Weapons, Cowboy at School in US from early age?

When I was a kid in Scout camp, I was a scrawny kid – not "athletic" at all. But I took to the rifle-and-shotgun range like a duck to water. It was there that I first became interested in marksmanship, which remains a lifelong interest. Because it's a one-person game of skill: "it's the weapon, the range, the target, and you." In later years at that camp, I was allowed to lead the shooters: "Ready on the left, ready on the right, ready on the firing line. Load your weapons and fire five rounds." (I know it by heart.) I learned how to clean the weapons, how to align the sights (such as they were ...), and when nobody else was there I could practice endlessly. Which I did: rifle, and shotgun. The hours flew by.

Every now and then on my land, for various reasons I have to shoot a varmint. But, I assure you, "it won't feel a thing," and I will need precisely one round. (Although I actually use repeating rifles and pistols.)

If you are interested in owning a weapon, it is critical that you seek expert advice to select a weapon that is appropriate for your "use case." And, that you invest in significant amounts of range time with a qualified instructor to learn how to use, clean, bear, and store it. (And, who knows? Maybe the "marksmanship bug" will rub off on you!)

Nope no registration needed. Already fill out a form that is filed if needed down the road, but not in a 'national' database. Nope never. Only people that would be affected by registration is law abiding citizens as criminals do not abide by any laws anyway. I don't know why people don't get that. So no, no, and no. Guns are like tools. A shovel, a knife, basball bat, etc. Only real reason you register a car and get a license for it is so it can be 'taxed'. No other reason to register a car. It is how the local 'government' gets money for road repair and such...

Doesn't the US Constitution grant the right to bear arms only in the context of "a well-regulated militia"? How can you have a well-regulated militia unless someone is regulating it?

Two countries I can think of off the top of my head that have well-regulated militias (I'm sure there are others) are Switzerland and Israel.In both these countries, the army and the people are more or less the same thing. Consequently there are a lot of official army issue guns in private homes. But neither country has ever had the kind of problem with gun crime that the US has.

The wording of the 2nd Amendment uses "a well-regulated militia" as justification, but no, it does not limit the possession of firearms to militiamen.

The 2nd Amendment is a national defense policy. Because, in the end, a "nation" consists of millions of households. It would not be a wise move to attempt to break into someone's house anywhere near where I live. Including mine. And, would-be criminals know this. That's why it works. You pretty much know with certainty that you're gonna get shot and killed by the landowner, long before the police could show up. Personal firearms, if properly deployed and used, put "defense" squarely where it needs to be in the heat of the moment.

13 adults and a baby stabbed in Sydney this morning, with 6 victims and the assailant dead. Would an armed citizen have stopped the rampage sooner? Impossible to say.

Regarding Israel
"In the aftermath of the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack in Israel, the Israeli government has moved to loosen the rules around gun ownership, fast-tracking the permitting process and speeding up approvals.

Israel says it is engaged in the heaviest fighting yet in Gaza
This week, the national security minister said the ministry has received more than 260,000 new firearm permit requests since Oct. 7 and is approving up to 3,000 of them per day, compared with 100 approvals a day before the attack.

Compared with the U.S., Israel has relatively restrictive firearm laws." https://www.npr.org/2023/12/06/12160...ael-hamas-gaza

Originally Posted by hazel Doesn't the US Constitution grant the right to bear arms only in the context of "a well-regulated militia"?

You have to understand the attitudes of the founding fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. A militia was a non-government organization similar to a volunteer fire department today. Anyone could own firearms. But they did not want the militias to be put in the position that they could not revolt and overthrow the government as they had overthrown George III. So the constitution does not allow the government to disarm militias.

Is everyone aware that in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), where guns are very rare, the per capita murder rate is 1.0 per 100,000 per year? Similarly for other European countries.

Compared to the USA, where there are reported to be more guns than people, and the per-capita murder rate is 6.4?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._homicide_rate

Houston was also victim. Guns arent helping the US population, it can be used in negative ways

Every "criminal encounter" is unique. You hope that it will never happen to you – and, actually, the odds are very slight that it ever will. But, maybe one of the reasons for this is that, in the back of their minds (if they actually have one ...), criminals know that their target might be prepared. From a (national ...) defense perspective, this is a very legitimate deterrent. It's impossible to know how often it works.

But, I believe that every person – young or old – should be taught about this tool, what it does, how it works, and how to (safely) use it. Kids in particular should not acquire their "knowledge" from hyper-violent video games in which you always get "an extra life."

Several years ago now, I enjoyed "long-distance hiking." I have hiked many hundreds of miles. And, many times, I would pass other people on the trail who were quietly (and, correctly) bearing firearms. I never gave it a second thought. Because, "out there, all by yourself," you might need such a thing for a variety of reasons. In the trail shelters, my fellow hikers carefully put their gun-belts away, but always within reach. Next morning, they put on their backpacks, then their gun. You paid no attention to it. Because it made perfect sense. Probably 100% of the time they finished their hike uneventfully and never used it. But, "that "0.001%" – be it human or wildlife – is why they carried it. "Out there."

The only time that a "gun-bearer" truly scares me is when I realize: "you don't know what the f&ck you are doing."

Where is my bumper sticker?

"Guns don't kill, People do"

Sadly the way a person might die in the US from firearms is low on the list. They tend to kill themselves with poor diet, lack of exercise and stupid things.

...on the trail who were quietly (and, correctly) bearing firearms

That is normal. We never going hiking, camping, fishing without carrying a firearm. Only makes sense. A bit more critical now, that predators are much more prevalent in the woods (mountain lions, bears, wolves, etc.) due to a certain element of our society and possibly now with all the two legged kind we now are accepting illegally into this country (which EVERYONE of us Americans should be apposed to) ... Growing up when I did more hiking, we would not hike in the back country of our National Parks, like Yellowstone Park, as it was not allowed to carry. So hiked in the back country elsewhere.

Ran into a few rattlesnakes back when I was younger, thinner and had the energy to go camping and hiking in the woods. Are those "snake guns" still being made?

Doesn't the US Constitution grant the right to bear arms

No, our rights are inerrant, they are not given by government. The US Constitution enumerates those rights and restricts the governments ability to infringe upon them.

Looks like Scotland could use some of those rights.
https://modernity.news/2024/04/08/we...ign=syndicated

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics...-law-scotland/

I've taken a few rattle snakes off my property. Not supposed to but I didn't want to kill them so I put them in a garbage can and take them for a ride in the country. One of them I had to wait until night. When I went to work at noon it was rattling like the dickens. When I cam back at midnight it was still in the can rattling. Mad huh?

Many decades ago I had hanging on my wall rattler hide gift from a buddy of mine who probably had his life saved by his buddy a few years prior. They were walking through a swampy, wooded area somewhere in the US SouthEast, IIRC South Carolina. They stumbled onto this rattler whose hide filled most of a 1 foot x 8 foot strip of paneling. The Head and the Rattle, were each mounted below the hide as they wouldn't fit in the 8 foot length. They had to be mounted at the tapered ends of the hide since the hide itself was nearly a foot wide laid out.

My buddy said he'd stepped over a log when the rattler shook his massive rattle violently with a sound that stopped him cold. He said he barely had time to be aware of his fright since it hit him so deeply, part of him marveled about the fact that he was literally unable to move. There's no way to know if that furious rattle was just a warning or a prelude to a strike, but my buddy was rather happy his buddy was armed and used to 9 foot snakes with bodies the size of adult human thighs.

City dwellers vastly overestimate how commonly people run across predatory wild animals but vastly underestimate the real danger. Many will kill you. Some will eat you alive. I consider that a rather unpleasant way to go. It's probably better to be armed.