A coworker of mine came back from Iraq he was there for a year at the start of the war,every group had at least 3 30 caliber weapons
You need to reflect some more because you are simply wrong. Guns do far more than kill and the overwhelming majority of privately owned guns (roughly 99.8%) will never be used to kill anyone. They do however (as you would know if you read through this thread) stop over 1.4 millions crimes each year. I think it is a safe bet that the people who were saved in those instances would not share your beliefs. Maybe that is part of the reason why the Church is NOT anti-gun. They know that those privately owned guns are preventing many times more innocent people from being “killed before they had the chance to be baptized or know Christ” than they are killing.
Before you start bearing false witness as to what you THINK the church SHOULD be, please read what is posted on the Vatican’s own website and see what the church’s postion on this matter acutally is …
The Church is talking about a serious need to defend ones family. With some exceptions, most of the people around me who have guns, have no need of them. They don’t even hunt, much less need to protect themselves. In my town of 3,000, even the kids have guns. It is common for them to be carried around in their cars. The last crime committed around here was three weeks ago when some high schoolers put a rooster in the front seat of the car of a friend and his mother called the cops. What serious threat are these people trying to defend themselves from?
So I should only buy a gun just before the moment I need to defend my family?
Could it be that the knowledge that all the houses have guns is keeping potential criminals from acting?
So, then, your contention is that people ought not own things they don’t need? If so, that would be an awfully novel concept for Catholic moral theology.
Just to point out the logical fallacy here - you are trying to compare mere possession of an inanimate object with actually taking a human life unjustifiably (in general).
First, did you grow up in this town or have you move there later in life from an urban area? I’m wondering how you know that most of the gunowners around you don’t hunt, as something isn’t adding up/ Nearly 10 years after I moved here, I am still occasionally surprising people I’ve konw the entire time when they find out I hunt.
Based on the rooster incident, it sounds like a rural town. If even the kids are carrying guns around in thier cars, I’m betting there is a lot of hunting going on before and after school.
In strategic terms, an appearance of strength is the best way to preserve the peace. Barring insanity, a predator will only attack when sure of having the advantage, and this applies to humans just as much as it applies to animals. In your town, the level of defense is high enough that no one in thier right mind would try to commit a violent crime out because (with firearms being teh equalizer they are) they couldn’t be sure of having the upper hand, especially if its common for kids to have guns and they knew it would only take a 12 y.o. girl with a 410 (small shotgun) could take them out of comission. The threat is being defended almost total submission, so long as the defense is maintained.
Unfortunately, most of us can not see into the future and know if or when such a need might arise. A person might live in a community with a 30% crime rate and never have a need to defend themselves from attack while another person might live in a community with a 1% crime rate and he might be that one percent. The reality of the matter is that the need to defend oneself will happen at a time and place not of our own choosing and the prudent thing to do is be prepared before hand. When someone has kicked in your door is is advancing toward you with a switch blade, it’s a little late to consider the need for gun ownership.
What’s wrong with target shooting for fun?
If you harm a police officer in this country, they go bezerk, seriously, sirens everywhere, dogs ariving, armoured vans and helicopters, trying to kill a police officer here, may not physically harm you, but they would throw the book at you, and you would not escape.
The same is pretty much true here.
Once again, someone posts something that supposedly proves that guns are unnecessary, yet in the same breath this only proves that gun-control would also be unnecessary. Sounds to me like a city full of well-educated, responsible gun owners. I see no reason to infringe their right, do you?
Your town seems to be just more proof of the statistics that show that places with more guns have less crime. Every time gun bans are enacted in such an area crime rates skyrocket. Is that what you want to happen? And besides, this is America. What we are allowed to own is not limited to what someone else feels we do or do not “need”.
No, however I do feel that it may very well act as a good incentive for one not to bother attacking the law.
Sort of like knowing that your victim might be armed then, a big disincentive
The only statistic I have is for 2002. 68 officers killed by felonious action, 78 killed in other circumstances (either via an accident or while performing a rescue)
A dog is only useful against a person whom has a fear of dogs.
JohnNot to doubt your word, but have you ever been attacked by a police dog. Also, whilst it may sound impressive, all the things that you can overcome, killing dogs and more officers is only going to mount up what they are going to prosecute you for, you would be looking at life - life. Besides, you would have to sleep. You are also bound to run out of ammuintion at some stage, it would only be a waiting game for the police.
You have an unrealistic belief in your police force don’t you? The cops lose people over here all the time. This is a big country Libero. Eric Rudolph successfully evaded the FBI for 5 years…even though they knew his general location. A person can disappear into the wilderness and survive for years without ever contacting another human. Rudolph didn’t even try to escape the country, I imagine they never would have found him if he had run off to Canada or Mexico…
Not everyone, but the most recent case here was of the death of Sharon Beshenivsky, who was shot dead, police had arrested the people who killed her within four days.
Yes I have been involved with police dog training,they work strictly on a persons fear.and any dog handler you ask will tell you the same thing,