First, any child old enough to lift and operate a firearm is quite strong enough to cause grievous damage with a knife. And penetrating injury is not required for a fatal wound. A five year old waving a knife as a “sword” could easily inflict a fatal slash wound. Second, i don’t know where you get your statistic about “most” gun owners. I am acquainted with lots of recreational shooters. The very vast majority are not hunters. |
LEO wife here. Last year there were multiple cases where 2 year olds killed themselves or other people with a loaded gun left unattended. A two year old is very unlikely to kill someone with a knife they find unattended. I imagine that such an accident would be reported in the media, and yet they aren't, even though there are more 2 year olds living in houses with knives than houses with guns. In my household there are some things that are locked up or out of reach when our kids are little. When we had toddler and preschoolers, our cleaning supplies were in a cabinet up high. The knife drawer had a latch on it. There was a slide lock on the door to the garage where the antifreeze and the starter for the barbecue live. Scissors lived on top of the fridge. As my kids got older, some of those precautions went away. We have 6 to 13 year olds right now, and I no longer have those locks on the stove, my kids go into the garage by themselves to get the soccer goal, and they set the table with knives unsupervised. But there are four things where I continue to take precautions, because I know that they have a tendency to attract older kids, and I know that accidents are still common in those age groups. In all of these situations, I take double precautions, because I want a back up plan. 1) Pools. We don't have one, but we've stayed in houses with one, and I won't stay if there isn't a lock that the kids can't access unless they are with an adult. I have also made sure my kids can swim. I don't rely on just one of those, I rely on both. 2) Powertools. My DH likes to wood work, we have things like a table saw that could hurt a child very badly, and I've got a few kids who love to woodwork. My husband has spent a lot of time with our kids teaching safety, but the woodshop is still locked, and the kids don't go in without Dad or another adult. 3) Opiods: We have a family member who receives palliative care and uses opiods. In this case, I don't just worry about the kids, I worry about myself making an error in the middle of the night when I'm tired. To prevent that, I have a time when I'm awake and not distracted and I draw up the day's doses in syringes that are labeled. DH checks them. Any meds I'm not using are stored in a safe. The meds I am using that day are in a lockbox by the bed. 4) Guns: Guns are always locked up except that moment when DH is coming or going, or if he's doing something specific where his attention is on his gun (e.g. cleaning it, unloading it). My kids have also been taught what to do if they find a gun anywhere. It's not one thing or another. See, I am consistent. |
Safe firearm storage is the right thing. What is irrational is defining firearms as somehow uniquely dangerous or ontologically evil. |
How was my post in which I wrote that I worry about the gun, and therefore make sure it's secured a sign that I defined firearms as uniquely dangerous or ontologically evil? How is attacking a mother for making sure the gun in her house is locked up helping your side in this? |
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i have two shotguns, one semi-auto. Both stored in a safe, ammo stored separately.
I am 10k times more concerned about someone in my household getting into my gun safe and hurting themselves or someone else than I am about random rioters crashing my street. Thats why i keep the ammo separately. I live in DC. I hate the NRA. I hate Trump. I vote Democratic. But i also love guns and shooting at targets. I'm also am a big fan of that show "Alone" where people compete to survive in hostile environments like the arctic. The last person standing wins $500k. Contestants are NOT allowed to have guns. Almost always, the people who carry guns in their every day life are the first to drop out. The gun carriers just can't handle not having a weapon with them during a months long competition. It turns out that owning a gun can make you irrationally fearful. It makes the gun owners very weak contestants. |
Wow you did a statistical analysis of the contestants on Alone? BS. A lot of the contestants who do reasonably well are able to use a bow and arrow like an expert, or they just luckily get put in a location where the fish are plentiful and good biters. Trust me, if they allowed guns, the best shooter would be the winner of every season. It's really weird that you would even connect gun ownership to the show Alone. |
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DH owns multiple rifles because he’s a hunter. I’ve always been resistant to his buying a handgun. In an effort to convince me, he’s been telling me about all his friends who have been buying guns in the last 6 months or so, including men with wives who previously adamantly opposed having guns in the house and are now fully on board. You’d be surprised at who owns them, even many liberals who would never publicly admit it.
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You totally missed my point. |
Totally agree. It's really telling to see how many people are in the market for handguns, but the reality is that demand is far exceeding supply. There are no Glocks or M&Ps anywhere, they are just sold out with waitlists. As evidenced by the gun show at Dulles a couple of weeks ago, the line was probably a four hour wait due to social distancing limitations, but people were willing to wait it out. I've never seen so many anti-gun people switching sides. Just look at one website, it is the same story over and over again. All out of stock. https://www.interstateguns.com/firearms/handguns/semi-auto.html |
On the plane into the country? |
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We have guns, all kept in a safe. I am former military with time spent as a CATM instructor. Wife has had several classes.
We aren't "gun people" but have also believe that not having protection in today's climate is equivalent to not having life insurance. I'd rather have it and not need it than leave my family totally at the mercy of others. |
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Gun owner
Live in MoCo Inherited guns from our parents years ago HHI 150k No kids at home Guns safely stored and registered. |
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I’m a gun owner. The person who argues that knives are just as dangerous as knives should sit down and stop posting on the Internet. Stuff like that is why people think gun owners are irrational. A toddler can kill a person accidentally from 20 feet away with a gun. They can’t with a knife.
30k people a year die from guns. They are very, very dangerous. |
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McLean, VA racial demographics:
The racial makeup of the CDP was 79.3% White, 14.9% Asian, 1.8% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.8% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 4.9% of the population. But OP is worried about BLM? If anything, folks need to be worried about the Kyle Rittenhouse type of kid that they're raising. |
| What will all of you people with your private arsenals do when gun ownership becomes outlawed in a few years? |