Originally posted by Erinaceous Sonickus:
i'm just surprised that a pro-gunner is even computer literate enough to converse in one of these here high tech chat rooms!
Actually, pro-gunners tend to be frightened, insecure people, which is why you find so many of them on the internet, where they feel anonymous. It must be a sad feeling to feel unsafe without a gun.
I think of the typical urban/suburban pro-gunner as a Bernard Goetz type, a pencil-neck geek carrying around a lifetime of supressed rage, who reacted to a mugging on the NYC subway by opening fire and emptying his gun into his would-be attackers on a fully loaded subway while they were sitting down, risking the lives of innocents. He approached one of them, already lying down and wounded, and said "You don't look too bad; here's another," before shooting him again. In short, Goetz was trying to kill solely to fulfill his own macho fantasies built on extreme lack of self-esteem.
The one person I've ever known to own an assault rifle was a guy filled with anger at the world who still lived with his mom despite being 35. I was sure we'd someday read about him going berzerk at someone's school.
Anyone who actually pays attention to gun crime in the District, rather than cowering in their bedroom in fear of fictional home invasions, knows that the overwhelming majority of gun crimes here are related to the drug trade. If you are not involved in the drug trade, your biggest risk of getting shot is a stray bullet -- a risk that adding Bernard Goetz types to the mix will only increase. We're all better off if such people stay at home with their moms in their gated communities, cradling their weapons in fear.