Be very nice to fellow employees, starting July 1.

[JustaLocal]

You know, if someone asked me to pick 10 friends or acquaintances to carry around a sealed vial of anthrax around with them for a year I'd have a hard time coming up with a list of people I'd trust with that kind of responsibility. I bet most people would. But if the deadly item is a gun, so many people are so gung-ho that everyone have the right to walk around with the power to dole out death (and by default provide others with that same access by virtue of the gun's presence).

I do not get your analogy. How is a sealed vial of anthrax like a gun? It can kill? So can automobiles but we allow just about anyone to drive one.

Okay. I am not anti-gun. The right to protect oneself with the latest technology available is a sure sign of a free society. The problem is, unlike days of old, we do not educate people in the proper use and care. My granpappy educated me. And, if you choose to believe her, Hillary's granpappy educated her, of course that is another thread I will jump into later.

The problem with this legislation is I am also very pro property rights. I really believe that the employer should be allowed to impose rules against this if desired.

Couldn't the employer just make the parking lot off limits except when arriving or leaving?

Apparently we are in that society now. If people feel the need to 'pack the heat' then let them take the chance, why encourage it by making it legal. If they behave themselves then no one would be the wiser. If they do not behave, then everyone would immediately know that a crazy was armed and on the loose. Under the take your gun to work, or school, laws the gunman at V. Tech would have looked like a normal student, i.e. armed and attending class. No matter what once the fire fight started with all the armed people it would be a free for all. How many dead kids would we have then.

All in all, as much as I hate smoking, I would much prefer someone sitting next to me in class armed with a cigarette, funny or otherwise, than a Glock.

I don't think encouraging people to break the law is a good solution. I remember when you could carry an unconcealed firearm. I had a friend that wore his gun on belt holster "old-west" style. I don't recall there being a huge problem with crazy people engaging in mass murder and mayhem. Maybe there was more personal responsibility then.

 

[rapunzel]

All this talk about granddads teaching gun safety is adorable. So I'm wondering, am I the only person on this board who's ever actually shot someone?

 

[chrisv]

All this talk about granddads teaching gun safety is adorable. So I'm wondering, am I the only person on this board who's ever actually shot someone?

And here I was all enamored with your talk of the armed citizenry fighting tyrannical government and about to invite you and Skunky to the range to shoot a few 'Homeland Defense Rifles'; maybe fire a suppressed pistol. I'm just scared, now!

 

[rapunzel]

I do not get your analogy. How is a sealed vial of anthrax like a gun? It can kill? So can automobiles but we allow just about anyone to drive one.

Well, there are many other good uses for a car. Killing isn't it's primary purpose. Like a gun, a vial of anthrax can be used for a deterrent effect, or to kill. Anthrax doesn't work well for hunting, but neither does a handgun.

 

[Smiling JOe]

The only people I know who shot someone committed suicide, though I've been blasted with bird shot from across the field on many occasions. Who did you shoot, Punzy?

 

[Mango]

All this talk about granddads teaching gun safety is adorable. So I'm wondering, am I the only person on this board who's ever actually shot someone?

That was you? not Cheney?

 

[Smiling JOe]

I really don't get the Anthrax analogy because if you opening a vile of anthrax is more like strapping a bomb to one's self, where as carrying a gun has less exposure risk. Anthrax can grow and spread throughout the country or world, where as the bullet slows down and eventually stops, only after being fired from the gun. Guns are very limited on the number of rounds in a gun and the gun can be directed toward a singular target, and doesn't have to be aimed at vital organs. Anthrax kills indiscriminately, without being able to single out a particular target.

 

[rapunzel]

And here I was all enamored with your talk of the armed citizenry fighting tyrannical government and about to invite you and Skunky to the range to shoot a few 'Homeland Defense Rifles'; maybe fire a suppressed pistol. I'm just scared, now!

I learned the hard way to be very scared around guns.

I did an internship with a regional planning group, and it was housed in an antebellum Greek Revival. I dated the Preservation Planner, and he was charged with keeping the very old house in good condition. There were pigeons roosting in the top of one of the Corinthian columns that were hand carved from single old growth pine trunks. The columns were the most unique feature of the house, but had been designed to actually support the weight of half the roof, and had drainage going through them. They had rot issues, and the pigeon poop was somehow a major threat.

So, the boyfriend (son of an ATF agent, I kid you not) gets his small rifle and take it up to the building on a Sunday. From my convertible, he shoots one pigeon from off the column. The pigeon plummets 25 feet to the ground with a horrid thump, then stands, looks me directly in the eye for about 30 seconds, then makes this horrible agonized sound, and finally falls over and dies. I tell the boyfriend that the pigeon suffered and I will not be a party to this. The boyfriend scoffs at my pity for the flying rat, and takes aim. I grab the barrel and shove it down not realizing he's about to pull the trigger. The bullet went into his thigh.

I drive as fast as possible to the ER (it was really close) while he insists he's okay and doesn't need to go to the hospital. We pull up to the entrance just as he goes into shock. I run into the ER and announce, "I need help, I shot my boyfriend and he's fainted in the parking lot." Did you know they always call the police in such instances? I was only trying to end the needless suffering of the pigeons!

The boyfriend turned out to be okay. They left the bullet in his leg, it had gone all the way to the bone. The only lasting damage was to his pride, because when the boyfriend's ATF dad found out about the incident...well, he sort of went off on the whole "you were raised with better gun safety knowledge."

So, that how I learned not to grab a gun someone is in the act of firing. It's a good lesson. Tell the kids.

 

[Alicia Leonard]

I learned the hard way to be very scared around guns.

I did an internship with a regional planning group, and it was housed in an antebellum Greek Revival. I dated the Preservation Planner, and he was charged with keeping the very old house in good condition. There were pigeons roosting in the top of one of the Corinthian columns that were hand carved from single old growth pine trunks. The columns were the most unique feature of the house, but had been designed to actually support the weight of half the roof, and had drainage going through them. They had rot issues, and the pigeon poop was somehow a major threat.

So, the boyfriend (son of an ATF agent, I kid you not) gets his small rifle and take it up to the building on a Sunday. From my convertible, he shoots one pigeon from off the column. The pigeon plummets 25 feet to the ground with a horrid thump, then stands, looks me directly in the eye for about 30 seconds, then makes this horrible agonized sound, and finally falls over and dies. I tell the boyfriend that the pigeon suffered and I will not be a party to this. The boyfriend scoffs at my pity for the flying rat, and takes aim. I grab the barrel and shove it down not realizing he's about to pull the trigger. The bullet went into his thigh.

I drive as fast as possible to the ER (it was really close) while he insists he's okay and doesn't need to go to the hospital. We pull up to the entrance just as he goes into shock. I run into the ER and announce, "I need help, I shot my boyfriend and he's fainted in the parking lot." Did you know they always call the police in such instances? I was only trying to end the needless suffering of the pigeons!

The boyfriend turned out to be okay. They left the bullet in his leg, it had gone all the way to the bone. The only lasting damage was to his pride, because when the boyfriend's ATF dad found out about the incident...well, he sort of went off on the whole "you were raised with better gun safety knowledge."

So, that how I learned not to grab a gun someone is in the act of firing. It's a good lesson. Tell the kids.

I had no idea you shot a man in Reno

Punzy, I'll just vote for whoever you tell me to, ok?:shock:

 

[rapunzel]

I really don't get the Anthrax analogy because if you opening a vile of anthrax is more like strapping a bomb to one's self, where as carrying a gun has less exposure risk. Anthrax can grow and spread throughout the country or world, where as the bullet slows down and eventually stops, only after being fired from the gun. Guns are very limited on the number of rounds in a gun and the gun can be directed toward a singular target, and doesn't have to be aimed at vital organs. Anthrax kills indiscriminately, without being able to single out a particular target.

Anthrax is like Ebola -- it kills to quickly to spread very far...and I guess whether or not it kills it's handler depends on how good their throwing arm is...

And with that, I am done defending that analogy.