Guns

[SiHart]

I was reading in the Yay/ Arghh thread about the incident that has happened recently at Kenny's Daughter's school, where a gun, all be it an airgun was fired at the kids because someone thought it was "fun".

Guns have been on my mind recently. On holiday, when were joined up with the stg do group in Las Vegas, one of the things that came up as something to do was go and fire guns at a range. Everyone seemed rather excited about doing this, except me.

It was incredibly odd experience. The whole thing was made out to be something glamourous- from choosing which guns you wanted to fire, how many shots you'd go for, right down to choosing a target, which included photos of me holding up women with guns.

I couldn't do it. I had one of the strongest reactions I've had against anything that afternoon. I didn't want to handle a gun, let alone fire one and as the group went off to take part, I found myself watching the queue of people waiting. There were parents taking their pre-teen kids to fire guns, women, lots of men... I just found it incredibly depressing and quite sick that people were taking children in to do this for fun.

So, how do you feel about this? Could you fire a gun? Are you pro or anti?

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

A gun is an absolutely awful object. We are used to it, conditioned to it, and we give our kids toy guns without a qualm.

But what are they? Okay, imagine you had never seen one. Now introduce yourself to the concept. Someone, basically some absolute c**t, has invented a thing that will project a bit of metal into someone's body. It's not like a knife, or even a spear, because these are things which have been invented for other uses, and just happen to harm humans. A gun is an object invented to destroy life.

So I am absolutely anti and believe, like the invention of cigarettes, that the day someone unveiled the gun as a new invention, it was one of the darkest days for our race and that very possibly Satan was sitting at his shoulder.

Si.

[Philipnet]

I've fired guns in the past.

It was at a Cub Scout night many years ago. We were all given a talk/lecture, told about the different parts of a gun and how to aim and fire a gun. The targets were all bullseye targets. My aim wasn't great, but it was okay.

What I have to remember is that in America there is a different social awareness and different legislation of guns compared to the UK.

[Antony Cox]

It was incredibly odd experience. The whole thing was made out to be something glamourous- from choosing which guns you wanted to fire, how many shots you'd go for, right down to choosing a target, which included photos of me holding up women with guns.

I couldn't do it. I had one of the strongest reactions I've had against anything that afternoon. I didn't want to handle a gun, let alone fire one and as the group went off to take part, I found myself watching the queue of people waiting. There were parents taking their pre-teen kids to fire guns, women, lots of men... I just found it incredibly depressing and quite sick that people were taking children in to do this for fun.

So, how do you feel about this? Could you fire a gun? Are you pro or anti?

Si xx

I think I'd feel exactly the same if I'd been you, Si.

I don't think I caould ever handle a gun, never mind use one. They're abhorrent objects, and as Si Hunt says, if you think about it it's awful that toy guns even exist. Urgh.

[SiHart]

What I have to remember is that in America there is a different social awareness and different legislation of guns compared to the UK.

That is indeed true, but I felt even worse after reading the leaflets in the place. One on good gun care showed a proud Dad showing off his shotgun to his son and daughter, showing them how to handle the gun safely and all that. While I understand what they were getting at, I couldn't quite cope with the message it was sending out.

If you own a gun, you intend to use it. Owning a gun means you want to kill. Not necessarily kill a person, but kill something. How can you possibly be proud of that?

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

I've fired air rifles in the past at ranges and its just something that has never really appealled. And I was terrible at it. There's nothing THAT scary about air rifles, they feel pretty harmless.
Howver I was completely put off guns when I was asked by a friend if I wanted to go clay pigeon shooting. I had a go at firing the gun and it was absolutely terrifying. It virtually knocked me over with the recoil. And it felt very powerful and very wrong. What sealed it for me was when we were informed by my friend that we were actually here to help out with a clay pigeon tournament, something we weren't told in advance.
What this meant was that we sat behind some bales of hay for 2 hours launching the clay pigeons. So basically we were being shot at. It was pretty horiible. And also some of the people there, I felt should never been allowed guns.
As for kids and toy guns, we don't allow William to have any (and Tabby too) but somehow he still plays at shooting things. he uses sticks, bananas, sandwiches with a chunk bitten out. Anything. We've never encouraged this, its just something thats in built in little boys.

[Si Hunt]

This on the other hand somehow looks huge fun

[Alex]

I'm completely against guns, and so thankful we don't have a situation akin to America.

If you own a gun, you intend to use it. Owning a gun means you want to kill. Not necessarily kill a person, but kill something. How can you possibly be proud of that?

Si xx

I'd agree with that when it comes to the UK, but it's a very different (and messy) situation in the US - there are certainly some areas of the country where if I lived there, I would consider owning one, if only as a form of defence. It's still a very dangerous decision to make though of course, as things could go terribly wrong.

Ironically, I absolutely adore things like lazerquest, and big OTT action films. But then I guess that's a whole different area to explore...

[Llordllama]

I love water pistols. Does that make me the NRA's bitch then?

[Alex]

Yes. Yes it does.

[MinaHarker]

I agree with Si Hunt.

[WhiteCrowNZ]

I hate guns. They make it too easy to take a life. All they ever seem to do is bring misery.

[Stuart Wallis]

One of my uncles had an air pistol. Where the £$%* did he get it from, and why was my first reaction, and my second was why was he letting his small grandsons fire it, albeit at paper targets? More surprising still, I fired it once, just to see what my reaction would be to firing a gun. I at least had the sense to point it at the lawn when noone was about, unlike the children. Fired a gun - been there, done that, too ashamed to have another go with live ammo. Don't even know if I could do it to save life or in self-defence.

[Captain Tancredi]

I've quite enjoyed shooting with an air rifle at a fairground before now, but I'm not sure that I'd feel that comfortable with something which could do proper damage. A few years ago I was asked (in Australia) if I wanted to join in a torchlit foxhunt on a farm, with shotguns- it just seemed weird to even be offered the opportunity.

The ironic thing is that while we're all being so squeamish about guns, in 1914 and 1939 barely anybody had any doubts about pressing guns into the hands of most of the adult male population and telling them to find a German to kill.