(Untitled)

[sherwood21]

I know that this is long, but I made it public and deliberately did not put it behind a cut because it was important to me to say.

I read an article awhile back by Neil Gaiman called Why Defend Freedom of Icky Speech. It struck quite a chord with me, because a point he made applies to how I feel about quite a lot of civil liberties.

"If you

Comments

[rowangolightly]

I agree with you and would never even think those things of you. I am not a gun owner nor would I ever be just 'cause that's who I am; no judgment whatsoever against you for being one. I know many fine human beings who own guns; ALL of them are extremely responsible, well trained and safety-minded.

That being said, I see no earthly reason for anyone, as a private citizen, to have any sort of assault gun. It can't be used for hunting anything but people and I simply can't imagine a sane reason for having one. I think that gun training and registration should be at least as hard to achieve as vehicle registration and ownership. I think it should be harder for someone to get massive amounts of ammo as that guy did without it triggering some sort of warning somewhere.

[sherwood21]

'Assault' rifle is, in my opinion, a media term. The closest definition I can give is an assault rifle is a gun that was originally meant for a military or paramilitary use, modified for civilian use, as opposed to a gun that was originally designed as a hunting gun. There are semi-automatic hunting rifles. The problem is not means, it is intent.

[rowangolightly]

That is no doubt true. And I'll also admit that I know very little about guns other than basic safety stuff.

Important thing to me is that I don't intend for this issue to come between me and any of my beloved friends, like you.

[sherwood21]

The basic safety stuff is the most important to know. :) Love you too, dear.

[clevermanka]

This is fantastic and perfect and everything I've been thinking lately, too. I'll be posting a link to this in my Tuesday post. Thank you.

[sherwood21]

Thanks.

[silverfae]

Me too, please and thank you?

[sherwood21]

If this is useful to you, please take any part or all of it that you like. I almost never make public posts, but this one was important enough to me to share.

[ceanncait]

My issues are more with the culture of violence in this country than with guns. Guns are tools, sometimes used by unstable or criminal people to perpetuate that culture. When people focus on guns as the problem, they miss the larger issue. And yes, I **completely** agree that the level of rhetoric has gotten way out of control. When people who purport to be friends are biting one another's heads off rather than engaging in reasoned debate, there's a huge problem.

[sherwood21]

When people focus on guns as the problem, they miss the larger issue.

YES. THIS. The means may be terrible, but it is the intent that drives it. What we need to be fixing as a society is the intent, and taking care of our fellow human beings.

[5rings]

Brilliantly stated. As far as "assault rifles" go, I have a definition. They are intentionally lower powered rifles (although usually carrying more ammunition) than either a "battle rifle" or a hunting rifle. They are lower powered so that they meet a battlefield doctrine that says that an injured soldier will reduce a units combat effectiveness more than a dead soldier will.

Mr. Holmes used an assault rifle, a shotgun (potentially the most deadly individual firearm ever devised, but one that everyone considers a sporting arm) and handguns. Had he used a hunting rifle, and reloaded to the maximum rate of fire of the arm, many many many more people would be dead. Odd, but true.

I wonder how many he would have killed had he succeeded in becoming a health care professional... without us ever finding out about it.

[sherwood21]

That's a good definition of assault rifle too. I'll remember that, thanks.

People get stuck on the term assault rifle, but really, a gun is a gun is a gun. A .22 can kill someone just as dead as an AR-15 or a 30.06. The issue is not the TYPE of gun, but what's done with it.

[sherwood21]

Thank you. Yes, I agree that the fact that he had a gun is a secondary issue, and the primary problem here was his intent to injure and kill a large number of people. The fact that he had explosive traps set in his apartment demonstrates very clearly to me that his intent was death and harm, no matter what means he was able to employ.

[silverfae]

His intent was also to come out of this alive, and if his dating profile tagline is to be examined, with full intent of spending the rest of his life in prison. This is the act of a desperate, hopeless person with a plan, as insane as it may be to the rational among us.

This was not the more common "suicide by cop/bomb" nutcase, and he was intelligent enough to know that his entire motive would be investigated, perhaps his intent was to destroy that evidence as well. We may never know the truth, and we have to live with that.