Protecting your guns with your guns

2012_09_gunbust2

When I see a story about folks who’ve gotten busted for having an arsenal and because, as my husband puts it, “they have toys in the attic,” they consistently appear to live in squalor.

Case O' Guns

They have guns, lots of them. If they didn’t spend all their money on guns, they might be able afford a decent place to live, maybe some comfortable furniture and food in the fridge.

lotsa guns

These are the people who are passionate about their right to protect their stuff. But the only thing they have that’s worth protecting are guns. They need the guns to protect themselves from people who might want to steal … what? Guns.

They have guns to protect their guns because everything else they have is trash.

I was pleased to see in L.A., the “guns for groceries program is going well. It is always nice when there’s a small outbreak of rationality. Or maybe it’s just a sign of a difficult economy and the realization that “eating lead” is not all that yummy. And there are so few good recipes for bullets.

I know there are plenty of people who hunt, own guns to a purpose, compete in gun-related sporting activities and don’t spend the equivalent of the food and electric bill on yet another gun. I’m talking about that special breed, the arsenal folks, the “you can’t have too many weapons at any cost” crowd who are as likely to turn up in the middle of an eastern city as the south, west or anywhere else. The nuts are everywhere and there are far too many of them for my comfort. Some of them even appear normal, which worries me more than those who are blatantly batty. If they look and act just like any regular person, I can’t even avoid them.



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7 replies

  1. Here in the Southeast it’s different. There is a gun mentality that is deeply entrenched. Even those with liberal stances on other topics believe guns are a God-given right. There are also many who truly believe that they must be armed to defend themselves when the country invariably descends into chaos and lawlessness. I used to work with a guy like that. Highly educated. Yet he stockpiles ammunition, and has so much he admitted he had to reinforce the floor in his storage area.

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    • Past a certain point, “toys in the attic” applies regardless of education, regional affiliation or anything else. If you think you need a personal arsenal to protect against Armegeddon, you aren’t quite right. I have worked and known such people and they are often likeable personally, but something is wrong with them. Because frankly, if the world goes completely to Hell and law is gone, protection is gone, there is no way any private person could own enough weaponry to protect themselves for very long … not against the whole world. Sorry, but south or north, that’s simply wacky. I understand hunters, personal protection, even collecting … but I don’t think anyone needs or should have an arsenal. Not anyone.

      If our nation disintegrates to the point of lawlessness, it won’t be the people without guns who bring it on. It will be the same people who are arming themselves against the event. And they themselves will precipitate it.

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  2. I don’t own a gun, but to be fair to the world’s gun owners (not just American gun owners), I think the media are deliberately trying to manipulate public opinion by ONLY showing those gun owners who DO live in squalor.

    I loathe the media, with every fibre of my being, for their blatant dishonesty and manipulation of the public for their own ulterior motives. My revenge on the media was to stop supporting and paying for it 3 years ago no tv, no radios, no newspapers or magazines – because this is the result of paying them any attention: bias against the many, on account of the few.

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    • I know plenty of non-psycho gun owners and they are not the people I’m talking about. Hunters don’t built arensals of automatic weapons. The ones I’ve met wouldn’t use an automatic weapon and for the most part, don’t approve of them. Some people work in dangerous jobs where personal protection is a legitimate concern. Even off-duty police carry weapons and if I were one, so would I.

      The “arsenalists” are a special breed. They truly do have toys in the attic. They are convinced that someone, everyone is out to get them. If they have managed to accumulate a sufficiently large number of guns, that might well be true. The guns themselves become the target. When all you have to protect are guns, the people likely to come after you are people who want your guns and that’s an ugly picture.

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    • Don’t be so quick to shoot the messengers. My husband was a reporter for more than 40 years and a more honest man you will never meet. The suits — owners, managers, advertisers — set the bar. Yes, you can choose not to work for these people, but there aren’t very many choices of where to work. I know for a fact that most media people strive to present the news fairly and honestly. They are not always able to do so for a variety of reasons, usually having to do with owners and other suits, but it isn’t because they are stupid or dishonest. Nor do they have any ulterior motives other than wanting to earn a living, not get fired, and do the best job they can within set limits. They stand in front of a camera rather than on an assembly line, but they are workers, not owners. They are not in charge. They do not have the privilege of doing stories the way they want to do them, presenting them they way they feel is best. Thus it has always been. Would you prefer not having media? Because without a free press, no matter how imperfect, you will not have even a semblance of democracy. Nosy reporters are your first line of defence and without them, there is no one to keep the real power brokers even remotely honest.

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    • Dear Heathen Heart; Check your email. I wrote and am hoping very much to hear from you.

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