http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2015/12/21/voices-why-decided-buy-handgun/77693946/
>Here’s the thing: more than almost anyone, I know the devastation handguns can cause. As a journalist who has covered many mass shootings, I’ve watched families ripped apart by death. I’ve seen entire communities shattered because some jerk who couldn’t control himself decided to take out his anger on the world with a weapon.
>I have no illusions that I’m going to be the proverbial good guy with a gun. And even worse, I know the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself.
>I recognize that my decision doesn't make the best logical sense. My head knows that. On the other hand, we humans are emotional creatures, and this decision helps me feel better. Perhaps there's just some comfort in feeling like I'm taking action, even if all the statistics tell me I might actually just be making the problem worse
>What else should I do? Our politicians have demonstrated they aren’t actually serious about reducing gun violence in America. I mean, while we accept that car crashes kill about 30,000 people annually, at least there’s a serious effort underway to reduce that number. And at the same time, there does appear to be an actual belief around the world and in our own country that Americans are a soft target.
>It’s those innocent bystanders that have me worried. I’ve been in Aurora, in Roseburg, in Killeen. Time and time again, mass murderers have targeted groups that were unprepared to fight back. Soft targets. What a terrible phrase.
>For me, like for many people I’ve talked to, San Bernardino was the tipping point. As someone who goes to lots of community meetings and rallies, I’m all too aware of how vulnerable we are. A holiday party? Your co-workers? (For me, it started with movie theaters.) I’m not a fan of waiting for the next attack from a religious terrorist.
The pendulum always swings
>>28335750
is this what it takes to make people saddle up? a complete disillusion with the socially organized force and law enforcement?
>>28335874
If so, good thing we have both in droves.
>>28335750
>I know the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself.
How the hell can you feel that as a "risk"?
The gun turns out to be Chaos artifact that mind controls you into commiting suicide?
This faggot must really fear wearing a belt. Shoelaces even..
>"nyeeeugh, statistically I'm at risk, better be extra careful around this loose piece of string. I just might lose control and hang myself due to the convenient opportunity"
Gas the hipsters, WW3 now.
>>28335874
Probably, the understanding that the police are responders who cannot be everywhere and most likely don't give a damn about you.
It happened to me when I was 10 and saw two policemen in body armor refuse to step out of their patrol car when a homeless guy started slashing at people and it took one guy to tackle, disarm and start beating him and only then did they step in to arrest both.
>>28335968
Most journos have a history of depressiion so a problebly more accurate statement would be
> the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man with a history of depression living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself.
>>28335750
Was I supposed to get mad at this? Because I agree for the most part.
Dude learns that the world is an irreversibly shitty place and decides to not be a victim and take responsibility for himself.
>>28335750
>I know the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself.
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU FEEL THE RISK
IF YOU HAVE NO PLAN OR THOUGHT TO COMMIT SUICIDE YOU ARE NOT AT RISK TO DO SO, EVEN WITH A GUN IN YOUR HAND
FUCK
>>28336070
>>28336013
>>28335968
most people think that statistics cause things, instead of the other way around.
>>28335750
the hell game is that from, I think I used to have it
without hank obviously lol
>>28335968
>How the hell can you feel that as a "risk"?
It's not popular to talk about much in places like this, but just owning a firearm statistically increases your risk of suicide.
Because everything can be used as a weapon, but not everything can be turned on yourself in a moment of despair immediately without time to reflect on what the fuck you are doing.
>>28336079
Statistics sound good to peoplelthat don't read scientific papers
>>28336095
>not everything can be turned on yourself in a moment of despair immediately without time to reflect on what the fuck you are doing.
except that nobody just randomly up and shoots themselves for no reason. they actually have to be suicidal first.
>>28336079
That's what happens when you grow up in an environment so safe and so wealthy that you never feel hot or cold or threatened or uncomfortable in your entire life. Which is maybe a third of the country.
My godson's parents live in a million dollar house in Silicon Valley. After twenty years they still don't know their next door neighbors and hire strangers (or me) to house and or baby sit. The wife didn't know how to bake bread from scratch until I taught her. I have to sharpen their kitchen knives every time I come down, and best friend from high school dad maintains we need a nationwide assault ban even after I make him go to FBI.gov and show him we lose half as many people to rifle fire as fistfights.
These are the kinds of people who control our economy and the electoral college and our media and our schools.
>>28335874
law enforcement really aint shit. to me theyre basically meter maids with guns.
>be 4
>dindu comes to grandmothers door and pretends to be selling shit
>grandmother tells him to fuck off, in a polite grandmotherly way
>dindu loses it starts trying to kick the door in and cursing
>grandmother calls 911
>dont remember the response time but he was long gone
>had to tell them what the guy looked like
>they took report and nothing ever happened
>might possibly be dead if he was able to kick the door in
>she definitely didnt have a gun
>be 30
>find out debit card got cloned and used a home depot to get gift cards
>call bank when they cancelled the card
>tell me to file a police report
>call city where it was used at home depot and detective tells me to call the cops in my city
>forwhatpvrpose.jpg
>well son because you live in that city
>but the crime happened not in my city
>thats just the way we do this
>call my cities pd
>yea thats stupid ill file the report but to be quite honest family they arent going to investigate this even though they can get them on camera and they are obviously using pretty sophisticated equipment to clone and print credit cards out
>oh and we cant go up there to investigate because its out of our jurisdiction
>so youre telling me theres thieves going around stealing thousands of dollars a day and printing money and nobody cares
>pretty much
seriously fuck cops theyre useless
>>28336114
>muh sanity
Get over yourself. Even if you do have perfect mental health (hurr), a moment of darkness can come over anyone, from unexpected misfortune happening to them to things like injuries or PTSD. And if you think someone should have the mythical 'perfect mental health' before owning a firearm you need to go the fuck back to tumblr with the other shrieking pink sidecut fatties offended that other people have rights
>>28335750
>I know the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself
Why do people talk like this as if its some kind of mystic force that makes it happen? Im imagining some situation where hes forcing his hand away from his face trying to kill himself screaming NO NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Why is suicide even discussed when it comes to guns?
Its something you have 100% control of...
>>28336238
I have a friend going through something like that. Perfectly normal, happy guy. Got in a motorcycle accident, head injury. About a year later, he's dealing with some very bad depression and other things. His doctor said something like 80% of people who go through what he did develop severe depression from the injury, often a while after it happens.
>>28336262
emotional ninnies are never in control of themselves
>>28336262
>Its something you have 100% control of...
Fuck off and die
Mental health is NOT something you have 100% control of.
Fucking privileged college kids I fucking swear
Enlist and catch the horrors motherfuckers
>>28336320
Enlistment is something you do to yourself, welfare queen.
>>28336320
>Enlist and catch the horrors motherfuckers
Egglorg detected
>>28336095
>Owning a firearm increases your chances of suicide
>correlation equals causation
Speak for yourself, champ.
>>28335750
>I know the statistics that show I’m at risk, as a middle-age white man living in Colorado, of using the gun to kill myself
Maybe he should do just that.
>I’m not a fan of waiting for the next attack from a religious terrorist
Those damn Buddhist and Christians, always shooting up movie theaters and schools. And don't even get me started on the recent string Sihk bombings.
>>28336095
The times when I think about killing myself, gun is never a thought for purely fuck you libfag reasons. It's always femoral artery in the bathtub, or overdose. Fuck your statistics.
>>28336366
Oh come on. The problem isn't Islam, it's religion. FUCK RELIGION.
If you say that to yourself long enough, you believe it. You get to regard yourself as a noble and enlightened person, instead of an intellectual and moral coward who can't look the monster in the face because the idea that there are tens of millions of people who want you dead or enslaved scares you. So you don't look at it.
Libtards cannot admit The World Is The Way It Is and There's Nothing we Can Do. Doing so frightens the poor dears. I suspect the same coping mechanism lies behind the whole anthropogenic global warming agenda.
>>28336070
He's a self hating liberal being forced to admit he's wrong.
God the actual mental confusion I can taste from his edgy words is DELICIOUS.
>>28336406
I actually admire his courage in coming out of the closet. Publicly admitting you've got no alternative to being your own first responder -- especially when you're a member of the libtard-dominated press -- has to have been difficult for the simpering bastard.
>>28336397
>nothing can be done
This is why I respect reactionaries and not conservatives
>>28336320
you dumb dumb, he wasnt saying mental health is something you have 100% control of
but the CHOICE to actually commit suicide is 100% in your control, maybe you should attend a reading comprehension class family
>liberals who don't grab guns
>conservatives who don't hate gays
Now if we could just get them both to vote libertarian we could make America okay again
>>28336498
>make America okay again
I'd vote for you, and I hate gays.
>>28336397
What poll is that picture from? As the last Pew poll I saw had Muslim support for those in Turkey at 3.5% for stoning, 4.2% for corporal punishment, and 2% supporting death for apostasy.
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/the-worlds-muslims-religion-politics-society-beliefs-about-sharia/
>>28335968
>>28336095
This is actually true. Most suicides are impulsive, so making suicide slightly more of a pain in the ass reduces suicides. For some non-gun-related examples, using less poisonous domestic gas reduced suicides in Britain (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/) and mandating that acetaminophen be sold in blister packs instead of jars (so you have to spend a bunch of time fucking around with the little tearaway aluminum foil pouches if you want to OD) appears to have made a small dent as well. Best source for guns affecting the suicide rate is a paper by the impeccably libertarian Alex Tabarrok here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014481881300077X
Now, this is not necessarily a good argument against civilian gun ownership anymore than it's a good argument against civilian ownership of jars of 500 loose acetaminophen tablets. Bryan Caplan gets at something similar here: http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2013/11/gun_suicides_wh.html. But it's a touch disingenous to write off concerns about suicide rates by saying that people will just kill themselves anyway, because as plausible as that seems, it doesn't actually appear to be the case.
>>28336117
>tfw this is pretty much you
>tfw you're trying to undo this
It's an uphill battle.
>>28336397
>Oh come on. The problem isn't Islam, it's religion. FUCK RELIGION.
history proves this line of thought wrong so many times.
Spiritual binding to a higher order is essential to a society in the long term. Humans crave judgement.
>>28336238
Endorsed.
>>28336428
Yep.
>>28336742
soon you will have your god
and you will have created it, with your own hands
>>28336045
Why would you assume that it was posted to anger you?
>>28336386
Those are slow and painful, though.
Better to SVBIED into a black church or something.
>>28336386
http://www.amazon.com/Manning-Products-Inc-UE-12-Exterminator/dp/B0000BYDPE
On sale right now.
