andyh wrote:
K-Bone wrote:
I fear my government and my fellow man! Lol!
And I don't know what part of America you are talking about but I'm from the south and the primary reason for gun ownership IS hunting and protection- hunting more than anything. That may not be true for the yuppies, the trendsetters or the thugs but it IS true for most everyone I've known in my life. Hate to be argumentative but I'm nearly 40 and this is from my experience.
I'm sorry but you're not telling me the majority of gun owners no matter what part of the country they are in, go hunting with a gun instead of at the supermarket 
The only people who seriously hunt for a living have no need for money or any other aspect of our society. The inuits perhaps, jungle natives etc.
I can agree that you fear both govt and citizens alike but who SHOULD you really fear?
We should at this point in the game acknowledge that most criminals are either in govt or running the corporations. The evidence is really pouring in every day now. Its still 50 years behind the game imho but its getting there.
The Swiss have little to fear in the way of street crime compared to the US but we should be asking why that is the case. After all, they are armed to the teeth so what makes them different?
Where did I say that hunters don't go to the supermarket? I never said they hunt for survival. But hunting provides many meals for families and most of the hunters I know are not rich folk, so it really helps put food on the table. Some rich folk hunt for sport and don't even eat the meat(which is weird to me) but there is an organization where they can donate it to the hungry so that's good at least.
And to clarify- I should have said "hunting
and/or protection". But the hunters I know who own guns also have them for protection. And the people I know who don't hunt, sincerely have guns for protection from nutcases and the government(nutcases). My whole life, I've heard over and over from these people about our right to bear arms being about protection from the tyranny of government- from every gun owner I know. Of course, with the crime rates, I've also heard a lot of people(mostly yuppies in the city) talk about getting a gun to defend from home invasion.
Regarding who I should really fear? Well, I am not going to choose one over the other. The government of course has more power to fuck up the lives of Americans but the kind of experiences I've had with my fellow Americans is enough reason to own a gun. And while I believe in the whole "right to protect ourselves from the government"; the odds of me having to use a gun to defend myself against a rapist/murderer/perp is greater than the odds of me having to defend myself against government tyranny.
If the "shit hit the fan" I'd probably be fucked even if I owned an assault rifle(I don't) but at least I'd have a fighting chance. Better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.
If it's revolution you're talking about- when will Americans say "enough's enough"...well, I've said for a long time that people are too comfortable. They will piss and moan about the government but no one is going to sacrifice their comfort . As long as they can drink beer, watch a football game on their giant flat screens, go max out their credit cards at mall buying bullshit- people are too complacent to take on Big Brother. It would take shit getting really bad for everyone for anything like that to happen.
And as far as comparing the Swiss to the Americans and the whys- hell, I don't know. I don't live there and I've never experienced time there. But we have a really different fucked up culture- we're like a country that has mommy/daddy issues. We have a society brainwashed by media and public education. We have race issues(see previous sentence).
But anyway, that's how I see it after living a very strange existence in this country that still has so much to offer despite how dysfunctional it is.
