Do we even need any gun laws?

[OldBroad44]

I believe we need a gun law as punishment for when a person uses a firearm during a crime. Will it stop a crime? We don't really know what might happen if that person does or doesn't spend additional time in prison. Making the use of a firearm during crime a Capital Offense would at least stop that person from committing another crime. Ted Bundy will never rape and murder another woman and that's a fact!!!

There must already be laws in Oregon making penalties more serious if a crime involves a gun. I served on a jury involving a case with a shooting, and one thing the jury was asked explicitly to respond on was whether each of the various charges involved a gun. Messy situation in which a guy had a priori threatened to shoot someone, found him and menaced him with the gun, but when it came to it, didnt go through with it, instead fired toward ground to scare and intimidate, in the process accidentally shooting someone else in the foot.

 

[DunRanull]

No, not really. Maybe some regulation regarding cheap pot-metal gun substitutes more of a danger to the shooter than the target, other than that no."The right of the People" and "Shall not be infringed" being the operative phrases.....

 

[OldBroad44]

I'm pretty happy with it being illegal for criminals and the criminally insane to have firearms, but that's about it.
I don't have an issue with BGC's either, just how the law was implemented.

I spend my tax returns on guns, does that count? LoL

Revision of my stated opinion. Yes, I agree with laws making it illegal for violent criminals or those with relevant mental illness to possess guns.

 

[OldBroad44]

No, not really. Maybe some regulation regarding cheap pot-metal gun substitutes more of a danger to the shooter than the target, other than that no."The right of the People" and "Shall not be infringed" being the operative phrases.....

There are already laws against selling unsafe products. Why single out guns?

I bought my first handgun was when I was a student at University of Florida. I was working my way through school, and lived in the end section of a leftover WWII quonset hut so decrepit that dust rolled in through the cracks in the walls whenever a car drove by on the adjacent dirt road. It was all I could afford, and it was adjacent to the campus and a mere block or so from the lab where I worked. One night two men drove up and attempted what must have been a rape or abduction. I got through that by the skin of my teeth. Afterwards I noticed that my place was was the only one within this block or two of student ghetto that was lit up. This was because it was between terms, and all the other students left. Since I worked, I didn't. I suddenly realized that where I was living, between terms, was extraordinarily dangerous.

The following day I went out and bought a Gillessie .22 semiauto. It cost $50. I would have preferred a .38, but the Gillessie was all I could afford. That $50 was totally all I had. I immediately took the gun out to the local dump and ran a couple of boxes of ammo through it. It worked flawlessly. (I already knew how to shoot handguns and owned a rifle, but it was at my parent's home.)

A few days later, still between terms, again at night, while I sat in my easy chair reading, I heard soft sounds that could be a human going around and looking in all the windows. However, it could just as easily be an animal sniffing around. To be on the safe side, I got the gun, put it on the arm of my chair, and went on reading. There were no further noises for a while.

But suddenly, there was someone at the window a mere ten feet from my chair, trying to raise the window! I decided at exactly what point I would start shooting him. (As soon as he was just far enough in so that the body would be inside.) Once he crossed that line, I would unload the gun into him. I felt a kind of utterly determined cold calm. By way of warning I worked the slide once once to eject one cartridge and give the distinctive sound. The shape trying to get in the window vanished. And that was all.

My tactics weren't the best. These days, I would advise moving a few feet to take partial cover behind a door frame between the two rooms instead of just sitting there. This would-be invader was attacking the only occupied place for a block around, so his evil intent was obvious.

The point of telling this story here is that a while later, so called Saturday Night Specials were banned. This was supposedly for safety reasons. But actually, it banned the Gillesie and all the inexpensive imported guns that I would have been able to afford back then. I've read since that the point was to keep guns out of the hands of blacks and poor people. And that American gun manufacturers were strong supporters because it limited the competition. That Gillesie is not what I would choose today. But for a poor student working her way through school, it was a whole lot better than nothing.

 

[DunRanull]

There are already laws against selling unsafe products. Why single out guns?
>>Funny that you should mention Galesi. I picked up one in a trade deal in college and as I worked late nights I often carried it. It was good for two, maybe three shots before jamming; later on someone gave me another to sweeten a deal... It too gives problems. Just a cheap Italian .25 auto "ghetto-blasters" saved for a liberal church "buy-back" offering more than they are worth. My Baby Browning has never choked, even on hollow-points and it hides very neatly.. Point taken tho, even 2 or 3 shots is better than nothing, altho a .25 isnt my personal choice.
Glad you were able to cya in your "home invader" situation.. some people are just a waste of breathing space- but happy for you that you didnt have to use lethal force. Sounds like you would have done even if an umbrella was all you had.
My wife was attending FS Tallahassee, living across the street from while Bundy killed several girl students. She was totally unarmed and probably clueless... living with me has changed THAT equation.<<<

I bought my first handgun was when I was a student at University of Florida. I was working my way through school, and lived in a small section of leftover WWII quonset hut so decrepit that dust rolled in through the cracks in the walls whenever a car drove by on the adjacent dirt road. It was all I could afford, and it was adjacent to the campus and a mere block or so from the lab where I worked. One night two men drove up and attempted what must have been a rape or abduction. I got through that by the skin of my teeth. Afterwards I noticed that my place was was the only one within this block or two of student ghetto that was lit up. This was because it was between terms, and all the other students left. Since I worked, I didn't. I suddenly realized that where I was living, between terms, was extraordinarily dangerous.

The following day I went out and bought a Gillessie .22 semiauto. It cost $50. I would have preferred a .38, but the Gillessie was all I could afford. That $50 was totally all I had. I immediately took the gun out to the local dump and ran a couple of boxes of ammo through it. It worked flawlessly.

A few days later, still between terms, again at night, while I sat in my easy chair reading, I heard soft sounds that could be a human going around and looking in all the windows. However, it could just as easily be an animal sniffing around. To be on the safe side, I got the gun, put it on the arm of my chair, and went on reading. There were no further noises for a while.

But suddenly, there was someone at the window a mere ten feet from my chair, trying to raise the window! I decided at exactly what point I would start shooting him. (As soon as he was just far enough in so that the body would be inside.) Once he crossed that line, I would unload the gun into him. I felt a kind of unutterably utterly determined cold calm. By way of warning I worked the slide once once to eject one cartridge and give the distinctive sound. The shape trying to get in the window vanished. And that was all.

My tactics weren't the best. These days, I would advise moving a few feet to take partial cover behind a door frame between the two rooms instead of just sitting there. This would-be invader was attacking the only occupied place for a block around, so his evil intent was obvious.

The point of telling this story here is that a while later, so called Saturday Night Specials were banned. This was supposedly for safety reasons. But actually, it banned the Gillesie and all the inexpensive guns that I would have been able to afford back then. I've read since that the point was to keep guns out of the hands of blacks and poor people. And that American gun manufacturers were strong supporters because it limited the competition. That Gillesie is not what I would choose today. But for a poor student working her way through school, it was a whole lot better than nothing.

 

[OldBroad44]

DunRanull, interesting you too had a Gallesi. Mine was a .22, not a .25. And it never jammed or misfed at all in the 100 rounds I put through it. I had never heard of the manufacturer, and it essentially had no sights. Very little checking out for a new gun, and not much of a gun. But when I had the guy trying to come in through the window, I didn't feel at all undergunned. I felt completely in control. Things are relative. A few days before it had been two guys trying to come in through the door, a door so flimsy a single shove would have taken it off its hinges. And all I had was a coke bottle.

 

[billdeserthills]

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Since there's so many laws, and jurisdictions, we as the people are screwed.

It's BS anyhow, no judge or lawyer knows all the laws so how can I be expected to?

 

[OldBroad44]

An afterthought. I've experienced 5 seriously dangerous incidents, all but the first when I was armed, fortunately. All but one of these were when I was living in homes or rooms within a block of a university campus--three different universities in three different regions, SE, NE, and NW, the last being OSU. All attacks by strangers. No such events since moving a bit outside of Corvallis, away from OSU.

I suspect that living immediately next to a university is a dangerous situation for a woman. I think I would advise any young woman, if she must live near a university, to get a car or bike and live a bit farther away.

 

[DunRanull]

colleges and universities are chick-rich environments and perv magnets. I enjoyed the livin crap outta my first college...

 

[Boboclown]

An afterthought. I've experienced 5 seriously dangerous incidents, all but the first when I was armed, fortunately. All but one of these were when I was living in homes or rooms within a block of a university campus--three different universities in three different regions, SE, NE, and NW, the last being OSU. All attacks by strangers. No such events since moving a bit outside of Corvallis, away from OSU.

I suspect that living immediately next to a university is a dangerous situation for a woman. I think I would advise any young woman, if she must live near a university, to get a car or bike and live a bit farther away.

And not in an apartment complex nearby full of guys who drink all day... The university I went didn't have options for that though. Outside of the college town was just rural America. So it was apartments nearby, or in the dorms.

But since I'm a guy, no problems for me.

 

[alv7722]

There must already be laws in Oregon making penalties more serious if a crime involves a gun. I served on a jury involving a case with a shooting, and one thing the jury was asked explicitly to respond on was whether each of the various charges involved a gun. Messy situation in which a guy had a priori threatened to shoot someone, found him and menaced him with the gun, but when it came to it, didnt go through with it, instead fired toward ground to scare and intimidate, in the process accidentally shooting someone else in the foot.

There was a case in the paper a couple months ago where a robber got 13 months for holding up a Dutch Bros with a gun. Sounds like a fail to me!! Yet IP43 wanted 10 years for law abiding citizens that just OWN a semi auto firearm!!! They bend over backwards to not hurt any REAL criminals!!