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The Gun Appreciation Thread

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ByMySword

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An excellent treatment of the issues.

If I might add... I think locus of control theory has a lot to do with it.

Locus of control theory is basically the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them.

I would think those that have a strong internal locus would be for firearm ownership, while those with an external locus would be against it.

That sounds really interesting. I've never read on this, but I think I'd like to learn more about it.

Its awesome that you mention Edward O. Wilson because he's the only person, besides Fromm, who I know who uses the biophilious thesis, although I dont know if its the same way as Fromm and I know that the reverence for life theory amounts to something the same.

I dont think that gun ownership is necessarily necrophilious at all, just that it could be, commodity fetishising goes way beyond guns and you could be necrophilious in your love of cars or property more than people but guns are a special case because it seems like for some the new american dream is spree killing, finally putting a gun to its intended use and enjoying it and damn the victims.

I've never read Fromm, but I enjoyed Wilson's work.

I think I get what you're saying about some people connecting the new American dream with spree killing, but I have no background knowledge to come to such a conclusion.


Perhaps both of you would like to elaborate more on the particulars of these theories?
 
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jryn1993

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As someone who has lived in areas of the US on both ends of the gun culture spectrum (by US standards), I could not be more convinced that what we need is more guns, not less. That being said I acknowledge that there are many people who are very ignorant about firearm safety as well as those who want firearms to harm others. The solution to the first is education, which can then lead to the solution to the second, which is arming as many citizens as possible.
When I lived in the Pacific Northwest, where things are admittedly a little more... colorful, gun owners were in the majority and while violent crime still happened, it was well below the national average. That being said my homeland also has a way of attracting people who are out of their minds, which led to a comparatively high number of mass shooting attempts. The thing is that these attempts were stopped by either armed citizens or local law enforcement.
However, when I lived in Western New York, where gun laws are not as restrictive as NYC but still much more restrictive than most of the nation, homicide was literally a daily occurrence. Not as many blatantly insane criminals, but far more mundane ones that you had to worry about in daily life. Additionally far fewer cops were part of the gun culture and they were generally not very aggressive in combating crime.
Now obviously there are other factors such as local economics, but it's just common sense that (comparatively) sane criminals will be a lot more aggressive if most of the population isn't armed than if more are armed than not. And those that are mentally ill will pretty much do what they damn well feel like, so the rest of us may as well be prepared to deal with that.
 
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ByMySword

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^^^^Thank you for noting your experiences.

There's actually a book that's on my wish list by John R. Lott, Jr entitled More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws.

I haven't read it, but its supposed to be revolutionary in its conclusions. Apparently he uses a plethora of evidence and statistics. Not a popular book. An academic one. I believe he's a sociologist, which is interesting since the field often leans to the left politically speaking.
 

Ivy

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BuyMySwordPlease- You're back! That makes me happy.
 
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ByMySword

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^^^ Ivy, my swords are not for sale!!! :( But glad to be back. :)

sprinkles, that is an interesting video. To me, what I got from it was less about guns and more about what criminologists call the "code of the streets", which I think is ignored when attempting to assess why criminals do what they do.

Last night I read what was probably one of the most foundational articles I've ever read in my life on firearm legislation. It touched on some subjects that I knew about or even thought I knew about and expanded on them in great detail.

The very fact that its written by a Liberal gun owner makes it all the more interesting. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in issue of banning assault weapons, please take the time to read this.

http://kontradictions.wordpress.com...ew-the-assault-weapons-ban-well-ill-tell-you/
 
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