Kind of confused how to set up a poll . Anyone more adept, feel free to reformat this one.

Question:
Do you have a gun, guns in your possession?

Choices:
Yes
No
If yes, how many?
If yes, what kinds (hoping the poll format will allow an open-ended answer)

 

Why?

quote:

Why?

Amanda's planning to start a ProPianoPosse, haven't you heard?

quote:

Originally posted by LL:
Why?

It seems like an intrinsically interesting question. (Why NOT??)

quote:

Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

quote:

Why?

Amanda's planning to start a ProPianoPosse, haven't you heard?

quote:
Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
quote:
Why?


Amanda's planning to start a ProPianoPosse, haven't you heard? [/QUOTE]





Heheheh

Wishing I could redo the poll so the answers included not only no and yes, but specific numbers (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4 and more).

Also (this is WAY beyond my capabilities ), same with types of guns - i.e., handguns, rifles, automatic/semi-automatic.

Anyone who is so inclined, feel free to redo the poll accordingly.

Just among friends/acquaintances IRL and online, I've been amazed at responses I've gotten (i.e., peaceable sorts - at least, so I thought - who have huge collections.)

Wondering too, how many gun owners have the recommended training on how to use and store them. Not long after the tragic Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, my synagogue had a congregational meeting about how we were going to handle the threat of violence there and a general talk about gun ownership.

The police lt. who spoke, stressed repeatedly how vital it was to get training in gun handling if one was going to purchase one or more. Seems it would make sense to require a certificate of training, as part of qualifying to buy a gun. G-d knows we have to have a drivers' license to drive legally!

I don’t own one, but if you’re forming a ProPianoPosse I’ll get one...

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
I don’t own one, but if you’re forming a ProPianoPosse I’ll get one...

I can't even safely use a cap gun!

Besides, I can't for the life of me, think how to practice self-defense on-line except for "les bons mots" as in the pen being mightier than the sword.

Reminds me of this:

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
I don’t own one, but if you’re forming a ProPianoPosse I’ll get one...

OK I'm going to answer seriously. I do not have guns, never had any interest, never wanted any, figured someone in our house was more likely to be killed by the gun than the likelihood of us ever needing it for defense (first we had small kids in the house, then a teenager who went through some serious mental health issues).

But recently, I've begun to toy with the idea. I'm sure I won't do it, but we do live in the boonies. We don't have local cops, only the state police, and there's usually only 2 patrol cars on duty at any given time, patrolling a huge area. I have neighbors who have called the police for various emergent sort of things (one was a fight between 2 random people outside their house where knives had been pulled) and were told both cops were busy with other emergencies and to call back if and when someone actually got stabbed.

So if we ever did have a home invasion type thing, it would probably be a long time before anyone came to rescue us. We don't have close neighbors who would hear us shouting or see anything amiss either. I'd be willing to bet we are the only people on our street that don't own guns.

Still, though, I can't imagine actually having one in my house - I have no desire to go to a gun shop and be around all the gun nuts that hang out there, and I really don't want to have to learn how to use it and worry about how to store it safely while still having it accessible enough to get to quickly if someone does break in in the middle of the night. So I guess I'll continue to take my chances with potential home invaders.

That said, occasionally we have had to ask neighbors to come and "take care of" some sick (rabid maybe?) wildlife in our yard. They've always been more than happy to oblige and from what I've seen, our neighbors are pretty well armed. Hopefully that is enough to deter any potential criminals, LOL!

I know many people who own guns who keep that fact very quiet. Guns are first or second among the top things people will steal (cash, drugs, and guns, in any order). And my state floated a law (to be honest, I don't remember if it passed) that would make it so if a gun were stolen and subsequently used in a crime, the person from whom it was stolen could be held liable. This was to encourage gun owners to store their guns securely. But it also makes it even wiser not to publicize the fact you have guns because if yours are stolen, you are still liable for what is done with them.

I know many people who do not own guns who keep that fact very quiet. No one wants to appear to be a sitting duck.

So, Amanda, I am afraid you are not likely to get accurate data from your poll.

tl;dr: PJ has a gun.

Jon,

Lisa, I totally get what you're saying.

I am anti-gun, Mr. SK even more so. Try growing up in Japan where people just do not have guns...

But when I read about heavily armed crazy people, in particular white supremacists, but also far-left (I'm sure I'm not left enough for them) anyway, like you, Lisa, it makes me wonder about rethinking my stance.

I used to think that I would rather die from gun violence than own a gun and kill someone else in the act of saving myself....

I don't know if I think that anymore. I don't want to die before either my husband or my mother, if that makes sense... I like my life ... not that I didn't before... Actually, it may be that the prospect of dying from gun violence is much more real to me now, and perhaps my former ideas were only the result of an unconscious belief that I wouldn't actually die that way, so I could casually hold that belief (wanna talk about privilege...)

Anyway, there are enough evil people in the world, that I do think about it. But like Lisa, I can't see myself going out and learning how to shoot etc. and so it's not likely I'll ever own a gun.

Hopefully, if I run into trouble, PJ will save me

For me, it comes down to an (admittedly subjective and not perhaps particularly accurate) analysis of the possible results of owning or not owning a gun.

• I will/do own a gun for a legally and socially acceptable purpose such as hunting or target shooting.
  
• I will/do own a gun for the possible defense of my home and/or family against intrusion by an invader (included in this category is a man who I knew who anticipated the foreign invasion of the United States by a foreign power and was prepared to defend the nation to the best of his abilities).
  
• I will/do own a gun for the protection of myself or my neighborhood from persons intent on doing harm or property damage to me or my neighbors.
  
• I will not/do not own a gun because I consider the risk to my family from accident, suicide, or use on another household member to be greater than the threats a gun might mitigate.
  
• I will not/do not own a gun because I do not believe in confronting threats of violence or actual violence with further violence.
  

Please free to create any additional categories I may have missed, or comment on how I have parsed those existing.

Big Al