[Vision2020] A reassuring voice . . .

Thu Aug 21 10:55:20 PDT 2014

Gun safety is a major concern, as is training.  I think we need a lot more
of both.  I would love to take a class, if someone offered one, that
explains the law with regards to home defense and best practices in using,
cleaning, and storing firearms.

On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 9:30 AM, Gier, Nicholas (ngier at uidaho.edu) <
ngier at uidaho.edu> wrote:

>  Hi Paul,
>
>
>  You are absolutely right.  That's why I joined the Martin Institute for
> Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution (now just the Martin Institute), and
> for 24 years I've devoted all my research to the origins of violence, with
> an emphasis on religious violence.
>
>
>  But what about nonviolent children picking up guns and shooting
> themselves and other kids?  Or the man in Montana, presumably an upstanding
> citizen, who shot to death a German exchange student in his garage?  Or the
> presumably upstanding citizen who shot to death a black woman who came to
> his door early in the morning because her car had broken down.  The very
> presence of excessive firearms, even in a nonviolent society, and even with
> well intentioned police, will inevitably lead to gun deaths.
>
>
>  Nick
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* vision2020-bounces at moscow.com <vision2020-bounces at moscow.com> on
> behalf of Paul Rumelhart <paul.rumelhart at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, August 21, 2014 8:51 AM
> *To:* Tom Hansen
> *Cc:* Moscow Vision 2020
> *Subject:* Re: [Vision2020] A reassuring voice . . .
>
>   Well, I'm glad Nick resisted the urge to grab his .30-06 out of storage
> and go on a shooting spree.  I'm sure the constant psychic pull of the
> weapon was hard to fight when he was tired or distracted.  The whispers,
> just on the edge of hearing, of "Kill!  Kill them all!" were no doubt damn
> near irresistible in those last few moments before drifting off to sleep.
>
>  I'm joking, of course, but this is the crux of it to me:  do we really
> have a gun problem?  Or do we have a violence problem?
>
>  For example, is the problem that abusive husbands are armed and kill
> their wives, or is the problem that too many husbands are abusive to the
> point that they will attempt to kill their wives?  Shouldn't we work on
> solving the second problem first?
>
>  Paul
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2014 at 4:50 AM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>>     On carrying guns . . .
>>
>>  http://www.tomandrodna.com/Soundbites/On_Carrying_Guns.mp3
>>
>> Courtesy of the Letters section of today's (August 21, 2014)
>> Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks to Nick Gier.
>>
>>  -------------------------------------
>>
>>   His View: The gun-crazed hermit of the Applegate
>>
>> *Nick Gier*
>>
>> It was the summer of 1960, and I was smitten. Even though a family
>> friend's daughter had a mad crush on me, I had been seduced by something
>> even more alluring and far less complicated than teenage romance.
>>
>> I had bought an Army surplus .30-06 Springfield rifle, and I was in love.
>> I spent hard-earned dollars on a new stock and a 3-7x Bausch & Lomb scope.
>> A gunsmith had completely refurbished the bolt action and barrel. This
>> rifle made me feel like a real man for the first time.
>>
>> In 1962 I graduated fourth in my high school class of 442, and I had
>> earned two scholarships to attend Oregon State University. But I was a
>> loner, had few friends and showed my disgust with modern society at every
>> turn.
>>
>> At the end of the summer, I told my dad that I was going to take my guns
>> and build a hermit's cabin on the Applegate River. When my dad asked me how
>> I was going to make a living, I said I was going to pan for gold. My
>> father, brother and I once had a very good day on the Applegate with our
>> home-made sluice boxes.
>>
>> My dad was never forceful or authoritarian (quite the opposite), but he
>> was still able to persuade me that this was a crazy idea. Was this smart
>> kid just several steps away from becoming a Ted Kaczynski?
>>
>> It was eventually a good woman who made me give up my beloved firearms.
>> When my former Danish wife and I moved to Moscow in 1972, I brought my
>> rifle out from storage to show her. She was not impressed. She told me it
>> was either her or the gun. For 16 years I chose her and a safe home for our
>> wonderful daughter. Homes with guns have far more child deaths.
>>
>> Armed homes are not safe for women, either. A recent study concluded
>> women were eight times more likely to be killed in the home by abusive
>> armed men.
>>
>> A fully armed citizenry, as well as militarized police and criminal
>> gangs, have made parts of our cities into war zones.
>>
>> Denmark's gun death rate of 1.45 per 100,000 stands in stark contrast to
>> the U.S. at 10.2, but some say it is a small price to pay for the freedom
>> to pack heat. For every Dane who kills himself with a gun, there are six
>> Americans who go out in glory with their handy firearms.
>>
>> Why is the gun death rate so low for the heavily armed Swiss (3.84) and
>> Finns (3.64), but so high for Americans (10.2)? Maybe it is the effeminate
>> lederhosen and the family saunas that allow the Swiss and the Finns to kill
>> each other less frequently.
>>
>> The Aussies' low gun death rate (1.25) is no doubt due to feminizing
>> everything from "waste tidies" to my "barbie." A real man would bellow
>> "garbage can" and my "grill." There have been no mass killings in Australia
>> since strict gun laws were passed by a conservative government in 1996.
>>
>> Does having Mounties enforce the law (from horses rather than armored
>> personnel carriers) lead to lower gun death rates in Canada (1.25)? Unarmed
>> English Bobbies (there's that diminutive again) have swat team back-up, but
>> you rarely ever see them.
>>
>> Along with the English, the police in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland,
>> Switzerland and Norway do not carry weapons. Fewer guns evidently leads to
>> more trust and, ironically, better security.
>>
>> Scotland has an amazingly low 0.25 gun deaths per 100,000, so it must be
>> those kilts with no underpants. Is a William Wallace mooning more
>> intimidating than brandishing an AR-15?
>>
>>  -------------------------------------
>>
>> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>>
>>  "Moscow Cares"
>> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>>
>>  Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>>
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>
>
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