Poll: Why not a gun for every citizen?

[Boboclown]

Sounds like mandatory enlistment in the military, which has it's ups and downs...
If they're handing out free guns, sure i'll take one. However I buy a firearm with my tax return, and I always say thanks to Uncle Sam while I am going home with it.

I mean, you're the one paying into that in the first place... So thank Uncle Sam for not lying and keeping it.

 

[Flymph]

I mean, you're the one paying into that in the first place... So thank Uncle Sam for not lying and keeping it.

Or I could get upset that Uncle Sam didn't send a squad of the USACE to fix some potholes, etc...
I'll just thank Uncle Sam for a gun, seems more jovial.

 

[Boboclown]

Or I could get upset that Uncle Sam didn't send a squad of the USACE to fix some potholes, etc...
I'll just thank Uncle Sam for a gun, seems more jovial.

I just thank Uncle Sam for penalizing me because I can't afford Obamacare. Affordable care my @ss.

 

[notazombie]

I just thank Uncle Sam for penalizing me because I can't afford Obamacare. Affordable care my @ss.

No. That's one of those super successful government programs that the private sector can't do as well. Remember? Free market sucks.

 

[bbbass]

otherwise I find that a ridiculous statement.

I see objection to being insulted is only when it happens to YOU!

However, I generally have thought that our country would benefit from a Swiss or Israeli style program. I've read that in Switzerland, every citizen has a government rifle and is military trained. How their society makes that work IDK. I would surmise that in Israel it is a function of their protection. Not sure if I've been told I am wrong about the level of the Israeli program, but I certainly could be.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Anybody know whether any high schools in the NW have shooting classes or clubs, and if so, who organizes and runs them?

The high school where I teach has a Trap Club...it is run by our FFA club.

As a side note I have taught two students firearm safety / "How to shoot" ...with parental permission of course.
Granted that was outside of school hours but still makes one hopeful.
Andy

 

[Boboclown]

No. That's one of those super successful government programs that the private sector can't do as well. Remember? Free market sucks.

Totally. I found insurance for about $130, but its not Obamacare approved so yay... At least the next penalty is the last.

 

[Diamondback]

Sounds like mandatory enlistment in the military, which has it's ups and downs...
If they're handing out free guns, sure i'll take one. However I buy a firearm with my tax return, and I always say thanks to Uncle Sam while I am going home with it.

Almost, amigo... my thinking is not so much mandatory serving a full enlistment, just you go through Basic then right back home unless you CHOOSE to stay.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I work in psych. Lots of people who should not own guns, and most of them realize it!

1) I want less government, a better use for the funds this would take is a tax cut of approximately this amount.
2) I generally have very specific tastes. The chances of a government issued gun fitting 1/3 of Americans is going to be absurdly small.
3) Not everyone should own a gun, and I support your right to own one or not. The less of a nanny state we have, the better.

 

[Boboclown]

2) I generally have very specific tastes. The chances of a government issued gun fitting 1/3 of Americans is going to be absurdly small.

The thing with government issue is... They issue a gun and that's it. If it doesn't fit you, YOU will end up fitting it.

I don't like the AR, prefer the AK or FAL myself, but that changes nothing if I end up having to use something similar to an AR.

 

[SlimPickins]

The thing with government issue is... They issue a gun and that's it. If it doesn't fit you, YOU will end up fitting it.

I don't like the AR, prefer the AK or FAL myself, but that changes nothing if I end up having to use something similar to an AR.

Well, in my view how this would go the gun given would generally be a .22 rifle, most likely a bolt action for which to learn. It isn't mean to be much else other than a learning rifle, something to start with and grow from. From there pretty much everyone is going to evolve as a shooter. My whole ideal was to start this as a public resource for young people in order to create a normalization and pride in gun ownership.

 

[Capn Jack]

Why not bring back the firearm training and the school rifle teams?

 

[SlimPickins]

Why not bring back the firearm training and the school rifle teams?

Absolutely support this.

 

[Blastin]

Noooope. As much as I wish more responsible people owned and carried a defensive weapon, there are so many reasons the government should supply them.
They should permit any individual to obtain one provided the individual is informed, educated, trained, and willing to accept the responsibility, but the government shouldn't be supplying them.
I probably wouldn't even mind the government encouraging it, but still not issuing them to every one.
Nope.
I'll stop now before I write 20 more pages.

 

[Boboclown]

Or do it the way NC would have done it had our governor not been Cooper... Just buy a gun at the store and go through a BGC... If we're going to keep the whole BGC system.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

The thing with government issue is... They issue a gun and that's it. If it doesn't fit you, YOU will end up fitting it.

I don't like the AR, prefer the AK or FAL myself, but that changes nothing if I end up having to use something similar to an AR.

Thats just it, if this were an issued arm to civilians, it would be useless to the majority of Americans. It would be a useless line of pork.

 

[etrain16]

Late to the game on this thread - amazing they can get to 7 pages and you never notice them!

The poll question/thread title states: Do you think every citizen should be afforded a gun by the government, and training?

My response to that is no. While I strongly support gun safety education for everyone, I am against having the government be the responsible party. Why? Because the government has shown, over and over and over again, how incapable it is of maintaining a reasonable budget, keeping politics out of any government program, how every program becomes bloated and top-heavy with bureaucratic blowhards and gets raped by every contractor they do business with.

Say the government decided to provide a simple 10/22, just the most basic, stripped down model. Available for around $220 right now, you'd think if you were buying 100+ million of them, the price would drop, maybe by half? Of course that's before government contract negotiations, requirements of the contractor by the government to maintain certain labor union requirements, insurance requirements, minority/small business/veteran owned business requirements, writes their own specifications about how to build said 10/22 that now triple the cost of the rifle. But then, the government isn't allowed to just choose a product, it has to be a bid among all interested and qualified parties. Give that a good 1-3 years to sort out, wasting millions and millions of dollars to try and come up with the 'best' gun for everyone. Having done a considerable amount of work as a contractor with the federal government, I can confirm they are the single most inefficient, bloated and inept customer anyone can have. So many rules. So many regulations. So many levels of bureaucracy just to get a single decision made. Jobs we do for non-government customers usually cost about 1/2 of what they end up costing to do a government job, simply due to all their regulations and requirements. Any private entity working in the same manner would be out of business in a heartbeat. But then, that's not a concern when you're not spending your own money.

And you know what you're going to end up with after it's all said and done? Considering the contract will go to the lowest bidder, your 'free' government .22lr will probably be a newly developed, specially made, just for the government, Hi-Point .22 Carbine. That's what the government will end up giving you - and they'll probably pay $900 a gun for them.

So I may sound a bit harsh about giving control of such a program to the government, but it comes with good reason and experience.

The only thing the government should be involved in is making damn certain the 2nd amendment is 100% protected from any attacks by any groups, from the local to the state to the federal level. Want to assure easy access to guns? Get rid of gun free zones. Get rid of gun control laws in general. We don't need them, and they only hinder access to guns.

Want to provide education and access to guns? Great. Let local groups come up with a solution themselves. Allow them access to the schools. Allow them to bring in guns for the kids to see and handle and even shoot, like they used to 50 years ago. Let groups like the NRA, who want to teach kids gun safety, do so in the schools. Lift the barriers. In short, get the damn government out of the way and let folks do what they actually want to, and are willing to do. Every time something like this comes up, there is no shortage of folks that offer to train kids for free. I would do it. I have done it.

This is not a problem the government can solve, except to get out of our way. We'll take it from here, thank you.

 

[Boboclown]

I've helped on base clean some stuff up, when you see what the government buys and tosses out you don't want them to be involved with something like this.

 

[ma96782]

With citizenship comes responsibility.

Unfortunately.....some are really into takin' a free ride.

Aloha, Mark

 

[mrblond]

Hmmm....Depends on how you define "legal American citizen". In some circles "no human is illegal". Might produce a real house cleaning if we let nature take it's course. I know people who should never have access to a firearm. Schizophrenics. Fortunately, they're also not motivated to acquire one via other means. An interesting thought. I was gonna ask in the other thread if it means I get my own F4 Phantom..then I wasn't sure if I wanted a tank instead.. or a Cobra gunship...WTH, dare to want it all!

Don't think I want gov providing everyone a gun but I would favor firearms training. At an early age as you say. For one thing, it would take away the "forbidden fruit" aspect. I'm not sure there's any public institution that's up to the task though. I was taught by my Dad, I taught my son. The amount of time to do it properly might make an institutional version impractical. The military does it,... sorta. But definitely worth some thought. It's always annoyed me that the "cure" for things like AIDS or drug abuse was education but the solution to "gun violence" was ignorance. Done early enough and properly it can become a badge of honor that's carefully guarded against stupidity. Of course then it runs afoul of a basic governmental precept. Government doesn't want anything that works. That fixes problems and (gasp!) reduces the need for government.

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