If you have a particular encounter with another citizen or LEO, post it here.
 #105284  by dave_in_delaware
 
A few weeks ago, an acquaintance and I started talking one evening after work. The conversation eventually came to guns. He used to own one, but now he doesn't, because he doesn't see the point. I can't recall if he's pro-2A, or a self-proclaimed anti, or whatever. Anyway, a specific scenario came up that generated a lot of emotion from him, which kind of surprised me (coming from him, since he's usually logical and level-headed).

Let's say that I own a gun (far fetched, huh?), and I leave it loaded somewhere in my house (assume there are no children who could get it, it is owned legally, etc). Now, let's say someone breaks INTO my house (to rob it), finds the loaded gun, and for some reason, ends up shooting my acquaintance's wife with it.

My acquaintance then tells me that he'd kill ME because it was MY gun that was used to kill his wife. Never mind that someone else shot her, but he specifically said that he'd come and kill ME because it was my gun and I had left it loaded somewhere for an intruder to find it and use it. He was very upset while telling me this, obviously angry from just thinking about the scenario.

I rebutted with a similar scenario in which someone steals MY car and ends up killing his wife with it. I asked if he'd want to kill me for that. He says no, that it's different. And the only way I could understand how it was different (thru his explanation) was that a gun is for killing, while a car is not.

Needless to say, I would blame the intruder who committed a crime to gain access to my house, then committed another crime by stealing the gun, and committed yet another crime by shooting his wife. But apparently that logic is flawed and the blame falls on me, the gun owner. Seriously? That's like blaming the gun manufacturer, or the gun importer, or the gun store, and NOT the actual person responsible for pulling the trigger.

Well, I just wanted to put this out there.

What do you think? Opinions? Reactions?

(At least now I know that I need to be proactive if this scenario ever happens and my acquaintance comes knocking on my door....)
 #105287  by airman1968
 
I Think your friend needs medication......
 #105288  by DMac
 
Seriously, that man needs counseling; intense and long term counseling. That's about as completely emotional, violent and illogical (i.e. stupid) a reaction to a hypothetical situation that I've ever heard.
 #105289  by Owen
 
I think I would have said something to the effect:

"Interesting. Just keep in mind, that when you come to kill me, I may have more that just that one gun."

Because at this point he sounds like he's not being logical but emotional. So perhaps he can still understand the emotion 'fear'.
 #105299  by steve
 
If you want to kill the victim instead of the robber that stole a gun and killed the wife you may be an "anti-gun"
 #105304  by stephpd
 
What if you had it locked up? Would he feel the same? Not necessarily in a $10,000 safe but in a $200 gun locker, and with a trigger lock? (Both not much more then a panacea for a good 2nd story man?) Not even loaded but the criminal gets your firearm and then buys some ammo? Since it's really the ammo that kills and not the gun. Would he then want to kill the person that sold the criminal the ammo?

My belief is that even if you had that gun in the most elaborate safe and it was stolen he'd still have a problem.

Or, what about the point that during the last century the government killed far more people in this world, with guns, then all the other guns in the world combined? Would he want to destroy those governments? Not just the grunt that pulled the trigger but every person, including the commander in chief? Maybe every citizen of that country since they 'allowed' their government to do such a thing?

Because I have no reason to believe that government during this century will behave any better then they have for the last century? Currently our government doesn't even keep track of how many people we've killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Because it's the disdain for other human lives in these countries that may just come back to bite us in the ass. Because when you kill a child's whole family I'd expect the same type of response from them that I'm hearing from your friend.

Just look at the damage caused by us leaving so many arms in Iraq and now in the possession of ISIS. They are literally killing everyone that isn't part of their gang. Would he feel it's OK for ISIS to come kill him since he is part of the country that invaded their country and killed so many of their family?
 #105513  by CorBon
 
So, based on his reasoning -- how long has your friend been voting for liberals?
 #106348  by tom_20m
 
What if it wasn't a gun and was a knife? Would he still have felt that it was the owners fault then?
 #106355  by NCC
 
At least that nut job got rid of HIS gun... Or so he says...
 #106357  by Bullpup
 
I know a similar nut job. I'm sure he would feel the same way. Part of his ideology is the abdication of personal responsibility; everything is someone else's fault. If you're poor it's because some else is too rich. If you're pregnant it's because someone else didn't provide you access to birth control. If you shoot someone, it's because someone else owned a gun. People who think this way are dangerous, especially if they're politicians.