Gun culture appeals to some, but I'll pass(MO)

kansascity.com ^ | 24 January, 2010 | Lewis Diuguid

[marktwain]

Walking the talk of valuing diversity can lead to some unusual places.

Brian, a regular at monthly meetings of a diversity coalition in Overland Park, talked me out of going to church one Sunday in June and into riding with him to a gun show at the KCI Expo Center in the Northland. I grew up with guns, and this place was very familiar to me.

Dad still has the six-shooters his father carried every day to work as a railroad brakeman, beginning in the late 1800s. I shot guns when I was a Boy Scout. As an adult, I have fired friends’ handguns, shotguns and rifles, including flintlock weapons, requiring that we load steel balls and powder.

But I never warmed up to weaponry, though guns can be fun for target practice, hunting and showing off to friends.

They make some people feel secure, thinking guns offer “protection.” But my experience also has been that guns get used to intimidate, threaten, injure and kill people.

I saw that growing up in inner-city St. Louis. I’ve seen it in neighborhoods where I’ve lived in Kansas City and witnessed a lifetime of deaths from firearms as a journalist.

I vividly remember covering a story more than 30 years ago and seeing one gunshot victim bundled in a blanket on a more than 90-degree summer day saying how cold he was as he was wheeled from his home into an ambulance and whisked to a hospital where he died. Heat and life bled out of him — all caused by a gun.

[stickywillie]

He’s always been an idiot; that’s why he works for the Kansas City Star.

[TYVets]

Kansas City RED Star anti-gun.

Of course ditto for their web site.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama was elected president. It is difficult to know whether these folks think Obama will try to restrict their Second Amendment right to gun ownership or whether they are concerned about Obama being the first black man in the Oval Office."

No proof, lets just assume that all these white guys you mention at the gun show are just a bunch of hick, racist, pickup driving rednecks that hate black guys. We know which choice you believe....

[lrb111]

He must be a terrible disappointment to his father,

[Niteranger68]

I would never use my firearm to stop this guys boyfriend from being raped.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Lewis W. Diuguid Vice President, Community Resources The Kansas City Star

Most likely what the author really has a problem with is White People with guns. Face it, gun shows are whiter than a line dance after a NASCAR race.

[I Buried My Guns]

I love liberal scare quotes, because they tell folks when to be afraid. Sometimes I am just not scared, and liberal scare quotes alert me to a scary thing that ought to frighten me:

...They make some people feel secure, thinking guns offer “protection.”...

there is no valid reason to put that word in quotes. Am I allowed to play also? Here is my effort:

Methinks the author is a "liberal assclown".

[BitWielder1]

Lawful gun owners are like antibodies to the infection of crime.
Like many libs, the writer can't (or refuses to) see the difference between criminal and lawful, between aggressor and defender.
Without that important distinction, I guess you have to be a lib and against guns.

[Dead Corpse]

I’m betting on LIAR...

[Only1choice____Freedom]

"But my experience also has been that guns get used to intimidate, threaten, injure and kill people.

When these people are trying to kill you or your family, these are not bad things.

A gun is not for play as he suggests they are serious tools for defense.

[USS Alaska]

HUH???? STEEL balls???

Superman.

[MarkL]

The author has a serious problem with bigotry and understanding basic cause and effect.

If you've never read one of this BEM's columns, you have NO IDEA what an understatement you've just made. He's the KC Red Star's #1 hate mongering race pimp, who knows that he'd be out of a job in a second if he didn't keep stirring the pot to keep race tensions as high as possible.

BTW, his name is pronounced "Do Good." Talk about an irony!

Mark

[ArrogantBustard]

BEM's

Bug Eyed Monster?

[MarkL]

I stopped reading things that this hate mongering race pimp writes years ago, so let me fix this for you

Most likely what the author really has a problem with is White People with guns.

There, that takes care of it.

Mark

[MarkL]

BEM's

Bug Eyed Monster?

Oops, sorry!

BEM == "Booger Eating Moron"

Mark

[ArrogantBustard]

ROFL!!!!

That makes more sense.

[tet68]

Face it, gun shows are whiter than a line dance after a NASCAR race.

Not around here. (Atlanta)

[MortMan]

They make some people feel secure, thinking guns offer “protection.” But my experience also has been that guns get used to intimidate, threaten, injure and kill people.

What an idiot. Hammers get used this way, too. So do baseball bats.

In fact, columns like this one get used to intimidate and threaten a hell of a lot more often than guns do - even when you count action movies!

[Sloth]

They make some people feel secure, thinking guns offer “protection.” But my experience also has been that guns get used to intimidate, threaten, injure and kill people.

Uh, yeah, that's why they're useful for protection. You can't "intimidate, threaten, injure or kill people" with, say, a clarinet, or a bag of peanut butter cups, which is why cops and other people don't carry those items for protection.

[LibLieSlayer]

No, I am not... but I intend to protect myself, my family and my property. I am not afraid to say so in today's pc world. Do you find that offensive? If so, why?

LLS