Update on my "guns cause trouble" experiment - Nothing yet...

[old mark]

but I'm still checking.

Nearly a year ago, I put a loaded Model 1917 Smith & Wesson .45 ACP caliber revolver in a drawer and proceeded to check on it from time to time to see what - if any -trouble or crime it caused.
So far, it has done NOTHING, but....it just looks sneaky, and I should probably keep a closer watch on it in the future, especially over the rest of the summer, on the theory that there is more crime in the hot weather.

But it is still just sitting there....so far.

mark

[sandnsea]

1. Is it a locked drawer?

Or can you see the drawer every second so that you can make sure the gun really is just sitting there?

Because guns stolen in neighborhoods with no crime risk are often the ones on the black market in neighborhoods where crime is rampant. That's part of the problem. Lock up your gun. It's not a joke.

[old mark]

5. Lock up your own gun and leave mine alone.

I have a gun safe, but also keep several guns unlocked ane accessable.


mark

[sandnsea]

7. And available to thieves

So don't tell me your gun is just sitting there with no potential to cause harm.

[SteveM]

24. Please. Mine is unlocked when I am home; locked up when I am not (nt)

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. funny...I am conducting the same experiment with different ...uh

parameters....yeah parameters

[NYC_SKP]

8. Oh, really?

And nobody's been hurt?

I'm thinking you're well trained in proper use!

[Dan]

3. are you serious?

just a question...

[old mark]

6. About what? That I have such a gun in a drawer? Certainly.

That I actually expect to "cause trouble"?

It is what is known as a "joke", and a means to rile up some of the anti gun idiots we have in abundance.

mark

[pinb1212]

4. So Far..........

[sharesunited]

9. Do you pray to it and sing hymns to it? Don't anger it with disrespect. n/t

[eqfan592]

10. sharesunited, you are a sad, frightened person...

...you can't deal with the risks that come along with civil liberties. You'd rather the government step in and make sure everything is 100% safe so that nobody could ever possibly get hurt. You only see one aspect of a particular object, and ignore all else than may surround it when that object is employed. And you demonize and degrade people who do not share your fear.

Anyway, great post OP. I got a honest LOL out of it.

[sharesunited]

11. I know a menace to society when I see it.

And I know cult theology when I hear it.

[eqfan592]

12. Ahhh yes....

...the words of a true believer. Read your own words if you want to see a "cult theology" at work.

The only menace to society is those members who would have us hand over our best means of personal defense in the face of the criminal elements of our society, all in the name of "safety" and "to protect the children" when this act will fail utterly to achieve either of those goals.

You only serve to distract from the real issues behind crime, such as poverty, education, urban decay, etc., etc. Yet in-spite of this, you obviously feel you are some sort of crusader with a "nobel" cause. "Cult theology" indeed.

[sharesunited]

13. I'm not the one worshipping the weapon.

Convenient kill power in the hands of persons whose soundness I am obliged to trust? Sheer madness.

I found the original post to be offensive in its unfunny attempt to diminish the significance of the primary problem, which is the prevalence of firearms and ammunition in American society and much too easy access to them.

[eqfan592]

14. "Worshipping"?

The only person "worshippging" anything is you, but in your case it's not a weapon but a cause. And the only "sheer madness" exposing itself around here is from you. Cars have a lot of "convenient kill power" as you put it, as do MANY other objects in our day to day lives. Many people are killed by people making use of these other objects every year, yet you zero in on this one particular one.

The primary problem is NOT the prevalence of firearms in American society. It never has been. This, as stated previously, is the distraction from the REAL problems in our society.

But of course, you're never going to listen to anything I say. I "worship" firearms, as you say. Honestly, the closest thing I come to worshiping anymore is not firearms, it's civil liberties, and I will stand up to ANYONE who goes after not just the 2a, but any one of our constitutionally protected rights. In the past it's meant standing up to Bush and Co. when they tried to use the constitution as toilet paper, all in the name of "safety". And you're little different from them in my book.

EDIT: I'd also like to apologize to the OP for taking this so far off topic it's not even funny.

[armyowalgreens]

16. I think the OP was meant to make fun of idiots who think guns are self-aware killing machines...

hmmmm... I wonder who these idiots are that he is referring to????

[friendly_iconoclast]

30. But you *do* credit guns with the power to make their owners rob and kill

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Guns emboldened the criminals to commit the crime and guns caused the deaths of the Billingses.

I'd venture to say you have not shared this rather, ah, singular insight into that particular crime with the local
police. As someone else pointed out in that thread, the eight violent home invaders could have been armed with paperweights
and still acheived the same result.

[AtheistCrusader]

32. There's plenty of kill power in the knife block in my kitchen.

To say nothing of the baseball bat in my son's room.
I daresay you could do something spectacular with the acetelene tanks in my garage...


Which 'convenient kill power' offends you the most and why?

[beevul]

48. Indeed...

"And I know cult theology when I hear it."


Indeed.

But not hen you spout it, aparently.

[SteveM]

25. Mine yowled like a disgruntled cat -- had to clean the chamber pots (nt)

[armyowalgreens]

15. Why do you love killing people? Guns are evil evil things.

[aikoaiko]

17. I have a gun I haven't checked on in a year.

I should check.

[jeepnstein]

18. I have some that haven't...

seen the light of day in many years. As far as I can tell they are inanimate objects. One of mine hasn't even been loaded in at least thirty years and it hasn't done anything but sit there.

[SteveM]

26. Yeah, I waited too long. There was a party going on in the safe. (nt)

[Tim01]

19. In my experiment I carry mine around people.

I put it in a little plastic holder and take it to places where there are lots of people.

I think I should be able to grab it if it makes any sudden moves.

But I am trying to see if it makes the surrounding people more evil just by it's presence.

[slackmaster]

20. I passed up an opportunity to buy one of those revolvers for $99 many years ago

I've regretted it ever since.

[rrneck]

21. Watch it there.

Guns are known to emit psychotic insanity rays that render anyone within a radius of fifty feet temporarily insane. Symptoms include feelings of invulnerability, delusions of grandeur, infantile digression, values inversion, and a tendency to dehumanize others.

The effect of these rays is significantly increased in the presence of illegal narcotics, poverty, intellectual deprivation, early life emotional or physical abuse, and institutional repression.

It is very difficult to detect these rays or determine their actual effect on anyone in their presence.

Better wrap that sucker in tinfoil just to be safe.

[eqfan592]

22. LOL!

This thread is awesome! You guys are seriously cracking me up!

[iverglas]

23. and nobody got the moral of this story!

A firearm has been left available to any intruder into the homestead. Right where any intruder with half a brain would look for it if they wandered in when nobody was home.

It has not been used against any intruder who wandered in when somebody was home.

So the moral is pretty obvious, isn't it?

Somebody could have spared himself the expense of buying the thing and taken the in-laws out for a nice meal with the money saved.

Meanwhile, there it languishes, waiting for its prince to come and take it off to the nearest liquor store for a little adventure ...

[TheWraith]

28. You remind me of the Bush administration.

Constantly paranoid that there are "evil doers" behind every shrub and lamp post, ready to do terrible harm to all and sundry, and the only way to save society is to totally control every imagined source of danger.

[iverglas]

31. and you remind me of my bum

Ponder that.


Constantly paranoid that there are "evil doers" behind every shrub and lamp post, ready to do terrible harm to all and sundry

The obvious description of someone who keeps a firearm in a bedside table.

If I'm so paranoid, I wonder why I don't???

[TheWraith]

35. Protecting one's self is a reasonable reaction to living in a high crime area.

It's how people go about their lives without living in terror. There's a big difference between taking practical measures and getting on with your business, versus imagining scenarios of potential threat around every corner.

[JonQ]

36. Do you make all your purchases based around the notion

that at some point anything you buy will be stolen?

I trust you have no prescription drugs in your house, or knives, or blunt instruments, or anything that could potentially be stolen and used illegally.

And on a side note, are you saying most guns used in crimes were obtained illegally? I thought the meme was they just walked to the nearest gun store and picked one up, which is why gun control at those points would be so easy and effective at preventing crime. But now you're saying criminals don't go through legal channels to acquire firearms, well that hurts your argument.

Remember, criminals only buy guns they plan to use in criminal activities from a fully licensed vendor, legally. That is why gun control would be so great at controlling them. And repeat. . .

[iverglas]

38. ah, that's the problem with memes

I trust you have no prescription drugs in your house, or knives, or blunt instruments, or anything that could potentially be stolen and used illegally.

Really? Ya think? I should get a safe to store my glaucoma drops in?? I'll look into that straightaway. Hell, I wouldn't want to be responsible for the 7-11 clerk being eye-depressurized to death.

And last time I looked, I didn't have any knives that anybody with 10 loonies couldn't pick up a reasonable facsimile of at the Canadian Tire. The loonies are sitting in margarine containers right by the front door. I think anybody breaking in would be likely to go for them first. And I've just never considered the possibility that someone might break into my house in order to steal my breadknife or my snowshovel. Hmm ..... I don't think I will now, either.


I thought the meme was they just walked to the nearest gun store and picked one up, which is why gun control at those points would be so easy and effective at preventing crime.

The problem with memes. They're dumb. And in this case, even dumber: you cite a meme apparently invented by someone who wishes it actually were a meme. Lookit that. A straw meme.


But now you're saying criminals don't go through legal channels to acquire firearms, well that hurts your argument.

My argument? I missed it. Can you point me to it?

http://www.scooterbbs.com/archive/anything/5004/0.html

Let's consider how it works. Start with the first sentence. In the jargon, expressions like "let me see if I've got this straight" are used to preface a distorted paraphrase of an opponent's words. This is a matter of routine; it's part of what a linguist would call the "phasal lexicon" of the new jargon. In fact, "so, let's see" does two kinds of work: it prefaces a distortion of what I said, and it pretends that the distortion is what I said. It twists reason, and projects that twisting onto me. I, of course, never said that everyone who disagrees with me is sending hate mail. Never said it, never meant it, never implied it, never presupposed it, never thought it.

Perhaps you have confused me with a really silly person.


Remember, criminals only buy guns they plan to use in criminal activities from a fully licensed vendor, legally. That is why gun control would be so great at controlling them. And repeat. . .

See what happens when you start with a really really moronic premise? Garbage in, garbage out.

Luckily for the rest of us, the garbage that went into your little mess lives only in your own head. Maybe you could keep it there and reduce the litter.

[JonQ]

40. That's ok, I know your MO

I didn't expect you to actually take credit for any of your previous beliefs. Apparently if it was stated explicitly on this thread then it doesn't count. We've been over this before. Your past statements cannot apparently be used to argue against your current statements. Of course this only applies to you and not anyone else, for some reason.

[iverglas]

42. my past statements can be used to mop the floor

or defend yourself against a deadly assault, or round up the cows. Whatever you think they might be useful for.

All ya gotta do is quote one.

[proteus_lives]

27. Wow! It hasn't commanded you to kill yet?

How strange, according to the antis it should have told you kill your entire family by now.

[DissedByBush]

47. Mine keeps jumping out of the safe

Then it forces me to go to the range and feed it ammunition.

Then it makes me clean it and put it back.

Evil, evil gun.

[TheWraith]

29. I'm quite incensed at you.

Some of us are barely able to keep supplying their rifle with ammunition, and you have so many guns you can just leave one in a drawer.

[east texas lib]

33. Try withholding it's ration of Hoppe's #9 and playing "Copa Cabana" 24/7...

We need results!

[oneshooter]

34. Are you sure that

It hasn't just gone to sleep? After all it IS a 1917 revolver. You might try this with a younger weapon, say a Glock or a XP. Perhaps the 1917 has concidered itself retired?

As for my weapons I have to be very carefull to NOT put my German, Italian or Japanese military rifles in the same safe as my English, American, and French battle rifles! Who knows WHAT could happen if I didn't keep them seperated!!

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[Ready4Change]

45. LOL

Nice insight on this important experiment.

[JonQ]

37. Don't you know that 100% of people who have a firearm in the house

will shoot themselves, and a loved one, and possibly a cute puppy? Often in that order.

It's just a matter of time.

*stats brought to you by the Brady campaign, stripping Americans of their rights one amendment at a time.

[Deadric Damodred]

39. You are so wrong about the Brady Campaign...

...stripping American's of their rights. The Brady Campaign doesn't want to ban guns.....they just want to make all semi-automatic firearms every made to be made "unavailible" to the public. And Paul Helmke even said that some people want all guns banned, while others want no restrictions at all, he just wants the middle ground of making "unavailible" (somehow that's different than banning) all semi-automatics to civilians. Didn't you know that by simply stating two different extremes that anything you then claim is a middle ground must really be a middle ground? Let me show you how it works: Some people believe there should be no limitations when defending their lives from an attacker, other people believe there is no right to self-defense, therefore the middle ground is a ban on the use of firearms and knives for self-defense but allow people a wiffle bat and a cell phone with 911 on the speed dial as a way to defend themselves. You see? I stated two extremes, then I was able to stick anything I wanted into the "middle ground" and make it seem as if everyone else is for extremes while what I offer is a very reasonable compromise. You shouldn't trash the Brady Campaign like you did in your post...they are very well-thinking individuals who only have our best interests in their hearts.

[JonQ]

41. Or. . ..

Free speech should be absolute an uncensored vs. we should limit what people have to say for their own good.

Middle-ground: free speech will be absolute and uncensored, but limited to only those things available to the founders, a quill pen, sheepskin, and possibly a printing press if you're in the top 1% of society. Internet, telephones, radio, tv, etc are right out.

[Deadric Damodred]

43. Exactly!

Paul Helmke is really a great person by showing us that if you state two extremes, you can then claim anything you want is a "middle ground". And it doesn't just work on infringments on the Bill Of Rights, you can do it for any number of issues. For instance: Some people think that inbreeding should never be done, other people think that inbreeding should be allowed. So it's obvious the most common sense middle ground is that every time you roll doubles in monopoly you have to fuck your sister.

[iverglas]

44. or hey, how about

never mind

[DissedByBush]

46. Watch out

At some point it's going to jump out and kill somebody just like SUVs decide on their own to plow into people.

[E-Mag]

49. In searching for something unrelated I ran across this

http://montego.roughwheelers.com/gun_cam.html

Kinda funny although I dont get this part

"Then, foreign-owned Smith & Wesson sold its soul* to Impeached President Bill Clinton & Co. and I decided to rid myself of anything I owned that was produced by that evil corporation. In my sock drawer, I found my once-trusty Model 19."

[MercutioATC]

50. A S&W revolver? No WONDER it hasn't committed a crime...

Now if it was a scary BLACK gun, you'd already be dead.