Firearms. Yea or Nay?

[Lady's Human]

If it's a semi-auto that looks like an AK, please call it what it is.
There are far, far too many people with no understanding of US gun laws who will grab statements like that and say "SEE!!!! Anyone can buy an AK-47"......

With no understanding of what it is.

There's enough misrepresentation of firearms in the media, no need to add to it.
To those who mightbe reading this thread and don't know, ACTUAL AK-47's are relatively rare, and you need a damned expensive license to buy one.

[jennielynn1970]

I don't really understand the need for the AK47s and other guns like them being needed in the average home. Blue's picture kinda freaked me out. Wouldn't want to live next door to that arsenal.

I can understand a handgun for protection if that's what you want it for, but why all the other big guns?? I'm not saying like a rifle you shoot a deer with, but the assault rifles. Assault Rifle. Kinda gives the impression of exactly what it is.

There are just way too many guns on the streets, and way too many easy ways for them to get into the hands of people who want to use them against other people.

I remember watching "Bowling for Columbine" and it was one of those mid western states or somewhere out there, where if you opened up a bank account with a certain amount of money, you got a free gun of your choice. I about fell over viewing that. What the heck kind of institution has that kind of "free gift when opening an account"?

I want to see less guns on the streets (we have way too many here in Allentown), stricter gun laws, and tougher repercussions for those who are found with them and don't have any license to carry them. There need to be more restrictions with the licenses and what guns are allowed to be carried as protection as well. AK47s, and guns like that, are not in that category, in my opinion.


Turkey bacon qualifies in my book as bacon. It tastes just as good.

[beeniesmom]

Thanks jenn-librarian. I agree with you.
Glad someone else shares my opinion.

With the exception of the bacon part... :P

[RICHARD]

LH,

Thanks!

The 'Automat Kallishikov' is the daddy to the AKS and the later 74 models.

The russians designated their rifles (and tanks) with the year they were introduced/produced.

The whole AK 'aura' is carried on by stupid rappers who, are smarter than we give them credit for, they know which is the dangerous end.

Now AKs are made on some 10 countries and have different designations according to where they are manufactured.

I was watching a program on assault rifles and the speaker said that in some third world countries an AK style rifle can be made of parts from different plant/countries-that is how tight the tolerances and universal the model is.

The Kalishnikov story is very interesting - in arms history.

Did you know that there is a likeness of an AK on one African country's flag?

[DJFyrewolf36]

Thanks from me too LH for pointing that out. I know people in Nevada who have actual AKs and aren't letting them go because they got them before the era of licences and the like.

Kind of scary knowing the people who DO have them lol.

I find target shooting fun myself. My dad has quite a collection and he uses them for sport target shooting, not home defense. He has a 45 revolver with a scope (yes, a scope) that has been used to hunt large game that he would never fire during a home invasion. The risk of hitting some innocent bystander is too great with a weapon that size. He has the firearm for its collectors appeal and for the fun of shooting it (and probibly the fun of knowing people can hear the darn thing for miles lol)

Shooting doesn't have to mean killing something, even though thats what most people sadly believe.

[smokey the elder]

The biggest problem with firearms is their misuse, but as I've said before, almost anything can be misused to harm someone. I personally have shot a rifle a few times, at a range. I thought it was loud and smelly (and I was a TERRIBLE shot!) But, I think, at least in the USA, it would be very difficult to achieve the low level of guns on the street that seems to exist in the UK and other places. Seems that the rules on the books put both cops and law abiding citizens at a disadvantage. Just my 2 cents!

[Puckstop31]

Dan my boy!!! Whats happen-in? LOL

You and your AK's.... I just never got into AKs. Probably because the only AKs I ever fired were ones we captured from bad guys and those were very poorly maintained. However, they WERE very poorly maintained, yet continued to function. If I treated my M-4 like that, it would go 'click' and not bang. Very bad when you need it most.

Uzi.. Fired one a few times. Both semi and auto. Meh. It was accurate, for a sub gun. Great for CQB, but would not be worth much on the battlefield. but also remember, I was/am a tanker. Anything smaller than .50cal is just a toy.


My $.02 on 'gun control'. Gun control solves nothing. CRIMINAL control solves most things.

Glad to see ya here Dan. I give ya 2-3 weeks till you get a spankin from the mods.

[RICHARD]

Does anyone remember the North Hollywood Shootout at the Bank Of America?

I drove by there the day afer the shooting and you would not believe the mess from the stray shots.

One pretty "impressive" sight was a light standard/pole- The poured concrete type with the steel rebar running thru it- that had been hit with a bullet.
.
The chunk missing was about the size of my fist-I wear a Large-XL glove- and the steel shell around a payphone had a nice hole thru it.

Amazing that not more people were hurt.

Guns are tools and are a part of life.

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Jenn,

The Bowling for Columbine movie was horse shiat. The customer was given a certificate for a gun, not actually handed one on the property.

If you walked down the street in your neighborhood you probably live closer to an aresenal than you think. I have some guns in my house and access to more that belonged to my dad. I don't think about them and don't pull them out for any purpose except to shoot them and it's been years since that happened.

I love the look of guns and probably would collect them just to have them. I would love a Belgian FN FAL, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I do have a BIL who was a cop, mind you, and I would never trust him with any type of gun. That dude also collect 'German' war memorabilia. Creepy when he pulls out the "Hitler Youth Knife" to show you.

It's not the gun, It's the moron on the trigger.

Also, I don't know how the laws have changed since, but you could by a semi auto rifle, purchase a "trigger kit" from another source and with a few tools and knowledge of guns turn it into a machine gun. THe same thing with a .50 caliber Barrett rifle. You could buy the parts to it and either put it together yourself or have a gunsmith hook you up.

There are ways around any gun laws and it's all a matter of who owns them.

[Twisterdog]

It's not the gun, It's the moron on the trigger.

Absolutely.

I grew up in a house full of guns. My dad was an avid marksman, collector and hunter. They were a part of life, and we never gave them a second thought. They were tools, to be used by adults. We would have no more thought of playing with one of dad's guns than we would have thought of playing with the lawnmower, the car or the oven. If we wanted to shoot a gun, he took us out in the desert and taught us to do it safely and properly.

If I decide I want to kill you, I can certainly do it with a gun. I can also do it with a kitchen knife, a car, a pillow, a hammer, a rock or my bare hands. The tool is not the killer, the person using the tool is the killer. How many people are killed each year in this country by motor vehicles vs. firearms? Hmmm ...

We have a vast collection of guns. Of course, they are locked up in a gun safe. My father passed away in February, and we divided his collection. He had everything from a little chrome .32, to an antique Colt .45 that was his great uncle's when he was the sheriff of Lubbock Texas, to foreign assault rifles, black powder, cap and ball, shotguns ... you name it. We haven't even had time to sort through it all yet.

[jennielynn1970]

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Jenn,

The Bowling for Columbine movie was horse shiat. The customer was given a certificate for a gun, not actually handed one on the property.

If you walked down the street in your neighborhood you probably live closer to an aresenal than you think. I have some guns in my house and access to more that belonged to my dad. I don't think about them and don't pull them out for any purpose except to shoot them and it's been years since that happened.



There are ways around any gun laws and it's all a matter of who owns them.

Gotta disagree with the movie being "shiat". I thought it was very well done. I've actually liked most of his movies. I know, I know... you either love Michael Moore, or you hate him. I happen to love him.

I know there are a lot more guns in my neighborhood than I'd like to even think about. I belong to the neighborhood association, and I get the emails about the "problem" houses and such in the area. Way too many for my peace of mind. Mostly they are transient families who won't be there next year, but then again, who will move in after them. It's those types of landlords that just rent to anyone to get their rent money. They don't give a crap.


It's gotta come down to laws and who is allowed to own a gun, types of gun depending on where you live and what you'd actually need it for, and how many.

I think there needs to be stricter controls on it all. I also think that we need to stop pandering to the criminals and actually lock them up. Stop serving them gourmet cuisine, and funding their college degrees. That pisses me off like crazy. They're criminals and should be treated as such, not like they're Paris Hilton in jail. When did the people running the jails forget that these are people who committed some pretty hideous crimes.

I'm all for "rehabilitation", but not to this extent.

[jennielynn1970]

Thanks jenn-librarian. I agree with you.
Glad someone else shares my opinion.

With the exception of the bacon part... :P

Well, nothing beats REAL bacon, lol, but I can handle turkey bacon if I must. I did date an Egyptian who freaked out about pork products in the house.

It wasn't till I wanted him to get lost that I would actually come home and say "YUMMMMM.... I had the BIGGEST, most AWESOME, BLT HOAGIE at WaWa today, with EXTRA BACON!" and breathe on him for effect. He'd get so pissed off with me, he'd refuse to touch me. (DUH! That was the desired goal, lol!)

I may love someone, no matter what their religion, but I've come to the conclusion that I will never give up BACON for anyone!!

[RICHARD]

Gotta disagree with the movie being "shiat". I thought it was very well done. I've actually liked most of his movies. I know, I know... you either love Michael Moore, or you hate him. I happen to love him.

I know there are a lot more guns in my neighborhood than I'd like to even think about.

Gothca.

This is no BS- Here in the San Fernando Valley On New Year's Eve people would GO NUTS shooting off guns. We used to have a patio with that corrugated plastic stuff for a roof and you could hear the buckshot from the shot guns hitting the roof.

Police on patrol would all go to the underpasses of the freeways to hide out and to keep from getting the residual "lead rain" from dropping on their head.

In the last 6 years the shooting has disapperered to literally zilch! Now there are laws, a great PSA campaign and more people are calling into the 911 system to report AHs shooting into the air!

Laws really do work. There were literally hundreds of people shooting and this is about 8 blocks from the police station.

I am not going to say that it sounded like a war zone-I hate that stupid expression that and the fact I have never been in a war- But there were people with some REALLY HEAVY DUTY artillery in the area!

[carole]

I can only speak from my point of view in my own country, you cannot have guns here, even our police are not armed, they have tazers.etc and you can have licenced guns for hunting etc, but that is it, i would NOT like to see everyone able to own a gun,i hope it never comes to my country, although i am beginning to think the police need to be armed, as crime escalates and gets worse.

We have managed all these years without them, i think we can continue to, here's hoping.

[Lady's Human]

I don't really understand the need for the AK47s and other guns like them being needed in the average home. Blue's picture kinda freaked me out. Wouldn't want to live next door to that arsenal.

That picture is all about looks. Looks mean nothing when it comes to weapons. I've owned firearms which could do far more damage than anything in that picture, and they just looked like normal hunting rifles.......which is exactly what they were.

From a Hollywood standpoint, Moore's Movies are very well done, but they are exactly that. Movies. They aren't documentaries, that term would imply there was an attempt at truth behind them.

[blue]

Dan my boy!!! Whats happen-in? LOL

You and your AK's.... I just never got into AKs. Probably because the only AKs I ever fired were ones we captured from bad guys and those were very poorly maintained. However, they WERE very poorly maintained, yet continued to function. If I treated my M-4 like that, it would go 'click' and not bang. Very bad when you need it most.

Exact reason went the AK rout rather then ARs. I trained on the M16A2 at MCRD San Diego, way to picky a rifle. Im sure the M4 and CARs are just as picky. If Stoner put out the Stoner47 I would probably buy one, I have plenty of magazines. I got lucky with my Romanian SARs, all have good straight sights and a good build on USA recievers. Reliability is also the reason my first handgun was a Glock, the S&W .40 is allmost a clone of my Glock my other handgun.

Uzi.. Fired one a few times. Both semi and auto. Meh. It was accurate, for a sub gun. Great for CQB, but would not be worth much on the battlefield. but also remember, I was/am a tanker. Anything smaller than .50cal is just a toy.

A .50 BMG Barret is on my short list.

My $.02 on 'gun control'. Gun control solves nothing. CRIMINAL control solves most things.

Glad to see ya here Dan. I give ya 2-3 weeks till you get a spankin from the mods.

Now They are gonna be watchin me.