First of all, yes, I have seen a gun, yes, I did fire one once (in college for a class), and yes, there is a gun owner in my family... or at least, there was. He's in prison right now, has been since I was a little kid (I can't even remember what he looks like), because he shot someone that was in his back yard. Granted, he wasn't a licensed gun owner, but still I think that should speak for himself. He's sitting in Elmira State Prison and won't be released for another year. and Vindicate, that happened in Brooklyn maybe an hour and a half from here. And because I'm such a pain in the rear, I went a few houses down to talk to one of my neighbors, Kevin Heslin, a police officer with the BPD, and HE told me that if you shoot someone that's breaking into your home, and they don't appear to be armed or pose a risk to harm you,
you will go to jail. Seeing as how he's a New York Police officer, I think he probably knows the law better than you do.
Let's get down to it now... I'm taking off the kiddy gloves because this arguement is getting rediculous and Vindicate got me riled up with what he said, which apparently isn't true since I have a real life police officer who told me just now that it wasn't (he say's "castle doctrine" isn't something he's heard before, I might add). Where I live, whenever you see a house broken into and some idiot with a shotgun protecting their turf on the news,
both of them, the criminal and the gun nut, go to prison. In fact, in my twenty five years of life, never have I heard of a New Yorker protecting their home and
not getting at least arrested for it. When you use violence against someone, you get charged just as they would for asserting violence on you. That's a fact, it's as simple as that. And if you don't have respect for the law, if you don't think the police are necessary and you can vigilantly protect your family yourself, then I sincerely hope you're never in a situation like that, because I'm willing to bet just about anything that under the pressure, 9 out of 10 of you will freeze like a rabbit in headlights... and where a cop could have saved your life and the lives of your family, you will have cost them, by being a moron who runs off to the rifle cabinet because you're trying to be a hero.
A few summers ago there was a break-in on Conklin Ave, a street on the other side of town. The burglar came in, un-armed, and the house's owner, a single woman around 40-ish or 50-ish, was home by herself. She heard the burglar, grabbed her LICENSED pistol, and shot the guy dead. Because she couldn't prove he armed, and because she couldn't prove he posed a serious threat to himself, she's was convicted of manslaughter. It was all over the news locally throughout the whole trial, and because this is new york, naturally everyone *had* to have their opinions heard... so every night on TV you had to see this arguement unfolding over and over and over again. But the gun people didn't have it their way... even though she was an older woman, by herself, and this guy *could* have raped her and murdered her (although as I recall he didn't have a previous record, which was the spark of some serious debate), she is doing hard time because she killed someone.
I'm fed up with people saying I wouldn't protect my family and all of that crap. I'd call the police, because when I pay taxes, I'm paying a small slice of their salaries so that in my time of need, trained professionals can save my life. And since I live in the third biggest city in New York State and just a short drive from one of the biggest cities in the world, and around here burglaries aren't really an every-day thing... then I'm sure the likeliness of you needing a firearm in a non-urban environment is slim to none.
Why is it that I've never met a serious gun fan in a major urban environment, and I've never met someone against guns in a rural area? I think at the end of the day, gun owners aren't all about protecting their homes... it's just a facade. They like to go hunting and/ or they like to feel like a tough guy because they own a rifle. But I highly doubt any of the gun owners in here would make that confession... I doubt that any of you ever purchased a gun to feel safe, and I highly doubt any of you have ever shot someone, or even shot *at* someone. I'm willing to bet that if any of you ever killed someone, you'd never touch a firearm again... that is, unless you're one Bruce Willis movie shy of becoming a serial killer or something.
"Hell is an Irish Pub where it's St. Patrick's Day all of the time." ~ Christopher, *The Soprano's*
