Monthly Archives: May 2014
Gay Rights VS Gun Rights: Which is more dangerous to society?
I feel like from the title alone I am going to get a mass of angry emails. But regardless of how many people decide to yell at me for this post, it still makes me wonder.
Reading this article before continuing may offer a better understanding of why I posted this and how I am making this connection: http://carm.org/is-homosexuality-dangerous
Total death by firearm (homicide, accidental, suicidal, and self-defense) each year is estimated at around 11,000 people, according to the CDC.
Also according to the CDC, there were almost 50,000 NEW cases of HIV/AIDS in the year 2011 alone and over 1.3 million people today who are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS (not including those who do not know they have it). The number of deaths associated with HIV/AIDS is estimated at 8,369 per year. To add to that, nearly 7,000 homosexual men die each year from HIV/AIDS. Then considering an additional 40,000-50,000 NEW cases each year, this only adds to the amount of homosexual men and women who will eventually die due to this disease. Aside from this, homosexuals and liberals are still putting ALL of their focus into allowing same-sex marriage because gay men and women should be allowed to EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT to love and marry anyone they want. Although, I don’t know where this ‘right’ came from. This is a right that they believe they have developed over the years, not necessarily a right that has been written down for government not to intervene.
Yes, the number of deaths by HIV/AIDS is still less than death by firearms. However, if you take out deaths from handguns, the death from rifles and shotguns combined is lower than the deaths from HIV/AIDS each year. Anyways, so let’s look at something else now- Suicide and self-harm are another factor. The Stonewall 2012 Survey discovered that 3% of gay men and 5% of bisexual men had attempted to take their own life, compared to only 0.4% of men in general. The rate for suicide is MUCH higher in homosexual men. When looking at self-inflicted harm, here are similar findings. 7% of gay and bisexual men had deliberately harmed themselves compared to only 3% of men in general, and in the 16- to 24-year-old age group, 15% of gay and bisexual men had harmed themselves compared to 7% of men in general.
Next we have murder, domestic violence, and hate crime.
In 2010, 6,628 hate crime incidents, involving 7,699 offenses
and 8,208 victims, were reported to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation by local law enforcement agencies.
So in 2010, there were a total of 8,208 victims of hate-inspired crime, 19.3% of which were geared towards sexual orientation. That means that in 2010, about 1,560 homosexuals were victims of hate crime. This number increased to 2,016 incidents reported and 25 homicides in 2012.
Now all of that aside, what is everyone doing in order to confront this issue and end violence against homosexuals? They are attacking the culture. They are attacking the “old-fashioned” view that being homosexual is wrong/dirty/sacrilegious. In general, America has an extremely violent culture which in turn leads individuals to resort to violence. We have homosexual awareness rallies, we have government funded screenings to help educate and prevent HIV/AIDS, and we have people encouraging them to EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS. Which, I’m sorry if this offends anyone but last time I checked ‘gay rights’ was not protected by the Constitution. At most, one could argue that the Constitution protects one’s privacy and even that’s a stretch. All in all, people are fighting for gay rights because people believe that we should have the right to make our own decisions. With guns, instead of attacking the culture, they are attacking the weapon and the people who own them. Tell me, if being homosexual is life-threatening and dangerous ALSO due to the increased risk of disease, suicide, depression/mental instability, and hate crime then why is owning a gun not approached in the same way?
This doesn’t make any sense to me. How can you expect us to support your choices and what you choose to do with your life, but want to restrict us from making choices of our own? We shouldn’t be attacking law-abiding gun owners. We should be attacking the culture that is encouraging people to act violently. We should be attacking the criminals who are hurting people. You’re attacking them for hurting homosexuals, why aren’t you attacking them for using a gun? Do you want to know why I have a gun? Because I KNOW this country is violent and I want to protect myself from it. I know we have criminals on the street with what seems to be the result of little consequences and being let out of jail early on ‘good behavior’. Would I need a gun if there was no murderers, rapists, or other horrible people out there? No. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have ever thought about getting one.
Whether or not I agree or disagree, support or don’t support homosexuality and same-sex marriage is not my point here. My point is that you are asking us to support your decision and your right when it kills a large number of people each year as well. My second point is that I don’t want to hear that you are in favor of gun-control because of the amount of gun-related deaths each year. If you are truly concerned about death, you wouldn’t support homosexuals yet you do anyway.
Sources:
http://fathersforlife.org/gay_issues/gay_hate_crimes.htm
http://gaylife.about.com/od/hatecrimes/a/statistics.htm
http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/statistics/
http://blogs.poz.com/peter/archives/2013/03/aids_kills_7000_gay_men_each_year.html
Anti-gun Journalist Admits Wife Wished for Gun When Criminal Struck
Anti-gun Journalist Admits Wife Wished for Gun When Criminal Struck
Don’t you just love titles like that? Putting my amusement aside, this is one of the main reasons I argue my point to anti-gun advocates.
Later on, Williams remarked, “Guns do not make me feel secure. Guns scare me. And it seems to me that we have an invitation here to have more guns.” –
This has been one of my main points since the get-go. People are afraid of guns. Seeing a gun when you know how to handle them properly doesn’t normally strike you with fear. Most of the time, you can tell if someone is trained or not simply by how they are holding their gun, what their stance is like, etc. Having this knowledge and educating yourself on proper gun handling and training could save your life, so why are people afraid of it? Because people are afraid of what they don’t understand and what they’ve never done. Think back to when you first learned to drive a car. Did the thought of having NO idea what you were doing freak you out a bit? It sure did for me! Driving now has become second nature. The same thing happens with a gun.
Secondly, once people realize that they CAN be victims of crime, they start to look at the world in a whole new light. My post yesterday about the naked man attacking a woman through her sunroof– did you listen to her in the video? She was sobbing, saying how afraid she was now because she didn’t know that could happen to her. She also commented that this incident has made her more aware of her surroundings. Now think back to the post I put about a week ago on my own personal experience. I was just some care-free college student walking around alone in a dark parking lot at night. Did I think anything could happen to me? No. Do I realize now that I could be attacked at any moment? Yes, because things happen. Attackers don’t come after you when they feel that you are aware that they’re there. Now this lady. She had her back turned and was messing with her credit card. Boom. Her car was stolen. LUCKILY she wasn’t hurt. Things like this could happen to me or you or anyone else at any moment. Call me paranoid, I don’t really care.
Carrying a gun is for YOUR safety. Studies have shown that carrying a gun actually makes your attacker LESS likely to target you.
The work of Florida State Professor of Criminology Gary Kleck determined that “[r]obbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all.”
Ohio School District Trains Staff On Responding to a Shooter
A school in Sidney, OH has given their staff proper training and access to firearms in the event of an emergency or school shooting. This Ohio school district has also trained their staff on how to use a Trauma Kit.
I think this is a good step forward. Some of the other school districts in surrounding areas do not feel the need for these kits because they believe they are already prepared to handle an emergency situation. Though this may be true, my stance is that you can never be too prepared. Emergency trauma kits are good for a number of reasons. They’re more sanitary and usually offer more supplies than a traditional first aid kit. Another reason being that in most emergency situations, especially in a shooting, staff and/or students may not be able to make it to seek medical attention from the school nurse.
Proper firearms and medical training in our school system can make a world of a difference. Kudos Sidney, Ohio.
Colorado Springs Student In Trouble For Drawing a Gun for His Assignment
Second grader Kody Smith was told to go outside and look at the clouds. His assignment was to use his imagination and draw what he saw. Sadly for this 8 year-old, he didn’t get the memo that guns weren’t allowed even on paper.
Because Kody drew a picture of a gun, his teacher called him to the front office and filed a behavior report.
This is the picture that Kody drew:
Scary isn’t it? It’s SO life-like!
Obviously, this child’s parents were concerned and upset because Kody did exactly what he was told to do for this assignment. His report states that he was being disruptive to the entire learning community. But wait for it- his parents were then told that this report would not be filed with his permanent record because “the student’s education was never distrupted.” Ok, so then why did he get in trouble in the first place?
This is brainwashing at it’s finest. Now this kid will be afraid of guns because he will associate them with getting him in trouble.
You can read the full article as well as watch the news report at KKTV.com
And You Say Gun Owners Are Paranoid?
Short, sweet, and makes a good point. Found this in an article while I was doing my daily digging.
This is just great:
Let me see if I have this straight
You want to control:
What kind of gun I can own
How many I can own
How many I can buy in a month
Who I can sell a gun I own to
What color the gun can be
How loud it can be
How quiet it can be
How inexpensive it can be
Where i can carry it
Where I can carry it
What States I can drive through with a gun
How many rounds it can hold
How many rounds I can own
Where I can buy the rounds
A master list of what guns I own with serial numbers
The publishing of my name and address in the newspaper for owning a gun
My ability to have a voice supporting pro-gun laws and candidates for office
Where I can store my guns
How I can store my guns
How you can verify my compliance
How much training I need to have
How much I should have to pay the government to exercise a “right”
what businesses I can frequent
And you are quite sure I’M the paranoid one?
Naked Man Jumps Into Sunroof And Attacks Innocent Woman
Dallas police are investigating a shocking attack by a naked man who dove through a car’s open sunroof before assaulting the female driver,” wfaa.com reports. “‘A naked man jumped in,’ she told us, asking us to protect her identity. ‘He jumped in my car and he started attacking me . . . He started choking me, pulling my hair, pulling my eyes, and I couldn’t do anything,’ she said. As he clawed at her, the car skidded. Dallas police were there and tried to call the man off her, until they crashed. ‘I don’t know how much longer that attack would have lasted if [the police] weren’t there,’ the woman said.”
You may want to have a gun in your car. You know, just in case some crazy naked man wants to attack you through your sunroof. Wait..What? Come on Texas! You’re embarrassing me!
As funny as this story is (minus the woman getting attacked), it just goes to show that unexpected things happen because people are crazy. Being prepared at all times and being aware of your surroundings could save your life. She’s lucky the police were so close by.
Hair Dryer or Revolver?
I would probably scare more poor husband with this thing..
Should Women Purchase Pink Guns?
I guess my constant Google searches and endless hours of looking at guns for sale has finally caught up to me. I am getting emails, tweets, phone calls, and Pinterest links sent to me with “Girly Guns”.
I have to say I have some mixed feelings about the bedazzled and painted guns that seem to only target female gun owners on the web and in stores. Because of these feelings, I have tried to think of why I like and dislike the idea of having a pink gun or something covered in rhinestones. I have also tried to look into why it is women are interested in these designs.
I believe that a lot of women (not all) search for guns that look ‘less scary’. Picking up a small pink gun the size of your hand almost doesn’t register in your brain that you are holding a deadly weapon. Which makes me wonder- if you aren’t recognizing it as a dangerous weapon, would your attacker? This is one of the reasons that I have a bit of hesitation in purchasing a decorated gun. I don’t ever want to give my attacker any indication that I am not serious about defending myself or that my weapon is “too girly” to do any harm to a man, even if that isn’t true.
The next reason I think that women flock to these guns is because they are more ‘fashionable’ or ‘pretty’. To me, a gun is not something you sport around on your hip just to look good or feel pretty. Carrying a gun is serious business and needs to be treated like such. The other thing that I am confused about is a lot of these guns are meant for concealed carry. If you are meaning to keep it hidden from someone, then why choose a weapon designed to stick out? Now some women wear a TON of pink. In that case, I guess a pink concealed carry gun is probably a good choice. In the case that you are trying to hide in a dark corner somewhere, I have some concerns that a bright colored or bedazzled gun may give away my position if light catches it.
Another reason women lean towards this purchase is because it shows men that “this isn’t my husbands gun, it’s mine”. I have talked to a lot of women who feel empowered by having a gun that is unmistakably their’s. Heck, more power to them.
Let me dig a little deeper here. It’s not the little pink and black handguns that really bother me. It is more the “My Little Pony” and the “Hello Kitty” guns that I can’t stand.
Another issue I have with these is they look like toys. If something looks like a toy, it is pretty much assumed that it will be treated like a toy. If not by you, then possibly by a child. That being said, if not taught by their parents, any child could pick up a gun thinking it’s a toy.
Now to my biggest issue. I think that the way pink guns are being marketed towards women is a bit ridiculous, and quite frankly I think that is the main reason they bother me. It’s as if some believe women are only attracted to the style and color of the weapon and not to the fact that it’s a firearm. There has been one occasion where I was looking at a gun and was encouraged to go with the pink gun instead of a black one. To me, I felt like the man thought that I knew nothing about guns and would want that one just because it’s ‘pretty’. I then asked him “why this one over that one?” while pointing at the PX4 I had been wanting. He starred at me for a couple of seconds and then said “well because this one is popular with our female customers”. Wrong answer dude. Someone once phrased it “It’s as if I was looking at a car and the salesmen shows me the vanity mirror with pretty lights when I was about to ask a question about the engine”. That is exactly how I felt. I mean seriously now, guys do you have this problem? I don’t think so.
Finally, I feel like a lot of the negativity that goes towards pink guns is one of the main reasons that I haven’t considered purchasing one. Why do a lot of the guys tend to laugh at the women who walk into a range with an ‘unmanly gun’? I surely don’t want to fall into this stereotype that women are weak and can’t own a ‘real’ gun. On the other hand, how would it make these guys feel having this pink gun wind up in the evidence tray for their case after getting shot? Yea.. I don’t think they’d feel too good about that one.
All in all, I have come to the conclusion that it’s just a color. It by no means determines whether or not a woman is weak. It by no means takes away from the damage that the gun can do. Heck, it’s a ‘man’ gun with a coat of paint on top of it. Now will I ever purchase a pink gun? Probably not. Pink isn’t really my thing. But will I NEVER buy any colored gun? I wouldn’t go that far. This Tiffany Blue rifle is pretty cool 🙂
Selecting A Handgun: Women’s Perspective
I think it’s a pretty decent video for women who are looking to purchase a handgun. It’s always good to do your research to figure out exactly what you’re looking for. Also, ALWAYS shoot the gun before you purchase it. Most shooting ranges will have rentals that you can use to make sure that the gun you are shooting is comfortable for you.
High Heels and Handguns 