I suppose there are probably four or five members on here that browse this forum, but I guess I could entertain the thought to those of you that are reading this:

Personally, I think guns are weapons that enforce power by providing the user with unlimited control over a person through threat of death. To the anarchist side of my brain, I'm completely against this provocative behavior; it promotes fear, a fear that debilitates, creating selfish delusions of grandeur and paranoia.

On the other hand, firearms are rationally acceptable for benevolent people to use in case a supposed, crooked fucker wants to harm that person, his/her family, or people in close proximity. I would be an idiot to demonize an authorized owner from shooting down someone that was hell bent on shooting me or others.

I sincerely believe that the US media and gun rights advocates have dominated the conversation, profiting from the debate, and deafening reasonable voices from being heard (and no I don't mean Alex Jones, Ted Nugent, or Pierce Morgan). I'm not going to quote gun-related fatality figures from a well-respected ivy league college that could give a shit about poor, bullet-ravaged communities to begin with. I will simply say that there is a dynamic in society that furtively supports social evils and ignores the illness as it seeks to penetrate the problem.

As a bulletin board originally established by proud gun owners, this forum should be the fulcrum of any trivial national debate on guns. We all come from an array of different backgrounds; it would be refreshing to hear a debate about this issue that doesn't resemble wild boars wailing at each other over a trough.

I'm not a fan. I think the argument that an unarmed society will inevitably be ruled by some iron-fisted dictator is scaremongering at best, if not outright bullshit. In the last twenty years, I've personally witnessed the growing availability of guns going a long way towards absolutely ruining what used to be a peaceful, safe place to live.

I don't think a ruthless dictator's rise to power has anything to do with being armed or unarmed; it's all about complicity to rule. Some people might argue that Hitler or Mussolini pushed their way to the top, but it was their charismatic personalities that won over the population. I don't think there has been a war fought in the last 100 years where the common people stood up to an invading force like the thirteen colonies did during the American Revolution. . . .

The US is probably one of the most well armed populaces in history and yet we're governed by an oligarchy.  And the segment of the population that agitates most for revolution basically supports outright fascism.