Raging Against Self Defense - A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality

[tracker]

"You don't need to have a gun; the police will protect you."

"If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood basketball games."

"I'm a pacifist. Enlightened, spiritually aware people shouldn't own guns."

"I'd rather be raped than have some redneck militia type try to rescue me."

How often have you heard these statements from misguided advocates of victim disarmament, or even woefully uninformed relatives and neighbors? Why do people cling so tightly to these beliefs, in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong? Why do they get so furiously angry when gun owners point out that their arguments are factually and logically incorrect?

How can you communicate with these people who seem to be out of touch with reality and rational thought?

One approach to help you deal with anti-gun people is to understand their psychological processes. Once you understand why these people behave so irrationally, you can communicate more effectively with them.

This Article is Very Long, but I find it interesting-----Full Article

[FN1910]

If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood basketball games.

I can't really argue with this one but it's not really about carrying guns. I have seen a pistol brought out at a little league baseball game and I know last year two friends got in a fight over a bet on a college football game and one killed the other. I understand the point you are making but sometimes the reality of it is true.

People do get killed over parking spaces and neighborhood games but banning guns won't help that a lot.

[tracker]

You have a point FN1910, and I am sorry over the Loss of one of your friends, However you have made a good point--" but banning guns won't help that a lot." The Problem is not the gun---The problem is the individual holding it. Anytime something like that happens, it is not a reflection on "The Power of the Gun", so much as it is a Reflection on the Mentality of the Individual, and no degree of Gun Control will cure an individual's lack of common sense---By the Way---Went to school in Beaufort---Dad was stationed at Parris Island.

[kwo51]

Most of these people have only to be involved in a assualt to change their minds.

[FN1910]

You have a point FN1910, and I am sorry over the Loss of one of your friends, However you have made a good point--" but banning guns won't help that a lot." The Problem is not the gun---The problem is the individual holding it. Anytime something like that happens, it is not a reflection on "The Power of the Gun", so much as it is a Reflection on the Mentality of the Individual, and no degree of Gun Control will cure an individual's lack of common sense---By the Way---Went to school in Beaufort---Dad was stationed at Parris Island.

Then you would appreciate that the ones in the fight over the bet, it was a bet over the Clemson-Carolina game. I think it was a $25 dollar bet and yes, alcohol was involved. The stupidity of people really amazes me at times. A real problem is that usually when someone gets shot in a fight like that one over the bet, if they don't die then they look upon their wound as a badge of honor. Around here it seems that most of the shootings are between people that are eitehr good friends or relatives. I may be wrong but the stranger shooting seems to be the rarity.

[tracker]

Well- Now that you mention Clemson Vs Carolina!!!----only in jest---and also the fact that alcohol was somewhat involved,( Before anyone starts calling for my Head ) I like my Brews to. The fact is--and not making "Light" of the matter---to many variables are usually involved in any so-called gunfight. The Media, and honest people will "Zero In", on the GUN ( That Makes The Best Headline ), and Little will be said about the conditions---It is not the Gun, but the lack of ones ability to control their Emotions, Thought's, and control their Actions that is the true problem. I hate to sound like "A Broken Record", however I am a firm believer that "Any Firearm Poses No Threat", until picked up by an individual who does "Pose a Threat". Any story regarding people shooting each other over a sports event, or parking space is sad. Control of Firearms is not the answer--People controlling themselves is.

[Canis-Lupus]

B 4 there were guns, there were swords & daggers & pikes etc. If you study the crime stats of any big city or hamlet going back to the old world, booze and tempers and bladed weapons dispatched whomever U got into a rumble with, or their swords or axes or arrows put you down was as normal as market days or holy days. Before police (a relatively modern concept) justice of sorts was around; a bag of coins paid for your freedom & cleared your crimes, or if you killed a noblemam then the local lord or clergy would yack off your head and stick it on a pike as a warning to behave yourselves, or U paid with a sack of gold a herd of cattle your lands and slaves. In history more humans have died by the blade than by every gun ever made. 500 years of guns, 200 of them being even close to effctive but much more expensive than an iron dirk or good long-bow/cross-bow. 5,000-10,000 years of sharpened stone then wooden projectiles then metal weapons evolved and were as common to carry as a wrist-watch or cell-phone is today, when waging wars for a living was a normal way of life, and cities were brutal places to live and die in. Only the technology of killing has made a pistol a cheaper way to dispose of an enemy with much less practice, when B 4 that it took decades of practice to fence well or bring down an armored mounted knight at 500 yards. Out of this thread.

Canis-Lupus

[ishi]

I read this article in the Fall of 2006, and it was one of the things that changed my mind about gun control. Before that time I had a vague feeling and "opinion" about gun control, but it was not something I ever really thought about in depth. Articles like this can go a long way towards persuading thinking people of the value of the 2nd amendment.