Cold dead hands (or a lawyer), was Bowling for Columbine

[naamagatus]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Saitaina" <saitaina at w...> 
wrote:
> >
> > ,,,edited,,,
> > 
> > Guns aren't safe, no matter how well you train and treat them with
> respect.
> > 

> 
> You are absolutely right; GUNS AREN'T SAFE.
> 
> And neither are cars, trucks, airplanes, bathtubs, showers, streets,
> highways, gravel roads, farm machinery, kitchen knives, baseball 
bats,
> lakes, rivers, swimming pools, bicycles, skateboards, Big Macs, 
french
> fries, premium ice cream, football, baseball, basketball, soccer,
> hockey, stairways, ... shall I go on? People die and/or are injured 
as
> a result of everything on this list and more.
> 

True, of course. The difference is, that all these other things have 
functions that are positive in our lives. Guns don't. As Amanda so 
succinctly said, their only function is to kill things. So, while 
banning cars, for instance, would have a very negative impact on most 
people's lives, exactly what kind of negative impact would banning 
guns have? (I don't include hunting rifles here.) 


> Yes, guns aren't safe, that's the whole point. That's why you learn 
to
> handle them properly, and more importantly that's why you rigorously
> and religiously maintain proper safery procedures. Sadly, most gun
> accidents are not caused by faulty guns, but by faulty operators 
(more like operator error).
> 
> That's also why you learn to drive a car properly, yet we still have
> car accident. In car accidents, a far greater number of accidents 
are the fault of the vehicle; malfunctioning car. Although, it's the
> drives ultimate responsibility to make sure the car is properly
> maintained. Even then though, many vehicle error/faulty equipment
> accidents are caused by faulty design. That is, the fault of the
> manufacturer rather than the driver. 
> 

And you don't think that *people* may come with faulty design hard-
wired in them? Such as tendencies to forgetfulness, to lack of 
attention, to the contempt bred by familiarity? I can tell you that 
in Israel gun accidents happen all the time in the army. And believe 
me, I served in the army, that safety precautions are *hammered* into 
you. Aim a gun - unloaded!- at a friend, and you're liable to go to 
prison. You do not - ever! - go about with a loaded gun. After the 
gun was loaded and unloaded, you - always! - take a trial shot, 
aiming the gun away, at a 45 degrees angle, to make sure a bullet 
hasn't remained inside. And still soldiers and security personnel 
keep shooting each other accidentally. Just a few days ago, a soldier 
accidentally shot his *father* dead. He was a fighter in a high class 
combat unit. He would have a hundred times more experience with guns 
(in addition to actually having seen people hurt by them) than 90% of 
American gun owners. And he shot his father by mistake. At the 
funeral, he was too shocked to say the kaddish, the prayer the son 
traditionally says over his father's grave. 

I have to say, that as seen from the outside, the most absurd thing 
about American gun culture, is that most of the guns people have are 
completely unnecessary. Most people interviewed on the film said that 
they needed and wanted guns for protection (so did Charlton Heston, 
by the way). But that means that the only reason why most people own 
guns is because they know that a lot of other people have guns. So 
they have to "protect their families." Nice, isn't it? An arms race  
between each and every citizen. 
I think that was the point of Moore's film, to show the fear that 
people in America have of each other, and the danger of a limitless 
access to guns in such a state of mass paranoia.


Naama