Rant Slashed for a cigarette!

Guns are unpredictable, you can't reliably shoot someone's kneecaps off.

 

Being a little pedantic, but rather, people are unpredictable. Guns are fairly predictable little machines. But indeed, you can't reliably shoot someone's kneecap. Police firearms units (and these are pro's at shooting, guy who shoot on a regular basis and are damn good at it) are taught to shoot at the centre of bodymass (that is, the upper chest) because it's the place they're most likely to hit. Shooting someone in the shoulder or leg would be preferable as far as damage goes, but it's basicly impossible to do this unless your target obliges you by standing still for several seconds.

 

Don't we play FPS games to get good at this? ;P

 

Police are also trained not to fire at someone if there are people behind them. People may believe they know where they are aiming, but it's not always accurate.

 

FFS someone lock this - its off topic and reached stalemate in a debate that has been argued many times!

 

Yeah, robocop is clearly better than todays police force.

 

Owning, packing and shooting guns is always bad. I shot several types of arms myself, but I don't feel the need to own one. When I shot them, I did it in a controlled environment, just for the experience.

And the whole discussion about 'if I pack a gun I can at least defend myself' just makes me laugh. If you pack a gun and you get mugged there are 2 scenarios:
1) The mugger isn't carrying a comparable arm and either gets killed or gets wounded (if I don't shoot myself). Those are 2 things I can't live with myself. The act of shooting someone is easy, the moral behind it kills (mentally)

2) The mugger is carrying a comparable arm and then either I end up dead before I can blink (I'm a bit out of shape nowadays, but I could never outrun a speeding bullet, nor could my reflexes take out my gun and retalliate before the bullet hits) or get wounded in the progress.

So, if society is known to pack guns (US) then a mugger would choose option 2, but if you live in an arms free society (rest of the world) the mugger won't be so inclined to arm himself with a gun. I can't quote studies, but I guess more people survive being stabbed than being shot.

But, back OT, Pha3dr0n, welcome to the 'dug' crowd by chicks and you now have a reason to quit smoking

 

^ good point.

 

It's one thing to carry a weapon for self defense, but when people start talking about willfully and intentioally inflicting pain in retributuin, that's where I have a problem.

This is my "golden rule", Don't intentionally cause discomfort or pain for other people. Sometimes it happens unintentionally, sometimes it's necessary, but any time you do it intentionally you're wrong.

 

Lets imagine everyone had a gun on them for self defence.

Imagine that, everyone!

You go to macca's for your morning coffee break, and stand in line. The guy infront of you orders a big mac meal, and the teller says "sorry, breakfast menu only, you can order a big mac after 10.30"

The guy says "look, i'm in a rush, it will take 1 minute to make the f'ing meal"
Teller says "I'm sorry, but i can't do anything about it. It's only 10 minutes until..."
Anrgy guy: "I F$@#ING DON'T HAVE 10 F$@#ING MINUTES!!!" - and pulls gun out.
One of the cooks sees this and pulls his gun out.
The angry guy points his gun on the cook and the teller pulls out a shotgun.
You've had enough and you put your uzi to the guys head.
Duke nukem is sitting in the corner, he's just trying to have a mcmuffin in peace, and he's had enough of this crap, he pulls out his rpg.
Everyone thinks they are quicker than everyone else, so everyone pulls the trigger.....

Ok, that's carrying concealed weapons, lets say everyone has a gun at home.

Had enough of the door to door salesmen? no problem!
Had enough of the door to door jehovas? no problem!
Had enough of the door to door surveys that end up being donation requests? no problem!

Figured it out yet guys?
What type of world do you want to live in?

 

Uh... yeah... no. In both legal and practical terms.

I've fired handguns, shotguns, and rifles. Obviously you won't be walking down the street with either of the latter, and only the rifle is relatively easy to aim well without much training. Despite what the movies show you, just running around and squeezing off a few haphazard shots with the vaguest point in the right direction is NOT going to land a hit, much less a lethal one. Unless you're a police officer, your first thought upon seeing someone pull a gun on someone else is almost certainly to get out of the area, not to shoot the person you assume is the attacker. Even if you did somehow come to that conclusion, you're probably not going to be close enough in order to expect reasonable accuracy unless you're well trained or have a laser sight. What if you hit the victim? From fifty feet away, it wouldn't be hard to be off by a couple feet, especially as the situation is VERY different than what you'd experience on a training range. If you're taking careful aim (which takes time), the attacker could well spot you and fire a couple off in your direction, taking your foolish involvement to a whole new level.

And of course, the legal aspect. It's not self defense unless the attacker is going after you or your family, in most situations. This of course varies by locale, but something along those lines tends to be a fairly safe assumption. Your helping hand could put you behind bars for life.

 

You mean go out and just randomly hurt someone?

 

Still waiting for an answer on this one....

 

I think that as you created it, you have the power to lock the thread, Pha3dr0n.

 

Any idea how I can do it?

 

Think you just ask to "Lock the thread please".

 

It doesn't appear under Thread Tools?

 

Before this is locked:

Pha3dr0n, glad you're alright. You seem to have handled things quite sensibly IMO

 

only in the for sale forum

 

Ah, OK. Closing then, at Pha3dr0n's request.