I was posting hurriedly earlier, so I didn' t get to touch on some of the finer points of your post. It' s good to have someone level-headed to debate this with, by the by.
To be honest, I' ve never even seen a real gun let alone fired one.
See, that' s just such an alien concept to me, although to be fair, I' ve held far more firearms than a lot of Americans, and certainly am better educated about firearms than most Americans my age. The world media makes it out that every American owns a gun, and Hollywood makes it out that the only people who have a gun are cops, the military, and civilians who have obtained them illegally.
On top of that, if you' re thinking of mugging someone in my area, since noone has a gun, you' d probably only need a stick! Therefore gun crime reduced instantly... stick crime is a diffferent issue however.
I suppose there is that mentality, but if someone' s working above the law to do harm to innocent citizens, what' s to stop them from going the extra mile for a bit of additional distance between them and their target? Someone who' s already breaking the law isn' t going to worry about a gun charge on top of it.
I dont care about numbers Eddie, it' s just sad to have to carry a gun to protect yourself at home.
Like I said before, it' s sad when carrying a gun is useful, but whether you care about the numbers or not, they do matter. Those aren' t just numbers, those are individuals, all of whom wish they hadn' t been jumped, held up or assaulted, and wish they had the means to prevent it. To allow anything but that is crippling the common man, and enabling criminals.
I' m not saying every citizen needs a gun in their closet. That would only lead to more violence, but every law-abiding citizen, in good mental health should have the opportunity to protect their home, person and possessions as they please, within reason.
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Now, after all that I feel like expanding this thread. Feel free to post the most out-there, or fun (in the case of those who have the ability to fire) firearms (sidearms, not weapon systems) you' ve ever seen, held, fired, heard of, or have had to disavow knowledge of. Keep it to one or two guns a post, and be sure to explain why they' re your favorite, and/or why they' re as odd as they are.
Up there on the list of favorites is the Braverman Arms " Stinger" .22 Pen-Gun. I saw this in a shop a couple years ago, and had to take a look at it. It looks rather cumbersome in photographs, and doesn' t actually function as a pen of course, but I was amazingly surprised at how lightweight and discreet it is. You' d never notice it wasn' t a pen unless you examined it. I don' t believe they produce them any more, and were only a short-run product, which is a real bummer, seeing as they' re the only civilian-legal pen-gun on the market right now (see the pictures, it' s the only one that folds into gun shape for firing)