Gun rights - for or against?

The problem with debates between people who think in absolutes is that they seldom see the middle ground.

Why would you turn it around? Simply take it the way I said it and stop trying to psychoanalyze. I'm sure you are no doctor of anything

No, but you sound so violent about it.
And you don't want to talk about it.
It sounds like you're hurting.

Those who own guns tend to be part of a “social gun culture.”
Men who carry guns suffer from a “crisis of confidence.”
Gun owners tend to be angry and impulsive.
Holding a gun can make you paranoid.
Those with racist views are more likely to oppose gun reform.
Conservatives are far more likely to own firearms than others.
Risk-taking students are more likely to have guns at college.

You know, the deluded thing is, that to self-enable belief in carrying a gun, what you are saying is that all those who die in mass shootings are collateral for your belief, that your belief in gun ownership is more important than all those lives lost through mass homicide. And there is a clear link. That is why evil manifests, even if it is not through the gun itself, but simply believing in owning one. You would rather people die than ever have gun control. After all, if you knew for sure that 1000s of lives every year would be saved from gun control, which would you choose? Which would evil choose? That is the question.

When it comes to things of the spirit it is absolutes..There is no grey area

You have no need to defend yourself to me. I made my thoughts about these pointless debates quite clear. If you want to feel self-righteous by thinking in absolutes and believe yourself to be doing "The Lord's Work" by doing so, that is your business. Seems a silly choice to focus your energies this way, but they are your energies to spend however you want.

I agree about being cordial and having priorities. But your opinion is worth something, man.

Mine on the other hand...

Let me see.....You ban guns, I use a bomb, you ban bombs, I buy gasoline and make Molotov cocktails, you ban gasoline, I use poison, you ban poison.......See what I mean. If I were a terrorist, which I am not, I could use anything to accomplish anything. Guns are not the problem

G

Criminals will always be able to get what they need.
Laws are only for law-abiding citizens....

I saw Dylan Roof mentioned... When he shot those people, open-carry of a weapon was not allowed in South Carolina so he was completely free to shoot anyone until the cops showed up... Because the cops have?.?.. you guessed it.. guns!

If open-carry was allowed in South Carolina at the time of the shooting, it is very conceivable that one or more of the bible study group members would have been armed and therefore may have been able to thwart his attack early, saving precious lives...

South Carolina has just last month submitted a law to the Senate to make open-carry not only legal, but permitted without a conceal-carry license...This was in response to the Dylan Roof shooting.

I live in Alabama, and in a very pro gun town in a very pro gun state. I have been to quite a few churches. Never in my life have I been to a church service or Wednesday night Bible study where people had guns in church. I even went to a church that had a sheriff's deputy as the preacher, and he didn't have a gun in church. There is a big church in Alabama that has sued to employ their own police force. I do not know if they were successful or not. Any church that had parishioners bringing guns inside would not be a church I'd be interested in attending. Guns scare me. Accidents happen.

How are you certain they are not carrying?

I go to kind of lower class churches and no one wears a suit coat, except the preacher (and not even some of the preachers). Church attire for men is polo shirt and slacks. Of course, a woman COULD have one in her purse, I suppose. Let's just say I've never seen a gun in church.

It's odd to me how often a person just shuts their own brain off and uses reductive reasoning to assess another person's motivations and feelings about a subject. Maybe they just don't care to learn why someone has a different view, or perhaps they just get some sick sense of satisfaction by being able to classify another person as different=bad=wrong. I'm not sure.

It shouldn't need to be said, but people do things for different reasons, and people think about things differently. To use reductive reasoning and make some blanket statement about gun owners does both the gun owners and the person passing judgment a disservice. It attempts to cast the gun owner in a poor light, but at the same time, the person passing judgment looks like a fool for pulling their "adult" version of "I'm right, you're wrong, nana, nana, boo, boo, you eat doo-doo".

The worst part about seeing this reductive reasoning is that it somehow forces my hand to use a bit of my own. When I see people who think their own farts (metaphorically speaking) don't stink, it's impossible for me to take anything they say seriously. Those are the type of people who are convinced of their own magnificence and are not willing to even entertain the notion that they just might be wrong - i.e. they are no longer interested in learning anything. Being wrong presents an opportunity for growth.

Take a good look at your name...
And then try to live up to it.