Menage à Trois Bingo

The altfriday5 comes up with some questions today that bring up something I've been meaning to write about for a while. I'm not sure I can marshal my thoughts properly, but today's as good a day as any to give it a try.

Growing up, I never encountered a gun other than in the newspaper or in movies, and they were always something "bad people" had and used in bad ways, or which killed innocent and ignorant children in preventable accidents. I was afraid of them. When I met and married Ray, he had a family history as a hunter of deer and owned a couple of rifles. At first I insisted that I did not want any firearm in our house, but eventually I relented and let him buy and keep a deer rifle as long as the weapon was kept unloaded and the ammunition kept locked away. I never touched or fired it, though.

One year, we went to visit my uncle and aunt in southern Missouri, and he got out his rifle collection. Everybody (well, Ray, my dad, and me, along with my uncle and cousins) did some target shooting in their yard. I was greatly amused to find that I did better than Ray did even though that was the first time I'd ever shot at anything. (No, I take that back. I had used an air pistol at a company picnic when we were living in England. But it was still the first time with actual bullets.) Still, I remained the stereotypical "gun control liberal" for a long time after that. I never understood the need to have weapons in the house, and I was still afraid of firearms in the abstract. I voted against Missouri's concealed carry law. But now I'm considering getting a permit under that very same law.

It's been a slow change of opinion, in large part due to proximity to ohari. He owned a number of guns when I met him--and has even more now--and has been very patiently teaching me how they work and how to use them. We've gone to the range a number of times to practice, although my aim is still terrible. I think the pistol match we went to this summer was also enlightening. So many people walking around with loaded weapons, and I was clearly as safe there as I ever am anywhere.

I'm slowly finding that my childhood fears were unfounded, and learning to think of a firearm in a similar way to any other dangerous tool. I am also discovering that there *are* some--very few--things worth killing for. (That is a higher standard than 'worth dying for', in my book. I do pray that I never have to do either.) I think having a baby was the beginning of that. I used to warn Ray while I was pregnant that I was going to be a lioness mommy, and it's proved to be true.

Also, this newer attitude fits better with my general principles about the world. I have always believed strongly (and ever more so since 9/11/01) that our individual freedoms should not be infringed in order to protect us from the few people who might take advantage of their freedom to do harm to others. I believe it's better that a few people get away with doing ill than that the majority be restricted to prevent them.

From the altfriday5:

1. Have you ever fired a firearm at a target or other inanimate object? Why or why not?

Yes.

2. Have you ever fired a firearm at a living entity (animal or human)? Why or why not?

No. I would kill an animal for food if I had no other way of getting it, but I prefer my meat to come from the supermarket cleaned and packaged. I would only shoot at a human being if I meant to kill them, and I'd only do that to defend my family against a deadly harm. Property is not one of the things worth killing for; family are.

3. Have you ever owned a firearm? Why or why not?

Personally, no, although I may someday. We have a number of weapons in the house, and I've practiced with a few of them. I'm liking the way Tammie's Glock fits just nice into my hands.

4. Do you feel that there should be restrictions on what types of firearms people can own? What should the restrictions be (ranging from "none available" to "no restrictions")?

I'm waffly on this; I've moved away from "no one should ever own a firearm" and I haven't quite figured out where the new line is. I think there really is no demonstrable need for anything more than a ten-or-fifteen shot weapon for home defense. If you can't eliminate the threat to your family with ten shots, you ain't gonna. General availability of bigger badder weapons brings on the potential problem of arms escalation.

5. What do you feel a person should have to do or be in order to purchase a firearm (ranging from "it should be impossible" to "walk to the corner store")?

Be a generally law-abiding human being with no demonstrated tendency to violent crime (no violent felonies, no domestic abuse). You have to have a license to drive a car, so it makes sense to require a license to operate a handgun and/or rifle. Prove some level of capability wrt safety of handling and accuracy of use.