The industry of fear

[ar81]

"World is unsafe, buy a gun."
This what a friend of mine call the industry of fear.

Guns only cause escalation of a problem.
Weak people will continue to be weak, no matter if they have a gun.
And practicing with static targets will not prepare for an emergency.
When you use a gun you can only expect no one to help you.
Fear is a great source of business for weapon manufacturers.

On a bigger scale, selling weapons to two sides in conflict looks bad.
So it is possible that weapon manufacturers could pay some guys to convince suicide idiots to attack, to make the richest side of the conflict to buy all the hi tech merchandise using money from taxpayers who fear those suicide idiots.

Do you think that the future could be dominated by terror funded by weapon manufacturers in an industry of fear?
Should legislation protect people from companies which could try to use fear to make money?
Will peace be under threat because of industry of fear?

[Parthon]

"You look stupid, drink coke!"
"You look stupid! Wear Calvin Clein!"
"You smell bad! Use Rexona!"
"You have little time! Buy a faster car!"
"You are very hungry! By macdonalds!"
"You aren't having enough fun!!! Buy a bigger TV!"

I don't think the gun industry is the only one to blame, it's just more obvious.

The question is: how can we protect ourselves? Through awareness.

[Peek]

I like how you put it, Parthon.

Among my friends we say, for every solution, they will invent you a new problem.
So they will tell you what you needs to fix your new problem, which you did not even know you had. I love this marketing acts. It makes good fun.
Just like the one-pill-and-you-are-good advertisements.
one pill and sex is good
one pill and you will grow taller
one pill and your hair is back
one pill and you have really good energy
one pill and your heart will keep beating.
Cute.
You have to be aware and see though what the real message is. Mostly it is buying stuff-->feel good-->get disappointed-->buy new/more stuff-->feel good etc

Love,
Peek

[Still Growing]

Originally Posted by ar81

Guns only cause escalation of a problem.

Here are the problems with outlawing guns:
1. Some countries who have banned guns saw certain crimes involving guns go up because the criminals don't follow the law.
2. Polls have suggested that a robber's biggest fear is that the other person will have a gun.
3. Law abiding citizens should have the ability via force to overthrow their gov't. Sound crazy? Look at history.

I know what I've said above sounds radical so here's my alternative solution:

1. Make it harder or impossible to obtain automatic or semi automatic weapons.
2. Make the punishments more strict for committing crimes with guns
3. When felons see their parole officer conduct a polygraph to see if they are illegally owning a gun.
4. Possibly ban hand guns but not shotguns or rifles.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways to keep the guns out of criminals hands.

When I think of children accidentally shooting themselves, husbands and wives shooting the other in rage or things like this it almost makes a case for outlawing guns completely. I think that in the future that they will be outlawed so the future is on your side.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by ar81

Guns only cause escalation of a problem.

I suppose then by that argument, we should strip the police from all their guns.

Instead, I see guns as a way to de-escalate problems. Problems that may go physical and result in death when only fists and knives are around get de-escalated when the physically stronger party realizes the much physically weak party can use lethal force. And I'm not talking theoretically here, I'm talking from personal experience.

Weak people will continue to be weak, no matter if they have a gun.

Oh really? I see a gun instead as an equalizer. It allows a 60 year old man to protect himself against several 20 year old muscular thugs.

And practicing with static targets will not prepare for an emergency.

Then I guess that means the hundred of thousands of police officers are not prepared for emergencies.

When you use a gun you can only expect no one to help you.

I don't understand that statement at all. You use a gun only when you have no other recourse.

Fear is a great source of business for weapon manufacturers.

Fear is also a great source for people who want to ban weapons. They go:

"Be scared of your neighbors if they have guns"
"Be scared of someone accidentally using a gun!"
"Disarm yourself and trust the all-mighty government to protect you!"

They raise the fear in people of someone else having a gun, and prefer that only the government have guns. Usually, it's government-aligned agencies that raise the fear of non-government individuals having gun.

There is a lot of fear on both side here. It's not just one way. You won't remove the fear, nor the problem by removing weapons or by ranting against weapons.

As for the rest of your post dealing with nation-to-nation gun selling, well that's a different topic .

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Still Growing

1. Make it harder or impossible to obtain automatic or semi automatic weapons.
2. Make the punishments more strict for committing crimes with guns
3. When felons see their parole officer conduct a polygraph to see if they are illegally owning a gun.
4. Possibly ban hand guns but not shotguns or rifles.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways to keep the guns out of criminals hands.

The problem with trying to ban guns is the same problem in trying to ban illegal drugs. It doesn't work. Criminals will still get guns, but responsible, law-abiding people will be left increasingly defenseless. The danger is though that criminals will know that the vast number of responsible people will not have guns, so they will be more aggressive and more willing to attack responsible people.

Banning guns is not a solution at all but instead make things worst. The solution is to focus on raising the awareness and level of consciousness within people.

[Liveformx64]

Originally Posted by Still Growing

I know what I've said above sounds radical so here's my alternative solution:

1. Make it harder or impossible to obtain automatic or semi automatic weapons.
2. Make the punishments more strict for committing crimes with guns
3. When felons see their parole officer conduct a polygraph to see if they are illegally owning a gun.
4. Possibly ban hand guns but not shotguns or rifles.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways to keep the guns out of criminals hands.

When I think of children accidentally shooting themselves, husbands and wives shooting the other in rage or things like this it almost makes a case for outlawing guns completely. I think that in the future that they will be outlawed so the future is on your side.

Your logic is flawed above in the following ways.

1. It is not possible to make the acquisition of automatics impossible. If you outlaw, the black market will fill the void.

2. Filling up an already faulty prison system that is statistically proven not to work.

3. irrelevant to the problem.

4. This would have virtually no effect, again the black market would take hold.

5. The incident rates of accidental shootings are on par with ladder and stair falls in causes of death in this country. Should we outlaw them too?

Most gun crimes are committed by unlawfully owned guns. Most of the criminals in our country acquire guns by robbing and looting, or buying them from the looters.

Personally, I think gun owners should be held more responsible for the lockup and security of their guns. If you own guns, they should be locked in a gun vault that is not possible to be carried off.

If guns were stolen from your home, and they were not properly secured you would then be subject to heavy fines.

[doc2b]

I believe that gun ownership is an individual choice, unless you are a known criminal. One that comes with great responsibility. One of the first steps in establishing a dictatorship or police state is to ensure the citizens have very little means of resistance. Also as far as fear mongering goes, the criminal element use fear to gain your compliance. I was an MP for 5 years, and have many friends in both military and civilian law enforcement. IMO an armed citizen is much more feared by criminals than the justice system. I would like to see all the proponents of total gun confiscation/control place a big sign on their property stating "I don't believe in, nor do I own a gun". Responsible owners are not the problem. Criminals and lazy parents are. I also feel that the commission of a crime with a firearm should be a 1 strike law. Even if there is no injury/death as a result. Guns are only as dangerous as the owners intent. If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words. Both are useless without the human element. Only through awareness, education, responsibility, however you want to say it, can we minimize the damage and protect ourselves and others.