A poll about guns: what is your view ?(replica)

[fshrink]

Poll question: A poll about guns: what is your view ?(replica)

42% of GD DUers (out of 91) so far voted that "Everyone should own whatever gun they want at any time"... How'bout A&A Duers (all 6 of them!)

[Jokerman]

1. Mixed feelings about gun control

Twenty years ago I would have said "ban them all". Somewhere along the line I realized that the real reasons for us to have guns wasn't for protection from each other but for protection from the government.

Combine that with my increasing fear and distrust of the government and now I just don't know.

[Warpy]

17. Those little popguns won't protect you from a government gone mad

You'd do better to start learning how to make and use explosives.

However, out here in bear, cougar and rattlesnake country, those guns can come in handy.

I wanted them banned when I lived in Boston and I faced down bad guys with guns twice. I see a need for them out west, though, and in a lot of rural areas that don't have our type of wildlife. Even wild dogs can be big trouble.

I still won't own a gun, myself. I live in the inner city where there isn't much threat from animals and besides, I can't hit the back end of a bull with a bass fiddle. I'd be a menace with a gun. I won't second guess people out here who do own them, though.

[Taxloss]

2. I'm a "ban them all" kind of guy.

I don't want to get into a snit about it, but living in the UK I can't see the harm in having total gun control.

[YankeyMCC]

3. Almost

selected ban autos and semi-autos but I'm not much of one for blanket bans.

I'm for very heavy regulation. And the more efficient a weapon is at killing the tighter the regulation and accountability of manufactures, distributors and dealers and of course gun owners.

The federal government should heavily regulate what types of weapons can cross the nations borders as well as state borders and facilitate data sharing between states otherwise leave most of the rest of the regulation to states.

[Jokerman]

4. We are a small but diverse group.

This poll has been up for more than six hours and it's all tied up. Four voters, four different responses.

[onager]

5. Probably a lot of conflicted people...

I am. I own guns. As a former Marine DI, I taught people how to use weapons.

OTOH, I don't want Bubba The Good Buddy Of Jesus to be able to walk around with fully automatic weapons and rocket launchers.

[Jokerman]

6. Agreed, responsible gun ownership is the key

I no longer own any guns but I was raised around them and taught gun safety. I like the fact that I could by a gun if I felt I needed to protect my home but I have absolutely no problem with background checks, waiting periods and registration.

[beam me up scottie]

7. I don't know.

I don't own one anymore but know how to use them.

Onager, I qualified as an expert back when women Marines didn't even need to qualify.

Funny, the only time I remember our DI's being nice to us was when we were on the range...

[onager]

8. Yep. All part of the clever training psychology...

Or psychosis. Rifle range (at least for male recruits) takes place after 3 weeks. And sometimes after another week of mess or maintenance duty.

By that time, we DIs hoped we had weeded out all the real homicidal maniacs and head-cases who might try to kill us in our sleep. You probably remember that by the time you got to the range, you very strongly "identified" with your platoon and DI's.

That doesn't happen by accident. They teach us all this in Drill Instructor School (a/k/a "The Pervert Factory.")

We still did a REALLY close search for stray ammo every night we were on the range.

But as you noted, we were "nicer" (relatively speaking). We used to bring in Cokes, which nobody had seen for about a month. And a radio!

[beam me up scottie]

9. Uh Uh.

My DI's HATED me.
I was the rebel-who-will-be-made-an-example-of in my platoon.
Not that I helped my case, I am, after all, a rebel.
The other recruits were so scared, I couldn't keep a bunkie.
My last name was a real doozy, so the DI's would come out of the DI hut and scream :

"Private...Private...YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, GET UP HERE NOW !!!"

Everybody would turn and look at me...

[GOPFighter]

10. I still fear insecure, angry RWers far more than the government

Guns don't scare me, but the freaking gun zealots do!

I don't think there is a clear answer to the problem of gun violenc in the US, but if I had to choose between "ban them all" or "no controls at all" I'd have to go with "ban them all".

[beam me up scottie]

11. Yep, the zealots scare me too.

You couldn't PAY me enough to even VISIT Texas, let alone live there.

We don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to violence.

In this country, sex is dirty and violence is cool.

[fshrink]

12. Ban for me.

Fists are better. Hurts more than to pull a trigger. Diverse we are, which is the point actually, since there was a clear consensus on GD. Does that mean that atheists are more critical? A small dozen is a very little sample though...

[Gelliebeans]

13. personally

I don't like guns. This is more of a civil liberties issue for me. I don't like the fact that the government can take them all away from law abiding citizens. I was raised with parents that had guns and I have never nor will I ever own one personally. :shrug:

Quit asking hard poll questions fshrink

geez now I am all confuzed :silly:

[fshrink]

14. Hey! It's a replica!

But comparing the results here and on GD is meaningful.

[trotsky]

15. Such a difficult question.

The most primal reason given for gun ownership is for citizens to be the last line of defense against a tyrannical government. But that line of thinking pretty much became invalid when the government started having tanks, planes, and nuclear weapons on their side.

I don't hunt, but growing up in a rural area, I can understand why people do, and as long as they hunt responsibly and use/eat what they kill, I have no problem with that. A hunting rifle is perfectly acceptable in the hands of a fully trained hunter.

But I don't see why citizens need to own automatic or semi-automatic weapons. You don't hunt with them, you don't defend yourself with them unless you're in the armed forces. If you have this desperate NEED to fire one off, let's authorize gun clubs to own some and you can go rent some time with one.

Handguns are so tricky, I don't know that you can come up with a solution other than making sure they are heavily regulated and made as safe to own as possible. (Reduce the chance of accidental firing.)

[rexcat]

16. I say ban automatic weapons...

such as machine guns but not other weapons. When the government takes away what is left of our constitutional rights I want to be able to defend myself from the facists.

I have a handgun that I received after my father died. Of course it has a trigger lock on it and is in a locked box in a locked drawer and I am the only one with the keys. It isn't much use for immediate "protection" of the homestead but I do know how to use it and I enjoy target shooting on occasion.

And who said there were just 6 atheists/agnostics on this forum?

[slackmaster]

23. Automatic weapons have been strictly regulated since 1934

Use of legally owned automatic weapons in crime is almost unheard of. They are toys for the wealthy, and collectors' items.

The system ain't broke. There is no reason to fix it.

And who said there were just 6 atheists/agnostics on this forum?

Third generation Atheist/Agnostic here.

[Rhiannon12866]

18. I voted to ban them all, and I am a former NRA member,

Who used to shoot competitively. But it's just too dangerous, in our "culture of fear." I totally supported the renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban, and worked hard for it. *sigh* I get numerous e-mails from Sarah Brady and from those who support gun control. I am now among them. I know how to use a gun, but most people do not. That's what scares me, in this country. In Canada, gun ownership is much higher, but the murder rate is negligible. We don't need more guns, but more people who take them for what they are, lethal weapons.:-(

[Modem Butterfly]

19. I grew up with guns, I own guns as an adult...

I think that we should limit the types of guns and ammunition available to the public, all guns should be registered and background checks should be required. Anyone committing a violent crime, whether a gun is involved or not, should lose the right to own guns perminently.

[progressoid]

20. I'm not so much of a ban as regulate kind of guy

I think an outright bans will always make this a hot button issue. The NRA keeps saying that responsible, law-abiding citizens should be able to own any firearm they want. OK, but we test for and license hundreds of dangerous and not so dangerous things. If they are responsible, law-abiding citizens they should have no problem with regulations that are no worse than driving a car or becoming a Licensed Practical Nurse.

That said; I supported the assault weapons ban too. Sure it may have limited a legitimate gun owners ability to decimate a watermelon in two seconds at the range. But, seems to be a minor price to pay for safer cities.

[fshrink]

21. Out of 158 GDuers

56% voted for everyone/whatever gun. When we consult atheists, the structure is quite different... That's zip to that option and an array of different opinions. One possibility is that the gun/happy individuals also are believers... Of course sample size is 7 or 8 to 1, but it's still surprising.

[trotsky]

22. Interesting comparison, fshrink.

Yeah, the sample size makes it difficult to come to any conclusions, but atheists/agnostics do tend to approach most issues a little more analytically and rarely in a black-and-white frame of mind.

[fshrink]

24. Although

statistically, the likelihood to have 0 for the best option of the other group is very unlikely. Can't do a Chi square analysis since there might be overlap between the 2 responding samples. I will probably try to do that kind of comparison on other polls as well as they come and I would not be surprised if some sort of consistency appears across topics...