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Guns, Thoughts On
May. 29th, 2014 09:52 amI said yesterday I was going to post my thoughts about ConQuest. I find today that I don't have any. By that I mean I had a good time at the con, but the (few) items of note aren't of interest to the public. So, herewith a few thoughts about guns.
Thought #1- Who owns a gun
Per this survey, the number of households in the US that own a gun is down, and has been trending down for some time. We're currently down to 30% of homes with a gun. This makes some sense, in that we're becoming an urbanized society, and owning a gun in town is somewhat less practical.
It's common in "liberal" circles to say that the NRA is a lobbyist for gun manufacturers. This is not entirely true, but the survey above suggests that what keeps gun-makers in business isn't selling guns to new people but selling the same people more guns.
Thought #2- Buying guns
Related to point 1, above, guns don't really "wear out." My dad still shoots a shotgun that's older than I am, and we've both shot (and he's owned) guns made before WWII. With any sort of care, guns don't wear out and they don't really become obsolete. I personally haven't bought a new gun in years, for just this reason. So, again, for the gun-makers to stay in business, they need to persuade people to replace perfectly functional weapons for something that may be at best only marginally better. Screaming "buy it now before X takes it away!" may be a means to that end.
Thought #3 - guns on military bases
Historically, the US (like most) militaries does not have a lot of people running around "under arms" at their non-forward-deployed bases. This is for a lot of reasons which boil down to avoiding accidental shootings. Having said that, an unarmed base, or a base in which only the perimeter is armed, is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Simply put, infiltrate or crash the perimeter and shoot up the soft gooey center.
This problem is why Israeli troops are much more often seen carrying weapons. They face a terrorist threat, and don't have the luxury of defense in depth. In my writings, my military, which was created as an anti-terrorist force, will be more like the Israeli model.
Thought #1- Who owns a gun
Per this survey, the number of households in the US that own a gun is down, and has been trending down for some time. We're currently down to 30% of homes with a gun. This makes some sense, in that we're becoming an urbanized society, and owning a gun in town is somewhat less practical.
It's common in "liberal" circles to say that the NRA is a lobbyist for gun manufacturers. This is not entirely true, but the survey above suggests that what keeps gun-makers in business isn't selling guns to new people but selling the same people more guns.
Thought #2- Buying guns
Related to point 1, above, guns don't really "wear out." My dad still shoots a shotgun that's older than I am, and we've both shot (and he's owned) guns made before WWII. With any sort of care, guns don't wear out and they don't really become obsolete. I personally haven't bought a new gun in years, for just this reason. So, again, for the gun-makers to stay in business, they need to persuade people to replace perfectly functional weapons for something that may be at best only marginally better. Screaming "buy it now before X takes it away!" may be a means to that end.
Thought #3 - guns on military bases
Historically, the US (like most) militaries does not have a lot of people running around "under arms" at their non-forward-deployed bases. This is for a lot of reasons which boil down to avoiding accidental shootings. Having said that, an unarmed base, or a base in which only the perimeter is armed, is vulnerable to a terrorist attack. Simply put, infiltrate or crash the perimeter and shoot up the soft gooey center.
This problem is why Israeli troops are much more often seen carrying weapons. They face a terrorist threat, and don't have the luxury of defense in depth. In my writings, my military, which was created as an anti-terrorist force, will be more like the Israeli model.
