Guns

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Jan 9, 2018
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Anyone own guns?
Do you like guns?

Yes....this is Texas; everyone owns guns.


Including long arms, pistols & antique collectibles, our household owns 47 guns total.

Do I “like” guns?.......Hmmm, I see guns as more of a “tool” of sorts. Great for protecting myself & family against intruders & burglars, and for hunting animals for food. So I suppose I could answer yes.

They are useful & very effective, so they must be handled & discharged with care & respect. Everyone in our family has taken & received proper safety training & is familiar with using a gun.
 

Todd

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Apr 16, 2017
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Yes....this is Texas; everyone owns guns.


Including long arms, pistols & antique collectibles, our household owns 47 guns total.

Do I “like” guns?.......Hmmm, I see guns as more of a “tool” of sorts. Great for protecting myself & family against intruders & burglars, and for hunting animals for food. So I suppose I could answer yes.

They are useful & very effective, so they must be handled & discharged with care & respect. Everyone in our family has taken & received proper safety training & is familiar with using a gun.
Unless you hunt animals for food the only practical intent of owning a firearm is to do harm to another person. You can justify protection, but unless you sit around every night with a rifle in your hand or keep a pistol under your pillow in the bed, what is the likely hood one of those 47 firearms (that you claim are handled with care and respect, so assume a gun locker or safe) are going to be directly at your disposal if an inturder enters your home?

For someone who is too lazy to look up hebrew or greek word meanings, and trusts God that he miraculously kept the translators form making mistakes in the King James Bible, taking safety courses and handling guns with care and respect seems like an awful lot of work when you could just trust God to protect you. LOL!

A gun is tool that you will learn how to use to protect yourself, but you won't bother to learn how to use a concordance or lexicon to understand the original intent of the authors of the Bible?
 
Joined
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Messages
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Unless you hunt animals for food the only practical intent of owning a firearm is to do harm to another person. You can justify protection, but unless you sit around every night with a rifle in your hand or keep a pistol under your pillow in the bed, what is the likely hood one of those 47 firearms (that you claim are handled with care and respect, so assume a gun locker or safe) are going to be directly at your disposal if an inturder enters your home?

For someone who is too lazy to look up hebrew or greek word meanings, and trusts God that he miraculously kept the translators form making mistakes in the King James Bible, taking safety courses and handling guns with care and respect seems like an awful lot of work when you could just trust God to protect you. LOL!

A gun is tool that you will learn how to use to protect yourself, but you won't bother to learn how to use a concordance or lexicon to understand the original intent of the authors of the Bible?
We have a little room underground that we access beneath our stairs that is a tornado shelter that doubles as an armory where we store most of the guns & ammo. We keep a few loaded pistols, revolvers and other handguns accessible in a safe in my husband’s closet in our bedroom.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he keeps one above our bed, too, because our bed frame has a super tall headboard that almost goes up to the crown molding that would be perfect to store a loaded gun that he could access quickly at night but that no one else could reach (he’s 6’7”). We have the safety on every loaded gun in the house.

Yes, my husband made us all take gun safety & shooting courses because he wanted our kids to feel comfortable around guns and know how to use them properly and understand that they are not toys.

My father already taught me this when I was a kid, but it never hurts to get a refresher. Plus, aim is something that can always be improved, especially when firing different guns, as discharging a .22 is obviously VERY different than say firing from a double barrel shotgun.

What does ANY of this have ANYTHING to do with the Bible I read though, Todd??
 

Awoken2

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Jan 22, 2018
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47 guns does seem quite a lot for a normal family to own, I mean there are official guerrilla groups with less combined arms.

It could easily be construed that you were actually preparing for something if you live above a well stocked armoury.

....is a gay pride march going.past your house soon?.....

.....only kidding....couldn't resist, what with your comments on homo's n stuff.
 
Joined
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Messages
1,367
Unless you hunt animals for food the only practical intent of owning a firearm is to do harm to another person. You can justify protection, but unless you sit around every night with a rifle in your hand or keep a pistol under your pillow in the bed, what is the likely hood one of those 47 firearms (that you claim are handled with care and respect, so assume a gun locker or safe) are going to be directly at your disposal if an inturder enters your home?

For someone who is too lazy to look up hebrew or greek word meanings, and trusts God that he miraculously kept the translators form making mistakes in the King James Bible, taking safety courses and handling guns with care and respect seems like an awful lot of work when you could just trust God to protect you. LOL!

A gun is tool that you will learn how to use to protect yourself, but you won't bother to learn how to use a concordance or lexicon to understand the original intent of the authors of the Bible?
I do trust God to protect us, as we haven’t had a single break-in, so thankfully I have not had to draw a gun on anyone. I would never point a gun at anyone unless they somehow disarmed our security systems & broke into my house (which is always locked) and threatened my or my children’s lives & I had no time to call the police. It is a final resort to protect our lives.

That is the ONLY situation where I would draw a gun on someone.

If someone is stupid enough to break in, threatening the lives of my family & it is us or them, I would not hesitate to defend my family.

At that point, I would definitely shoot them, and I would aim for the heart, so I knew they wouldn’t get back up. Then I would call the police & notify them. It is NOT a crime to defend yourself in your own home.

However, I sincerely hope I never have to, because I do NOT want to know what it feels like to take someone else’s life.

To claim that people only own guns because they plan to murder people in cold blood is a complete crock of communist lies.

That’s like saying every person with a set of kitchen knives is secretly moonlighting as Jack the Ripper.

Get real.

And just because I am a Christian, that doesn’t mean owning guns is a sin; it is NOT.

Even the apostles carried swords to protect themselves.

Get off your high horse, Todd.
 

Todd

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We have a little room underground that we access beneath our stairs that is a tornado shelter that doubles as an armory where we store most of the guns & ammo. We keep a few loaded pistols, revolvers and other handguns accessible in a safe in my husband’s closet in our bedroom.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he keeps one above our bed, too, because our bed frame has a super tall headboard that almost goes up to the crown molding that would be perfect to store a loaded gun that he could access quickly at night but that no one else could reach (he’s 6’7”). We have the safety on every loaded gun in the house.

Yes, my husband made us all take gun safety & shooting courses because he wanted our kids to feel comfortable around guns and know how to use them properly and understand that they are not toys.

My father already taught me this when I was a kid, but it never hurts to get a refresher. Plus, aim is something that can always be improved, especially when firing different guns, as discharging a .22 is obviously VERY different than say firing from a double barrel shotgun.

What does ANY of this have ANYTHING to do with the Bible I read though, Todd??
I thought it made it quite clear, but I will explain again only because your asked. When it comes to understanding the bible, which you say your faith is based upon, and I would think is a top priority in your life, you are too lazy to learn how to use a concordance and a lexicon in an attempt to learn anything about the language the Bible was originally written in, or at least look up the meaning of certain
key words to have a better idea of what the orginal author was actually saying. Instead you trust that God miraculously guided the hands of the translators that were commisioned by a wordly leader with political motivations to acccurately and perfectly translate it for you. When evidence is placed in front of you, proving the translators did not accurately translate the meaning of the original words you bury your head in the sand and spout your KJV only-ism nonsense and ignore the facts in front of you.

However when it comes to Gun's, you have made it prefectly clear how important a priority it is to learn and go on and on about the safety and shooting courses that you have taken and made your whole family take. It strange to me that you aren't willing to make similar efforts to understand the original meaning of greek and hebrew words, expecially when the study tools are so readily available these days to make it fairly easy to do.

Wihtout putting words in your mouth, it creates the appearance that you are more willing to put effort into understanding guns than understanding the word of God.

Guns should have very little practical use for a follower of Jesus. I don't have a problem with Christians using guns for sport (target shooting or hunting), but I don't buy the self-defense argument as a legitimate reason for a Christian to own a gun or keep loaded weapons around the house.

I was simply contrasting the fact that you can trust God to protect his word through the translation process, so you don't have to do the work to study greek and hebrew yourself, but you don't trust God to protect and keep your family safe. You feel it's something you must take into your own hands and trust in a firearm/weapon to protect you.

How often has any of your family members even come close to needing to use a firearm for self-defense? All the safety and shooting courses in the world aren't going to prepare you for the actual act of using a gun for self-defense or the aftermath consequences of following through with it. Anyways this is a discussion forum. I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, just curious about the mentality of a Christian being so passionate about firearms for self defense.
 

Todd

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@Claire Rousseau, we were obviously typing at the sametime. As you can see I was not accusing you of anything wrong or sin. Just curious about what appears to me to be strange priorities for a follower of Christ.

Yes the disciples carried swords and when they tried to use them in self defense, Jesus rebuked them. I am not aware of any evidence that the Apostles carried weapons after pentecost though. Did Steven draw a sword in self defense before he was stoned?
 
Joined
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47 guns does seem quite a lot for a normal family to own, I mean there are official guerrilla groups with less combined arms.

It could easily be construed that you were actually preparing for something if you live above a well stocked armoury.

....is a gay pride march going.past your house soon?.....

.....only kidding....couldn't resist, what with your comments on homo's n stuff.
LOL @ the gay pride comment! :D

Nah, I would never actually harm a homo. It’s not my place & I have no right to take another person’s life (that isn’t directly & physically threatening my own in my home).

Obviously I don’t like homos, but that is for God to deal with, not me. I’m opposed to vigilante justice & am a “live & let live” person.

47 may seem like a lot, but over half of those (or more) are not actually functional.....my husband is a history & war memorabilia collector so many of them are antique Civil War era models that he has mounted in display cases with corresponding info (battles they were used in, prominent militia that owned them, etc.) that no one is allowed to touch because he doesn’t want to decrease their “value”, lol.

Most people in Texas have quite a lot of guns. It’s actually very common. Texans are big supporters of the 2nd Amendment, and there are lots of avid hunters and fishers here.

Texans are also some of the most welcoming & hospitable people, too. Very community/family-oriented & ready to lend a hand when needed. Our city (which borders 2 larger suburban cities) has a population of roughly 17,000....there’s a beautiful, huge community garden that is always open & people are always there tending to the crops, planting, weeding, etc. At harvest time, it is split up so everyone gets a small share and there is a “blessing box” that is always open for those who are struggling financially or have fallen on hard times, to come whenever they want and take what they need without judgement or restrictions. It is constantly replenished with produce from the garden, as well as canned goods, pasta, diapers & toiletries by those who are doing well financially, which is most of us, as we are an upper middle class neighborhood.

Basically, we try to all pitch in, take care of & look after each other (especially the elderly & disabled) as neighbors should.

Compare that to a place like New York City, where virtually nobody (besides police & criminals) owns guns, the people are cold, rude and generally suspicious & distrusting of each other. I guess they have to be since they have no way to protect themselves or their family.
 

DUSTY

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Jun 30, 2019
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265
I won't discuss what I own, but yes ... guns are fun to shoot and for many people are a part of their home safety system.
I fully support the 2nd Amendment rights of people, who aren't mentally ill, to own guns to protect themselves.
AND a well armed population is a stumbling block to an out of control fascist/totalitarian government taking over.
 

justjess

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LOL @ the gay pride comment! :D

Nah, I would never actually harm a homo. It’s not my place & I have no right to take another person’s life (that isn’t directly & physically threatening my own in my home).

Obviously I don’t like homos, but that is for God to deal with, not me. I’m opposed to vigilante justice & am a “live & let live” person.

47 may seem like a lot, but over half of those (or more) are not actually functional.....my husband is a history & war memorabilia collector so many of them are antique Civil War era models that he has mounted in display cases with corresponding info (battles they were used in, prominent militia that owned them, etc.) that no one is allowed to touch because he doesn’t want to decrease their “value”, lol.

Most people in Texas have quite a lot of guns. It’s actually very common. Texans are big supporters of the 2nd Amendment, and there are lots of avid hunters and fishers here.

Texans are also some of the most welcoming & hospitable people, too. Very community/family-oriented & ready to lend a hand when needed. Our city (which borders 2 larger suburban cities) has a population of roughly 17,000....there’s a beautiful, huge community garden that is always open & people are always there tending to the crops, planting, weeding, etc. At harvest time, it is split up so everyone gets a small share and there is a “blessing box” that is always open for those who are struggling financially or have fallen on hard times, to come whenever they want and take what they need without judgement or restrictions. It is constantly replenished with produce from the garden, as well as canned goods, pasta, diapers & toiletries by those who are doing well financially, which is most of us, as we are an upper middle class neighborhood.

Basically, we try to all pitch in, take care of & look after each other (especially the elderly & disabled) as neighbors should.

Compare that to a place like New York City, where virtually nobody (besides police & criminals) owns guns, the people are cold, rude and generally suspicious & distrusting of each other. I guess they have to be since they have no way to protect themselves or their family.
Well I’m a bit offended.... people in nyc aren’t generally cold rude suspicious or distrusting and that isn’t a really fair characterization.... nyc is definately a rat race and any traces of those things you might see (im going to have to assume most of this opinion is influenced by media) is due to that, not due to a lack of guns.

As for guns. Yes I own some. Yes I like them. But I also live in a place with a police response time of like 30 minutes (if any police are even on shift) and where everybody else is armed. I didn’t own guns when I lived in nyc or nj - I could’ve it was a process but not impossible - because no one else had them and the police would be at my house in 2 minutes if I needed them. Different cultures and different needs.

Guns are a nuanced topic. People definately should have the means to protect themselves on the one hand, on the other there are enough people grossly misusing them that a blanket free for all isn’t right either.
 
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