Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Bedrockgames]

No, this is from Pew and Gallup, not from registration records.

Do you know if they happened to mentioned registered versus unregistered (I would tend to think people with unregistered guns would be less likely to identify as gun owners in a poll, but I could be wrong)

 

[dragoner]

Most of those folks aren't carrying every day, though. I know lots of folks who own, but only a fraction of them EDC. It's more common for folks who are into them to have a collection at home, for home defense, target shooting, hunting, etc.

Carrying every day can be a significant pain, depending on local laws on concealed carry. And plenty of private businesses restrict carrying on premises.

A lot are kinda nothing too, like a cheap Carcano Italian bolt action rifle, or when the police dumped all their 12 gauge shotguns on the market. There is no real accounting for how many illegal guns are out there also. The caught a ship in the San Francisco bay with thousands of AK-47's (MAK 90's) totally illegal, and the captain is reported to have said "these are great for the street gang market."

 

[dragoner]

I grew up in the American South, and back in the 80s and 90s it was common to see "Gun Shows" in small towns. At these gun shows, you could buy and trade weapons in cash, without filling out any paperwork at all. And this was legal well into the late 1990s.

Still legal a lot of places, is here in Indiana, had a gun show like that at the county fairgrounds just a couple of weeks ago, the state Attorney General was guest of honor.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Even a cheap metal cabinet from Walmart (mine is from Canadian Tire) is far better than nothing, as long as it's properly constructed with no single point of failure, and is lag bolted to studs. Mine had to be inspected by the local firearms officer and he was pleased with it, and the installation.

Edit - And yes, it also serves as a safe for my pitiful valuables.

I would think that's fine right? I would imagine the idea of a gun safe is to keep kids or folks in the home in a desperate situation from quick access to the guns, not to keep what I think some people imagine is some sort of video game troop of commandos from storming their home and stealing their weaponry.

 

[payn]

I would think that's fine right? I would imagine the idea of a gun safe is to keep kids or folks in the home in a desperate situation from quick access to the guns, not to keep what I think some people imagine is some sort of video game troop of commandos from storming their home and stealing their weaponry.

If you are in a bad neighborhood you might want it to keep thieves from smash and grabbing. Though, yeah mostly to keep from folks who ought not have access.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Home invasions and break ins were common in the area I lived before my current apartment. Having a super heavy safe for any kind of valuable was pretty smart

Home invasions were common? Do you have a source for that? A website with crime statistics for your city or neighbourhood?

 

[CleverNickName]

That reminds me of a conversation I overheard on the construction site a couple of years ago between two pipe fitters. They were discussing some upcoming firearms legislation or whatever, about background checks. I was just inspecting the trench shoring, quietly listening. I'm paraphrasing here, but the gist was:

Joe: "I never fill out any paperwork (for firearms) if I can help it, you never know when the Feds are gonna come around and start collecting them all. The government would freak out if they knew how many guns I have in my basement!"

Bob: "You're delusional. If the government was truly worried about your gun collection, a Marine would paint your house with a laser from a quarter-mile away, and tomorrow's headline would read 'Gas Explosion Kills Five.'"

I just shook my head and walked away. I know that all sorts of people own guns, and for all sorts of reasons...but hoo boy, I worry about some of them.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Home invasions were common? Do you have a source for that? A website with crime statistics for your city or neighbourhood?

Well it wasn't the most dangerous city in the state, but it certainly had some crime issues. It was in the papers and you heard about it a lot. I have no idea what the actual crime stats are though. I just knew where I lived had enough crime that you wanted to be mindful. But home invasions and failed home invasions were something you would read about. Most cases seemed to be variations of someone knocking on the door, smashing your head with a brick or hammer if you answered and forcing their way in. But there were also break ins. I lived on a street where you would occasionally hear things like gun shots. There were two houses around the corner from us for example, where people were shot in their homes because of stray gunfire outside (and in one case a man was hit while sleeping in his bed). I read enough news stories on violent home invasions to make a point of never answering the doorbell. So owning a safe didn't seem like a bad idea.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

If you are in a bad neighborhood you might want it to keep thieves from smash and grabbing. Though, yeah mostly to keep from folks who ought not have access.

If you live in a neighbourhood that is so crime-ridden, the likelihood that you can afford a gun safe seems low though right?

I grew up in some pretty impoverished neighbourhoods (in Canada). This sort of rampant thievery in 'bad neighbourhoods' (at least here) is more a product of Hollywood than a real world problem. I mean, it happened, but not nearly to the degree that some Americans seem to be concerned about it.

The gun culture, the Castle Doctrine, the bad guys around every corner, fear of home invasions, the xenophobia... it's pretty alien stuff to non-Americans, even those somewhat culturally aligned, like Canadians, Europeans, Australians, New Zealanders, etc.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Well it wasn't the most dangerous city in the state, but it certainly had some crime issues. It was in the papers and you heard about it a lot. I have no idea what the actual crime stats are though. I just knew where I lived had enough crime that you wanted to be mindful. But home invasions and failed home invasions were something you would read about. Most cases seemed to be variations of someone knocking on the door, smashing your head with a brick or hammer if you answered and forcing their way in. But there were also break ins. I lived on a street where you would occasionally hear things like gun shots. There were two houses around the corner from us for example, where people were shot in their homes because of stray gunfire outside (and in one case a man was hit while sleeping in his bed). I read enough news stories on violent home invasions to make a point of never answering the doorbell. So owning a safe didn't seem like a bad idea.

Yikes!

I would like to point out though that actual, factual, verifiable reports and 'something you read about' are often wildly different things.