Guns are a Disease?

[Lillfilly]

Wow. Since I was pretty much called an idiot, I guess I'm done with this post. Or any other post. Ever.

[crashhelmet]

I'm one for gun control, but this is definitely filled with a lot of reaching, coincidental arguments.

The tie between alcohol and gun violence is no different than alcohol and any violence of any kind. Hell, any drug for that matter. When the mind isn't right and things get heated or emotional, there's no telling how a person could react.

Calling gun ownership a precursor to gun violence is like calling car ownership a precursor to a DUI. It's damn near difficult for me to get a DUI if I don't have a car.

I will agree with this part though:

"There's sort of a contagion phenomenon" after a shooting, where people feel they need to have a gun for protection or retaliation, he said.

Gun sales almost always go up after an event like this. For some it's fear that they might be a victim. for others it's fear that the government is going to ban guns so they need to buy them now while they can.


There is an ever growing mentality of how cool it is to own guns and particular types of guns though. I have friends all the time that post pictures of their rifles and handguns on their bed bragging about going to "blow shit up" at the outdoor ranges. Here in Vegas, it's quickly becoming a status thing.

[Gravekeeper]

Gun ownership – a precursor to gun violence – can spread "much like an infectious disease circulates,"

So.....did you actually read the article?

Its much more comprehensive and pragmatic then your alarmist headline indicates. It sounds like you took one sentence and ran with it, without reading anything around it or the justification for it.

They said the study also shows gun owners are more likely to be binge drinkers and drink and drive.

So? Assholes are more likely to have vicious dogs too. Doesn't mean its all the dogs fault.

I don't agree with any of this.

I don't think you even know what you're disagreeing with, no offence.

Many people are normal, careful, responsible gun owners.

And so what? That in no way negates the study, nor does the study in any way negate the fact there are responsible gun owners. No more so than drunk drivers negate the fact there are responsible drivers.

And I know that the gun is not going to turn around on its own and kill someone, which is why I was particular about the one I chose; a Taurus, which includes a key lock that prevents the gun from firing even when cocked and loaded.

If you read the article, you would know this is exactly the sort of thing it was advocating to begin with.

I wonder if they believe that only mental degenerates will get guns, or that owning a gun will somehow transform you.

Seeing as they said utterly nothing of the sort and you are apparently just filling in the blanks based on the headline and your own bias, I'm going to vote no.

[Andara Bledin]

Some of the statements in the report are laughably stupid.

Gee, a gun being present is a requirement for gun violence to happen? Really?

However, other parts of the report are much more useful with things like pressuring for things such as biometric locks (not necessarily a good idea) and improved safety to prevent accidental firings such as from a gun being dropped (a very, very good idea).

The problem here is that some of the report and subsequent article confuse correlation for causation or are otherwise unclear about the difference. Add in some problems with treating a major symptom as if it were actually the disease, and you have a recipe for none of the report being taken seriously by the moderates on either side of the issue.

^-.-^

[BlaqueKatt]

improved safety to prevent accidental firings such as from a gun being dropped (a very, very good idea).

that only happens in movies....

big enough myth it made cracked

modern firearms do not fire when dropped just a little bit. See, the gun industry is the same as pretty much any other industry. If their products kill people when they aren't supposed to be killing people, the government gets real pissed off and their stock tends to plummet. Which is why the Gun Control Act of 1968 made drop-safety tests mandatory. If anything, the Hollywood-concocted myth about guns firing on impact inspires us to be even dumber with guns. If you drop a gun, your first instinct will be to try to catch it before it hits the ground, because movies taught you that gun + ground = death. In real life, however, grasping for falling objects is an inherently imprecise act, and you run the risk of accidentally catching the trigger while you fumble around like an idiot trying to catch it. Which is why experts agree: It's much safer to let a gun fall than to try and catch it.

[crashhelmet]

that only happens in movies....

big enough myth it made cracked

That's how NFL Receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg with his gun. It was improperly stuffed into his pants and started to slip while going up stairs. He grabbed for it and pulled the trigger.

[lordlundar]

That's how NFL Receiver Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg with his gun. It was improperly stuffed into his pants and started to slip while going up stairs. He grabbed for it and pulled the trigger.

The accidental discharge was because he gripped it wrong, not a design problem.

[crashhelmet]

The accidental discharge was because he gripped it wrong, not a design problem.

Which is what I said, reinforcing BlaqueKatt's post

[lordlundar]

Which is what I said, reinforcing BlaqueKatt's post

Ah, thought you were rebuking it, not confirming it. My mistake.

[Aethian]

Ah, thought you were rebuking it, not confirming it. My mistake.

I thought that too...

[Hyena Dandy]

Wait, who called the OP an idiot?

[Nyoibo]

I think the OP incorrectly inferred it friom someones post, but as the original post is gone it's hard to tell.

[Hyena Dandy]

So, guns =/= disease, OP =/= Idiot

But aside from overthetop headlines...

I don't quite get what this article is trying to SAY.