Got my new toy!

[GasBandit]

So ugh, what about Korean, Vietnam, the Golf War and whatever the fuck's being going on in the middle east the last 10 years or so?

Those were not wars between Americans and their own government. And seriously, "Golf war?"

Didn't you "have better" to do?

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

I don't think gun ownership had much of anything to do with causing the Revolutionary or Civil War

 

[sixpackshaker]

I don't think gun ownership had much of anything to do with causing the Revolutionary or Civil War

But it was the reason that The Colonies and the CSA were able to defend themselves.

 

[Soliloquy]

Guns make it easier to kill. That is both a pro and a con. They are yin and yang, intertwined like a rope, forever inseparable, both complimenting and opposing each other. To have a rational argument on the matter requires seeing the tao of gun ownership, the whole of the matter. Unfortunately, this will never happen, because as Confucius once said* "People are fucking idiots."

*and if he didn't, he should have.

This is something that not enough people hit on, I'd say.

Guns have the advantage of being the great equalizer: if you know what you're doing, it's easier to defend yourself with a gun than it is with other weapons that often give a major advantage to larger individuals. It's also easier to murder someone with a gun, though whether or not that has any effect on crime rates is pretty much a crapshoot -- there are plenty of knife-related crimes in countries where citizens don't have access to firearms, and there aren't any clear trends that link gun laws (or the repeal of said laws) with an increase or decrease in crime rates that I'm aware of.

Guns are also extremely dangerous, and if you don't know what you're doing you're more likely to end up harming yourself of someone innocent by owning a gun than you are to stop a criminal. If I remember correctly, lax gun laws have been shown to lead to an increase in gun-related injuries, though that's just common sense -- if sharp knives were outlawed, there would be a drastic decrease in knife-related injuries.

If the U.S. is invaded sometime in the future, and the U.S. military does fall, I doubt that a bunch of people with handguns and rifles would be able to take on the invading army. However, I don't doubt that invaders would have a harder time occupying Texas than they would California.

So, yeah... Tao.

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name
The gun law that can be enacted is not the eternal gun law

 

[Chippy]

I bet the Libya and Syrian people were thinking the same thing when they overthrew their corrupt government.... Well the Syrians are still fighting, but I hope you get my point.

Just pointing out that you actually said this again. Because lol.

 

[Ravenpoe]

God made man, but Samuel Colt made man equal.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Despite California having a rep as liberal utopia, the mountains are filled with a lot of crazy conservative militia fuckers. Also maybe all the Los Angeles gangs would unite against an invading force.