First off, please don't get angry at me. I'm not turning into an "anti" or anything of the sort.
I've read several books, and countless articles about gun control, and thought a lot about it. The conclusions I've drawn are pro-RKBA, just like any of us here. However, I am getting frustrated with the whole issue, and I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the basic "truth" of guns is unknowable. Both sides tell the truth, and both sides lie too. How can one "know" what the truth is?
One side has thousands of dead bodies to point to and yell "See! Guns are bad!" The other has, thousands or millions of living people, supposedly because they used guns for protection, to point to and say "See! Guns are good!"
One points to few kids who "accidentally" shoot each other, and the other points to kids drowning in buckets, dying in cars, etc.
One says most murders are people "just like you and me" and the one says that murders are drug-addicted gang-bangers, etc.
I'm sick of the contradictory statistics offered. We take high number for self-defense, and combine them with low numbers for crimes to "prove" that guns do more good than harm. We claim most defensive uses go unreported, and pump up the numbers, but we don't consider how many gun crimes may go unreported. We claim for every crime there are five or so defensive uses, but how do we really know? You can't count people whose live have been saved; it's impossible. I don't believe the US would have 700,000 to 2,000,000 murders a year, except for defensive uses. Those numbers are too high to claim for lives saved; they may be accurate for defensive uses, but know one knows what would have happened for most of these cases.
And the anti-gun lobby lies, claiming almost no one uses a gun in self-defense, and with the whole, "if you have a gun you'll knock off friends 'n family." They claim 200 self-defense shootings a year, when there is more than that- but how much more, no one knows for sure.
And as for guns promoting freedom…please don't get angry at what I say here…I don't know how we can know what the absolute truth is here either. I love JPFO, and their research, but I can't say if we didn't have guns that I would "know" we would turn into a police state with genocide around the bend. The founders had the political philosophy of arming everyman, and it is a very old one too. I believe in it very strongly, but who knows the future?
I'm tired of feeling a vague, stupid and unreasonable guilt when I hear about a handgun murder. I'm tired of a weird feeling of justification when I read about a knife murder. Maybe I've been worked over too much by the media.
But I love guns, and I'll never give mine up. I love shooting, the range, and the people. Guns are a real symbol of freedom for me. But I can't say I "know" the truth about guns- other than this- The second amendment insures us a right, and good people with guns help. But that's all I know. My views haven't changed, but I'm not going to claim I "know the truth."
Does anyone have any thoughts to share? A pep talk? Anything but an angry message?
I've read several books, and countless articles about gun control, and thought a lot about it. The conclusions I've drawn are pro-RKBA, just like any of us here. However, I am getting frustrated with the whole issue, and I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the basic "truth" of guns is unknowable. Both sides tell the truth, and both sides lie too. How can one "know" what the truth is?
One side has thousands of dead bodies to point to and yell "See! Guns are bad!" The other has, thousands or millions of living people, supposedly because they used guns for protection, to point to and say "See! Guns are good!"
One points to few kids who "accidentally" shoot each other, and the other points to kids drowning in buckets, dying in cars, etc.
One says most murders are people "just like you and me" and the one says that murders are drug-addicted gang-bangers, etc.
I'm sick of the contradictory statistics offered. We take high number for self-defense, and combine them with low numbers for crimes to "prove" that guns do more good than harm. We claim most defensive uses go unreported, and pump up the numbers, but we don't consider how many gun crimes may go unreported. We claim for every crime there are five or so defensive uses, but how do we really know? You can't count people whose live have been saved; it's impossible. I don't believe the US would have 700,000 to 2,000,000 murders a year, except for defensive uses. Those numbers are too high to claim for lives saved; they may be accurate for defensive uses, but know one knows what would have happened for most of these cases.
And the anti-gun lobby lies, claiming almost no one uses a gun in self-defense, and with the whole, "if you have a gun you'll knock off friends 'n family." They claim 200 self-defense shootings a year, when there is more than that- but how much more, no one knows for sure.
And as for guns promoting freedom…please don't get angry at what I say here…I don't know how we can know what the absolute truth is here either. I love JPFO, and their research, but I can't say if we didn't have guns that I would "know" we would turn into a police state with genocide around the bend. The founders had the political philosophy of arming everyman, and it is a very old one too. I believe in it very strongly, but who knows the future?
I'm tired of feeling a vague, stupid and unreasonable guilt when I hear about a handgun murder. I'm tired of a weird feeling of justification when I read about a knife murder. Maybe I've been worked over too much by the media.
But I love guns, and I'll never give mine up. I love shooting, the range, and the people. Guns are a real symbol of freedom for me. But I can't say I "know" the truth about guns- other than this- The second amendment insures us a right, and good people with guns help. But that's all I know. My views haven't changed, but I'm not going to claim I "know the truth."
Does anyone have any thoughts to share? A pep talk? Anything but an angry message?