Gun Culture

[Axaday]

Apparently an active shooter is on the OU campus right now.

I live in Oklahoma and I've never been a part of the gun culture, but I'm surrounded by it. I've always said, "Yeah I don't have a problem with all the responsible gun owners, as long as we have ways to make sure that is who owns guns." I've been changing my tune. I am really starting to solid believe that about 1000 "responsible" people who love to see what military weapons do to soup cans and beer bottles autogenerates a person who wants to see what they can do to a human. I just feel like all my neurons are pointing to it now. "Responsible" gun owners ARE the problem.

 

[DefaultOption]

They're all "responsible gun owners" right up until the moment that they're not.

 

[Rhinox]

I work in a town of 2,000 people. I've been a cop for about a month. In that time there has been a LOT of conversation about what our response would be to a school shooter in town. It is absolutely a concern and something law enforcement thinks about all the time. (I've already gone through 3 'room clearing' simulations/training.) There's actually a big training being held this weekend on this very subject, put on by the KBI. K-State did one earlier in the week.

There has to be something that can be done because this is just asinine. I got into another "discussion" with a gun nut who wanted to play the 'cars kill more than guns' card and didn't appreciate his argument being dismantled. But the scary part is, for every asshole online, there's at least one in town whose also just as crazy about their weapons and how 'we ain't takin' his guns'.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

We're out there.

When I had a madman trying to get into my house because he wanted to confront me about my pet monkey that stole his car keys (note: I do not have a pet monkey as far as I am aware) I didn't touch any of my guns. I called the police and waited for them to do their thing. The whole time I did not touch my guns. It took a few minutes of waiting before it occurred to be that I could grab one, and when it did it didn't feel good. That thought of "Oh... am I going to have to do this today?" was, up until a few months ago, the worst feeling I ever felt in my life. I feel like a wuss but I was actually shaken by the thought that I might have to kill that guy and had the power if the police didn't show up.

But police did show up and handled it, so I guess the moral of the story is that I didn't need a gun anyway.

But all that aside, it has to be said, it took really long damn for police to show up. I mean it. They took a long damn time, and I am not talking about time moving slowly because I was stressed. I was watching the clock. They took their sweet fat hugging time. I'm in a good spot where police response time should be very quick, but that day it wasn't. Not at all. And that could have mattered. I'm still calling the police next time in the unlikely event that I ever have a problem again, but I am not giving up the backup plan. They didn't convince me.


I am a gun owner. I don't feel dangerous.

 

[wonko the sane?]

That's because, despite the propaganda, the gun owner isn't the dangerous one. The gun is the dangerous part and always has been. Sure, the gun owners CHOOSES violence, and violence might still happen even if the gun wasn't there: but the capacity to commit that violence is greatly lessened and the opportunity cost is much, much higher.

Coffeehorse: keep in mind, just the act of waving a gun around affects a situation: so if you ever actually need to do that, maybe just slap an empty clip in there and wave an empty gun around to protect yourself. Only the craziest people don't care about getting shot.

 

[Pocket]

Even the gun doesn't have to be real. I've heard stories of people threatening burglars in the middle of the night by just jabbing a piece of pipe into their backs. Though granted, living in a country where having a real gun would at least be legal does a lot to sell the illusion; I imagine they wouldn't be fooled if what you claim to be doing would get you put away longer than them.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

"Only the craziest people" are a fairly common occurrence down here though.

 

[KidTDragon]

It's also the state motto, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

It might as well be.

Before I was a gun owner I had another very angry man at my front door. He wasn't after me but he was absolutely looking for a fight, looking for some woman, and just happened to have the wrong house. The house he was after was involved in a drug ring, so I assume this guy was involved too somehow. The house he was looking for was right next door, so I sent him on his way and called the police. He still wanted to know if I was maybe hiding the person he was looking for, but he didn't press the issue, maybe because I had a dog at the time.

Anyway, he must have found the person he was looking for because I heard the punch. God damn. Hollywood is not exaggerating with their punch sound effects. It can be loud. I would not be surprised if he broke a bone in his hand or the person's face or both.

Obviously, police hadn't gotten there fast enough to prevent that. It's not going to keep me up at night because there definitely was a drug ring operating out of that house, so they weren't completely innocent over there, but theoretically that could have been an innocent person's head. It also could have been my head if the guy had been more insistent on checking my house before he moved on.


Which reminds me of an entirely separate occasion involving different people, in which I was hiding a woman in my house. Her boyfriend (presumably ex now, hopefully) beat the hell out of her and broke her phone, so she came to my house to use my phone and hide while she waited for a friend to come get her. Her boyfriend didn't come looking for her, but he could have.


I have to stress that I live in what's supposed to be a safe neighborhood, and statistically we are, but shit happens.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Drugs and abuse makes even the safest neighborhoods into dangerous places.

 

[Rhinox]

Drugs and abuse makes even the safest neighborhoods into dangerous places.

That's actually the focus of my police department. Like, the entire department is geared towards presence and drug intervention.
We're the bigger small town on the highway between Wichita and Topeka. This really should be a huge drug town and point of travel between the two. Due to the job the police and the sheriff's department does, most 'in the know' dealers and mules avoid our county like the plague because we really hunt them down. For this reason.

With that said, police response can take a long time. It doesn't hurt my feelings when people say they're armed for that reason. Home protection is a big deal. Just have a safe, keep your shit unloaded until needed, and don't let your kids have access and things will be alright.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I keep my guns unloaded. I've considered keeping my revolver loaded since someone would truly have to have Hulk hands to accidentally pull the trigger and I do not, but I'm not worried enough to bother.

 

[Ultra Magnus13]

That's because, despite the propaganda, the gun owner isn't the dangerous one. The gun is the dangerous part and always has been. Sure, the gun owners CHOOSES violence, and violence might still happen even if the gun wasn't there: but the capacity to commit that violence is greatly lessened and the opportunity cost is much, much higher.

Coffeehorse: keep in mind, just the act of waving a gun around affects a situation: so if you ever actually need to do that, maybe just slap an empty clip in there and wave an empty gun around to protect yourself. Only the craziest people don't care about getting shot.

This is dangerous and unsound advice.

 

[wonko the sane?]

It's GUN advice. Unless it's "throw the ******* thing into the smelter" it's all dangerous and unsound. That's kind of part and parcel with having WAR MACHINES hanging around like stray cats.

 

[Pale Rider]

FB friend:

Contrary to what the NRA says, a well-armed society is not a polite society. Why? Because the rudest people are the ones who buy the most guns.

Do you think a guy has 34 guns because he's polite and gets along well with his neighbours? No, he has 34 guns because he's an asshole, and he knows that assholes eventually get punched in the face if they're not armed.

 

[Pocket]

And remember, the NRA has repeatedly sponsored gun control bills that were drafted in response to white people's fears that their non-white neighbors were starting to exercise their second amendment rights.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

If the National Racist Association didn't have double standards, they wouldn't have any standards at all.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I am not an NRA member, for what it's worth.

FB friend:

I don't understand 34 Guns Guy, and I've had neighbors like that, but I have never had that guy show up to my house looking for trouble.

And I bet neither has FB Friend.

 

[NovaSaber]

That's because criminals with that many guns become mass shooters, not burglars.

 

[Pale Rider]

And I bet neither has FB Friend.

Probably true. He lives in Canada.