long ranges. He's also quite skilled in field craft. I can't call him a liberal or conservative because he rejects the silly notion of labels like that. It's been far too long since I've had time to visit with him.

My favorite shot from him was with a Smith and Wesson Model 10 .38 revolver shooting some of my 158g LSWC handloads. We had a standard 50 foot rimfire rifle target pasted up on a tree in a large pasture. From a prone position at what we paced off to be about 125 yards he put one shot into the 8 ring. He fired, we waited, heard the bullet hit the tree holding the target, and then walked down to check his shot. We were with several officers from the Ohio Dept. Of Natural Resources at the time. When he saw the hit on the eight ring and everyone else standing there slack-jawed he said "Ain't got nothing else to prove." and didn't touch a gun the rest of the day. Some times you have to quit while you're ahead.

We used to play "poor man's skeet" which basically involved tossing a saltine cracker into the air so the other person could shoot it in flight with a .45. I doubt either of us could do that right now.

Good times.

Between me and my father, we've got more guns than first degree relatives. I live in an area that's gun friendly and have been shooting over half of my life, but there used to be some resentment toward black rifles and the like. Gun ownership was accepted, but it was something you weren't supposed to talk about outside of the home.

Things are different now, though. People have no problem talking about guns and attitudes have changed.

Did not purchase it on black friday, it's part of my collection and each of my three sons gets one in the year they turn 21.

But i'll take a second safe, first one's full.

Sometimes it takes me 4 or 5 tried and a little pounding on the door to get the "whatevers" to fall into place properly.

I've taken the back off and tried to graphite lube it but it didn't help....It's a 2000 model browning (rebadged I'm sure)


Oh....

And my wife doesn't want another firearm either...she want's gold....not the investment kind either. :(