@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:My opinions are, of course, derived from listening to your stories
of an 8 year old kid brandishing guns.
We did
NOT brandish them.
I never said otherwise. That phenomenon is endemic to folks
who r not familiar with them, to whom thay are new & alien.
Such was
not our experience; guns were ubiquitous.
Here in Florida, brandishing our guns was a 1O year prison
felony, until the law was changed very recently.
farmerman wrote:IF I ever was allowed to shoot
a gun at that age, I would be surrounded by family and Id be in a
controlled environment. "Kids are kids, not little adults"
We were
not as stupid as u are obsessively committed to alleging.
In the 5 years & 1 day that I lived there, I saw no trouble.
U think its OK to violate people's rights,
IF u insult their intelligence first.
There was no violence; no injury. No one went to the hospital.
IF we kids really had been as irresponsible as u insolently allege,
then
a steady stream of injuries wud be expected on the way
to the hospital from many continuing accidents. That did
not happen;
not even once. U explain that as
: "luck".
DAVID wrote:No kid in my naborhood had his dad stareing at him all the time.
Every kid got to school by his own power, walking, biking, etc. alone.
The school provided huge bike racks. We were on our own, except in class.
farmerman wrote: You weren't "carrying" on the way to school ere you?
The 7th Circuit US Court of Appeals (in Chicago)
has declared that: the place where a citizen has the right
to defend himself is the place where he is attacked.
Moore v. Madigan.
I had some nasty dogs between me and my school.
Thay did not actually attack, but threatened a lot.
Do u leave your spare tire and your jack at home??
I was not alone in carrying my 2 inch .38 revolver
wherever I wanted to be safe, farmer.
farmerman wrote:I lived in a rural area where guns were a culture.
Hunting was a right and often a necessity.
I did not care for hunting.
I still don t.
farmerman wrote:We were allowed to bring a shotgun to school when we reached the age
where we could go hunting "without parental supervision (in Pa that was 13).
Shoulder mounted weapons r inconvenient n too un-wieldy.
Thay r best for hunting wild game.
farmerman wrote:Shotguns were kept in a locked room and were rehanded to their
owners at the days end. Me and a bussy would go down to a nearby
"old field" bramble forest for quail and grouse.
U took a bus
to the forest ?
farmerman wrote:My mom would cook up these birds like Craig Clayborne,
Was she on the bus ?
farmerman wrote:For rural areas a .38 was not really a good fgun. However, youre missing the point.
It isn't the caliber, its the maturity to handle any qeapon without
undesired consequences.
Your theory, your naked prejudice,
was disproven by our experience for the years that I was there.
We were not as stupid as u think we were.
In the years that I lived there, no one complained. No one was injured.
No one ever shot up the town.
We were
not bloodthirsty.
U argue that people are a bunch of homicidal maniacs,
if only thay be sufficiently young. From my observation,
I don t buy that. I know better.
farmerman wrote:For example, all of your "exemplar" clips show kids IN THE COMPANY OF ADULTS.
Someone is, after all, takimg the pictures.
I have no problem with setting a record for a 4 year old firing a .50 cal,
AS LONG AS THEYRE CLOSELY SUPERVISED.
We did not have body guards.
We cud not be "supervised" 24/7.
farmerman wrote:We only had 22's and 45's as pistols.
I briefly had some 9MM (which are really th 38 in urban clothes).
Sad to hear it, farmer, but u can get whatever u want now.
Anyway, thay were better than nothing, right?
farmerman wrote:A 9mm (or a 38 or a 32 ) had no purpose except to annoy a target
Thay can stop a dangerous dog in the street.
Thay can scare away muggers. Thay have done so.
DAVID wrote: What did your dad say about using the 1911 as a tool
farmerman wrote: We fiddled with it so the chamber and receiver lined up with the barrel.
A gunsmith put in a BORAZON ring (its an alloy they used to use for
valve seats in race cars. The ring would not eform after long use
(when we went to the target range, he would fire off boxes of ammo.
When he finally allowed me to fire it at the range, I was amazed at its
smoothness and how easy the racking was. I had to replace the spring
mechanism in the late 90;s and its a bit stiffer now (I think its a
matter of "wearing in")
That cud be true.
DAVID wrote:No one in my naborhood acted irresponsibly with functional firearms.
farmerman wrote: As far as you know?
Yes. Neither the police nor ambulances ever arrived in the naborhood
with lights n sirens during my period of residence.
farmerman wrote:We never allowed 8 year old kids free unsupervised handling nd access to guns.
That's irresponsible. WHO gave you training with a gun?
Many guys. My next door nabor was a captain in the National Guard.
He drove his own kid and naborhood kids to a military installation,
where we worked out with fully automatic weapons, in addition
to pistols n revolvers.
farmerman wrote:Was your dad in the Mob?
No.
farmerman wrote:The way you write your posts you make it sound like, at 8 years old,
you were fully independent with a gun as your everyday protection.
Yea, well, I lived at home.
My parents took a lot of time attending to our family business,
but I had plenty of cash to satisfy my needs. I had no complaints.
I hung around with my friends in the naborhood; good friends.
I still miss them.
farmerman wrote:I DONT BUY THAT, your parents couldn't have been so indifferent wrt your safety.
What safety??
Regardless of my un-easiness, at first, of being home alone,
the fact was that there was no crime in our naborhood.
Except for some dogs, I was never threatened.
What safety do u have in mind ?
farmerman wrote:I cant imagine a kid, allowed to handle guns at that age especially
unsupervised (as you intimate). Most of my friends' parents were also
sticklers with gun training and responsibility training. We had reasons
for daily gun use. Hunting meant food.
I had plenty of food.
I went to whatever restaurants I wanted; never went hungry.
I am not a hunter.
DAVID wrote:
A child has as much right as anyone
to defend himself from being mauled & bitten by dogs in the street
farmerman wrote:we lived in N central Pa as a kid and we had bears and coyotes.
We still weren't allowed guns unaccompanied by n adult.
That was negligent. I sympathize with u.
Whenever I read of a kid falling victim to violence,
I believe that he was the victim of parental neglect,
if he was not sufficiently well armed to defend himself.
After I got my first gun, I (almost) always was.
farmerman wrote: The fact that your experience was a good one was more luck than anything.
U choose to spit on the minds of the young.
From that, I dissent.
farmerman wrote:Id actually be more scared of a bunch of
8 year olds brandishing 38's, that's freaky In my world.
I
reject your accusations of brandishing.
Y do u insist on accusing us of
BRANDISHING???? so many times??
U have no basis for that. Did
YOU brandish????
Other than that, your emotions r within your discretion.
farmerman wrote:A kids, we always traveled in packs,
loners were always watched over but somehow never really joined in.
Most of the time,
I went to and from school alone.
Sometimes, a kid joined me on his way home from school, part way.
That was normal. I lived a good life. I was free. I was content.
If I had the opportunity to change my past life,
I 'd leave most of it intact, un-disturbed, other than for
a few words here n there.
David
