KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
if I saw a guy with a gun on his hip I'd probably call the police too (and they'd probably shoot him here in OC CA). You want to walk around with a gun on your hip, join the police force. It's not needed.
Nowhere did I mention open carry.
My argument was in favor of responsible ownership, and pointing out the insanity of banning specific weapons as "evil".
Where I live, if you see someone with a large caliber rifle, the first assumption is they're going hunting or shooting.
Police here don't "shoot first, ask questions later"
KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
I get that sometimes it makes you feel safer - I really do understand that.
It's not so much about safety here.
We just don't really have home invasions or home robberies here.
I'm 6'2", 200 lbs - I'm more likely to
not use a firearm.
My wife is 5'2", 110 lbs - she is the one that is likely to use a firearm if threatened.
KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
People here get shot by the police for holding hairbrushes, hoses, knife handles, elderly grandparents, etc.
Then your police are grossly overreacting, if they're shooting innocent people.
Yesterday, I took a rifle into the local sporting goods store.
Verified it was unloaded at the front desk, carried it back to the gun section to see how much I could sell it for.
Nobody in the store called the police, nobody thought I was there to rob the place, and the only comments I got were
'nice rifle. what is it?' type questions.
Again, that shows the difference in perceptions between here and there.
A firearm is a tool, a piece of equipment.
A machine gun in the hands of responsible owner is harmless, a .22 pistol in the hands of a felon is a threat.
The person wielding it is the key difference.
KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
All people who make generalizations should be castrated.
What about people that misread what others have written, and go off on their own rant, having no relation to what they're responding to?
KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
And LOL if you think California is pro-prisoner.
Very pro-prisoner rights, pro-parole
KEN-JENNINGS wrote:
And double LOL if you think there's any significant correlation between individual gun owners and overall violent crime rates. That's very low on the totem pole of causality.
That was exactly the point I implied
Again, sane, responsible people aren't going to shoot (or threaten) other people, regardless of which firearm they're holding - .22 pistol or .50 BMG machine gun.