Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumGun-addiction screening
2.Do you own more than 5 guns?
3.Do you own more than 10 guns?
4.Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who dont own guns?
5.Have you ever thought of brandishing a gun to end an argument or confrontation?
6.Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun forums or reading about guns on the internet?
7.Do you stock pile more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition?
8.Do you feel your unsafe when youre not carrying a gun?
9.Have you purchased guns for family members or loved ones even if they did not want one?
10.Do you always have to have the latest in new gun technology?
11.Have you ever left a loaded and unlocked gun around you home or vehicle, just in case?
12.Do you spend more than $5,000/year on guns and ammunition?
If you answered yes to 4 or more of these questions, you may have a gun addiction and pose a threat to your family or neighbors. The nearest chapter of GunAholics Anonymous (GAA), a 12-step program for helping gun addicts face their addictions can help.
http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/blog/2013/01/02/gunaholics-anonymous/
Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)1.Do you own more than 3 guns? Yep.
2.Do you own more than 5 guns? Yep.
3.Do you own more than 10 guns? Nope
4.Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who dont own guns? Nope. What an odd question...
5.Have you ever thought of brandishing a gun to end an argument or confrontation? Thought about? I have brandished a weapon to end a confrontation, an attempt to break into my home. My one and only defensive gun usage, and I hope it stays that way.
6.Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun forums or reading about guns on the internet? Sometimes. I'm a competition long range rifle shooter, and participants in thesport use the internet to exchange info (things like loading data, carpooling/caravaning to matches, etc).
7.Do you stock pile more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition? LOL. Trust me, 1000 rounds isn't a "stockpile." I've been known to shoot that many rounds in a session.
8.Do you feel your unsafe when youre not carrying a gun? Depends on where I am, obviously.
9.Have you purchased guns for family members or loved ones even if they did not want one? Nope. In fact, I advise against gun ownership for security purposes if the person isn't willing to devote time ande money to regular practice at the range.
10.Do you always have to have the latest in new gun technology? Nope. Only one of my firearms is a particularly new design. Some of my optics are pretty advanced, though.
11.Have you ever left a loaded and unlocked gun around you home or vehicle, just in case? Never. If I'm not carrying or at least in direct observation of any my firearms, they're locked in my gun safe. I'm a stickler on this point.
12.Do you spend more than $5,000/year on guns and ammunition? LOL again. I've spent that much on a single weapon (okay, only once, my semi-custom Surgeon).
I realize this was posted for snark purposes, but it's interesting (if not remotely indicative of "addiction" to consider one's responses.
ileus
(15,396 posts)If yes to #3 then 1&2 don't apply.
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)...every FFL in the country has a gun addiction.
I'm thinking support groups are needed more elsewhere.
ileus: If you answer #2 yes than that invalidates #1.
If yes to #3 then 1&2 don't apply.
No, they all count incrementally as 1 'yes' each. You score a 3 for having more then 10 guns, only a 1 for 3 guns or less.
beergood
(470 posts)i started out with cap guns, just like all the kids. i didn't want't to be a square. i moved onto paintball guns. it was good for a while, but i needed something stronger. that's when i fired my first pump action shotgun. it was down hill from there. ill spare you the details, but i finally ended up using a semi auto with an extended clip. that's when i realized i had a problem, and sought help. to this day i am gun free, and could't be happier. you to could be gun free if you put your mind to it.
ileus
(15,396 posts)I tell my son "we didn't have paintball guns when I was your age, we just had BB gun wars." (With no safety glasses) LOL...
And my BB guns had wooden stocks also.
beergood
(470 posts)im 29
ileus
(15,396 posts)Anyone below 39 qualifies as young. (or being in K-6 when I was a Senior in 1988)
beergood
(470 posts)Last edited Wed Aug 19, 2015, 04:40 PM - Edit history (1)
your old
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)I was a senior in 1966, man, I feel oooooollllldddd.
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)You can get a general idea of how old I am by my avatar.
beardown
(363 posts)1. Do you post to gun forums articles without discussion more than 3 times a month?
2. Do you post to gun forums articles without discussion more than 5 times a month?
3. Do you post to gun forums articles without discussion more than 10 times a month?
4. Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who dont want to confiscate all guns?
5. Have you ever called for having people with guns hunt down and kill other people with guns in order to confiscate all guns?
6. Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun confiscation forums or reading about confiscating guns on the internet?
7. Do you stockpile more than 1,000 uncompleted petitions calling for gun confiscation?
8. Do you feel unsafe when you don't have an uncompleted petition calling for gun confiscation?
9. Have you purchased books like "How the American Revolution was won without guns" for family members even if they did not want it?
10. Do you always have to have the 'latest' in new arguments on why the 2nd only means muskets or bullets should cost $1,000 each?
11. Have you ever left a blindfold and ear plugs around your home or vehicle, just in case you find that seeing and hearing a loved one murdered by an assailant might change your views on citizens having guns?
12. Do you spend more than $5,000 a year on private security staff to carry guns because police response time is 30 minutes?
If you answered yes to 4 or more of these questions, you may have a gun confiscation addiction and pose a threat to your family or nation. Find a nearby gun club or shooting range and go there and you may find out that many "gun-nuts" are just people that like to shoot or take seriously the threat of a tyrannical government, and that most likely stress gun competency and responsibility.
I'm assuming that your post was tongue in cheek and so was my response. My serious comment is that your 'addiction' list would more than likely include serious gun collectors and enthusiasts who do very few gun crimes while your average criminal isn't going to be flagged as an addict. With such bad aim, perhaps there is a reason you dislike guns so much.
For the win.
DUzy!!!!!!!
beevul
(12,194 posts)Do you own guns which you think are fine but believe its everyone elses guns that are the problem?
branford
(4,462 posts)However, I am most certainly suspicious and uncomfortable around armchair internet psychologists, whether their "advice" purports to be serious or intended only as self-righteous snark, as well as those who causally seek to deprive others of constitutional rights.
Does the OP have any links to serious studies and discussions of actual addiction to firearms and whether such pathology presents a threat to others, or is this just more proof of the OP's diminishing Google search and dump skills and lack of respect for the forum rules?
hack89
(39,171 posts)ileus
(15,396 posts)2 yes answers here. Not bad IMHO....
Even for the hardcore gun guys I doubt they could ever get more than 5 yes answers.
beergood
(470 posts)you make light of addiction. i'm an alcoholic, seeking treatment. (btw i gave my guns to a friend)
SecularMotion
(7,981 posts)UC DAVIS (US) Gun owners who carry concealed weapons or have confronted someone with a gun are more than twice as likely to drink heavily as people who dont own guns.
Binge drinking, chronic heavy alcohol use, and drinking and driving are all more common among gun owners than among non-owners, even after adjusting for age, sex, race, and state of residence.
Alcohol abuse was most common among firearm owners who participated in gun-related behaviors that carry a risk of violence, which also included having a loaded, unlocked firearm in the home and driving or riding in a vehicle with a loaded firearm.
Its not surprising that risky behaviors go together, says Garen J. Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Califorina, Davis. This is of particular concern given that alcohol intoxication also impairs a gun users accuracy as well as his judgment on whether to shoot.
http://www.futurity.org/guns-binge-drinking-go-hand-in-hand/
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...located behind a paywall so we can't judge its veracity for ourselves.
Why don't you take one for the team, SecMo, and buy a copy for us? After all, you thought it
was important enough to tout here.
http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2011/06/13/ip.2010.031443.full.pdf+html
Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment.
Association between firearm ownership, firearm-related risk and risk reduction behaviours and alcohol-related risk behaviours
Inj Prev ip.2010.031443Published Online First: 13 June 2011
Not that we'll ever see the full article, as gun control advocates are usually too cheap to
spend their *own* money.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)beergood
(470 posts)car owners drink just as much if not more.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)DonP
(6,185 posts)friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)3.Do you own more than 10 guns?
Yes, due to inheritance.
4.Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who dont own guns?
No. That would just be silly.
5.Have you ever thought of brandishing a gun to end an argument or confrontation?
No. That would be illegal and immoral.
6.Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun forums or reading about guns on the internet?
Haven't timed it. Whatever the number, it is noticeably below the time spent on political sites.
7.Do you stock pile more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition?
Buying in bulk is cheaper by the round. Minimum bulk purchase size is one case (1000 rounds). That is certainly not a "stock pile". Ignorant question.
8.Do you feel your unsafe when youre not carrying a gun?
Unsafe, no. Less prepared, yes.
9.Have you purchased guns for family members or loved ones even if they did not want one?
No. That would just be silly.
10.Do you always have to have the latest in new gun technology?
No. Gun tech changes are incremental and latest does not mean better.
11.Have you ever left a loaded and unlocked gun around you home or vehicle, just in case?
Never in a vehicle. No kids, so in the home is not a problem should it happen.
12.Do you spend more than $5,000/year on guns and ammunition?
Not recently. But quality guns are pricey, so $5K is a rather low bar to meet.
Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)So If I go to bass pro to buy 60.00 woth of .22, I now have a stockpile.
(for the record, I have about 5,000 rounds of .22, because its cheaper in bulk, I can shoot in my back yard without going to bass pro ever day, and it pisses off secular motion.
shooting a shit ton of ammo at the range is fun.
these gun controllers don't know jack shit. we buy in bulk because its cheaper.
you and i have no intention of hurting others. however gun control is a good idea.
benEzra
(12,148 posts)"1.Do you own more than 3 guns?
2.Do you own more than 5 guns?
3.Do you own more than 10 guns?"
Yes, Yes, No. But the question makes about as much sense as saying that someone is a "golf addict" if they own more than 3, 5, or 10 golf clubs. People who hunt tend to have "niche" guns for each type of hunting they participate in, but I don't hunt (yet), so I have a fairly small collection---more than 5, less than 10.
"4.Do you feel suspicious of people in general, or uncomfortable around people who dont own guns?"
No, I repect others and respect their choices. I am not, however, particularly comfortable around authoritarian control freaks who want to compel me by force to live by their personal beliefs. I've had quite enough of that in my life in the past, thanks.
"5.Have you ever thought of brandishing a gun to end an argument or confrontation?"
An argument, no, of course not. Anyone who would think about brandishing *any* weapon, or even fists, to end an argument has serious issues and should see a therapist.
I've never been attacked in such a way that I needed to use or threaten to use any weapon, even a pepper spray, or even consider doing so. I certainly hope never to have to do so, and the way I live my life, it's exceedingly unlikely that I ever will. However, as a serious shooter and an occasional student of martial arts, I've certainly considered scenarios, and tried to prepare/train for them.
My father almost had to once when I was a young child, at night in the Croatan National Forest in the early 1970s, but his would-be assailants backed off when they saw he had a holstered gun, and left. Of course, our crime rate back then was a lot higher than it is now...and it seems that "gun proliferation" has coincided with an almost 50% reduction in the violent crime rate from its peak in the 1980s.
"6. Do you spend more than 5 hours a week on gun forums or reading about guns on the internet?"
Some weeks I do. Mostly because of people like you who spend dozens of hours a week trying to convince others to coerce me to live by your beliefs.
Were it not for those of you trying to take away my personal choices from me, I'd probably spend a lot less time on the Internet, and what time I do spend would be talking about how to shoot smaller groups or mentoring newer shooters about responsible ownership, rather than trying to educate non-gunnies about firearms and firearms law, or debating reincarnations of Carrie Nation or the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.
"7.Do you stock pile more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition?"
Dude, that's like asking if someone "stock piles" more than two gallons of gas for their lawnmower, or whether they "stock pile" more than 3 days' worth of food in their kitchen.
You realize that .22LR ammo is commonly sold in 500-round boxes, right? And that people who practice a lot or shoot competitively tend to buy by the case (1000 rounds) to save money?
I shoot three main calibers: .22LR, 9x19mm, and .223 Remington, plus a couple of minor calibers like 7.62x54mm for my 110-year-old Mosin-Nagant. I can't say I have a thousand rounds of each (wish I did, but I've got a special-needs kid and bills to pay), but the total of all calibers in the safe certainly exceeds a thousand rounds. If you shoot multiple calibers, that's actually not a lot of ammo, and I intend to restock once I can find bulk .22 locally again.
Funny thing is, I'll bet more people probably stock >1K rounds at home than they did ten years ago because of you guys making noises about banning or restricting ammo, and otherwise driving up demand.
"8.Do you feel your unsafe when youre not carrying a gun?"
If conditions in a given location were such that I feel unsafe without a gun, I'd feel unsafe there with a gun, and would seek to de-ass that area as soon as reasonable and practical. Go read Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear and get back to me.
Having said that, regardless of location or prevailing conditions, competence is reassuring, even if it is not synonymous with whether one "feels safe" or not. I am a competent shooter with over two and a half decades' experience, and have tested those skills under a degree of stress. So I am aware that having a gun accessible does provide me with increased capability to respond to an (unlikely) crisis, whether I'm sitting at home (as now), or broken down on the side of the road, or out with my kids in the Croatan National Forest, or eating in a restaurant. But if I felt unsafe somewhere, I'd listen to those feelings and leave if reasonable and practical, armed or not.
"9.Have you purchased guns for family members or loved ones even if they did not want one?"
I've purchased guns for loved ones, but they very much wanted them. Too bad you guys are trying to make that a crime...
"10.Do you always have to have the latest in new gun technology?"
By which you mean....what? Guns are a very mature technology. The big "latest and greatest" developments are in optics and accessories. I used to have a holographic sight on my AR (Eotech 516); that was technologically interesting, and that carbine also wears a LED light, which I suppose is a new-ish technology. Who knows, in ten or twenty years I may be able to buy an auto-rangefinding scope with built-in range display and a rendered reticle that moves to display actual POI for the given range and conditions, if I can afford it. But buying the "latest" scope or whatever costs you in both money and reliability.
Guns themselves don't change a whole lot. The most popular civilian rifle, and the one in my gun safe (the AR-15) is a modified 1950s design that works exactly like a Remington from 1908. It currently wears a variable scope, a technology that dates from the late 1800s. My carry gun (Smith & Wesson 3913 Lady Smith) is a refined version of the 1954 S&W Model 39. My competition pistol (FN Herstal FNS-9L longslide...Belgians are good gun designers!), though fairly new, is based on the Browning tilting-barrel design from the late 1890s and the striker firing mechanism from the early 1900s, and the polymer frame dates from the early 1980s (building on polymer framed rifles from the 1960s).
"11.Have you ever left a loaded and unlocked gun around you home or vehicle, just in case?"
At home, the guns are loaded but locked in the safe, unless it is within reach or on my person. If you mean "have you ever kept a loaded gun accessible for use, but under your direct control", then yes, sure.
As far as the car, aren't you anti-licensed-carry activists always demanding that CCW license holders leave their guns in the car when they stop for food, or to shop, or whatever? You can't have it both ways. My preference is that the gun stays on my person rather than being secured in the vehicle, but sometimes you don't let me, no?
"12.Do you spend more than $5,000/year on guns and ammunition?"
No, but it'd sure be nice to have $5000/yr to spend on "fun" things, above and beyond food, housing, and kids' medical expenses. I doubt I'd spend $5K on guns in a year, though, unless you started making serious efforts at banning more guns again.
I'd rather shoot the guns I have, maybe with some better optics, and get a used boat with a cabin to take my family out on the river more, get some new forks for my mountain bike and get my daughter one with a full suspension instead of a hardtail, get my son an off-road trike of some sort, some better camping gear, maybe a deer rifle and a share in a hunting lease, a new game console, whatever. Alas, I have to do the fiscally responsible thing and stick with what I've got, as do most of us in this economy...