Posted on 01/30/2006 10:00:41 AM PST by Jotmo
LET'S be honest. He's scared of the thing. That's understandable--so am I. But as a girl I have the luxury of being able to admit it. I don't have to masquerade squeamishness as grand principle-in the interest of mankind, no less.
A man does. He has to say things like "One Taniqua Hall is one too many," as a New York radio talk show host did in referring to the 9-year old New York girl who was accidentally shot last year by her 12-year old cousin playing with his uncle's gun. But the truth is he desperately needs Taniqua Hall, just like he needs as many Columbines and Santees as can be mustered, until they spell an end to the Second Amendment. And not for the benefit of the masses, but for the benefit of his self-esteem.
He often accuses men with guns of "compensating for something." The truth is quite the reverse. After all, how is he supposed to feel knowing there are men out there who aren't intimidated by the big bad inanimate villain? How is he to feel in the face of adolescent boys who have used the family gun effectively in defending the family from an armed intruder? So if he can't touch a gun, he doesn't want other men to be able to either. And to achieve his ends, he'll use the only weapon he knows how to manipulate: the law.
Of course, sexual and psychological insecurities don't account for ALL men against guns. Certainly there must be some whose motives are pure, who perhaps do care so much as to tirelessly look for policy solutions to teenage void and aggressiveness, and to parent and teacher negligence. But for a potentially large underlying contributor, psycho-sexual inadequacy has gone unexplored and unacknowledged. It's one thing to not be comfortable with a firearm and therefore opt to not keep or bear one. But it's another to impose the same handicap onto others.
People are suspicious of what they do not know-and not only does this man not know how to use a gun, he doesn't know the men who do, or the number of people who have successfully used one to defend themselves from injury or death. But he is better left in the dark; his life is hard enough knowing there are men out there who don't sit cross-legged. That they're able to handle a firearm instead of being handled by it would be too much to bear.
Such a man is also best kept huddled in urban centers, where he feels safer than he might if thrown out on his own into a rural setting, in an isolated house on a quiet street where he would feel naked and helpless. Lacking the confidence that would permit him to be sequestered in sparseness, and lacking a gun, he finds comfort in the cloister of crowds.
The very ownership of a gun for defense of home and family implies some assertiveness and a certain self-reliance. But if our man kept a gun in the house, and an intruder broke in and started attacking his wife in front of him, he wouldn't be able to later say, "He had a knife--there was nothing I could do!" Passively watching in horror while already trying to make peace with the violent act, scheduling a therapy session and forgiving the perpetrator before the attack is even finished wouldn't be the option it otherwise is.
No. Better to emasculate all men. Because let's face it: He's a lover, not a fighter. And he doesn't want to get shot in case he has an affair with your wife.
Of course, it wouldn't be completely honest not to admit that owning a firearm carries with it some risk to unintended targets. That's the tradeoff with a gun: The right to defend one's life and way of life isn't without peril to oneself. And the last thing this man wants to do is risk his life-if even to save it. For he is guided by a dread fear for his life, and has more confidence in almost anyone else's ability to protect him than his own, preferring to place himself at the mercy of the villain or in the sporadically competent hands of authorities (his line of defense consisting of locks, alarm systems, reasoning with the attacker, calling the police or, should fighting back occur to him, thrashing a heavy vase).
In short, he is a man begging for subjugation. He longs for its promise of equality in helplessness. Because only when that strange, independent alpha breed of male is helpless along with him will he feel adequate. Indeed, his freedom lies in this other man's containment.
My hope is that it was set up on a tripod with a remote shutter trigger or a timer. OR...maybe those were inert rounds in the cylinder.
Pointed at a target not intending to kill.
Shudder!! My first thought.
Finger on the trigger
Actually, I believe the index finger is aligned along side of the frame. As it should be.
A gun big enough to knock junior flat on his butt for starters
I was shooting a .357 magnum regularly and a .41 magnum occasionally from the time I was 10 or 11 years of age. A kid can have strong hands, wrists and forearms along with good shooting technique to overcome that issue.
I trust that this young man is being taught good firearms safety and the photo was done for illustrative purposes only. WITH safety measures in place.
I am not sure though that I like the image of a menacing child with a firearm. Gives the gun grabbers something to pass around and exploit.
No, he's scared of EVERYTHING, and he is the typical liberal/socialist wimp that lives in this country.
I notice you have a theme going here - staghorn and black steel.
That explains the large, "angular" graphic directly behind his head. Easier to line up when not behind the view finder.
Ahhhh, Demo-projection at its finest.
All Democrat ills can be found by "reversing the projected track".
When I take pictures like that I utilize a mirror in front of a good back stop.
Owning a gun also means a sense of responsibility.
Something pro gun control, pro abortion men always seem to lack, IMO.
They want SOMEBODY else to take responsibility for what they should do.
Hoplophobia
good looking stag
It's a revolver, the only safety is between the lad's ears.
As an armed, conservative woman, I only wish that the gun-fearing female was considered as abnormal as the gun-fearing male.
This is the 21st century - things should be changing.
Revolver. Wheel gun. 6-shooter.
"A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry (Magnum Force, 1973).
Not every man is a fighter and not every man should be a fighter. To be perfectly honest, I am a fighter, have always been a fighter, and in my later years I've begun to regret it to a certain degree. There is still a little piece of me that revels in physical confrontation, and to be honest, I don't like that piece of me very much anymore.
However, I digress. Having taught self-defense, I can say with certainty that the worst thing that anyone can do is arm the man (or woman) who doesn't have that fighting spirit. A weapon in the hands of the person who lacks the will to cause grievous injury or even death, is a weapon that will never be used in time.
Picking on the gentler people (Christ called them the meek) because they are gentle is pointless and cruel. Cajoling them into posturing as tough guys, when there is no way they'll ever really be tough guys is just reckless and places them in even more danger than they'd otherwise be in.
That was my first thought as well. I noticed though, that at least his finger was outside the trigger guard.
I corrected myself on #40 about the trigger finger.
The photo was not so much about safety and the kid's abilities as it was about the perception with the gun-grabbers. In some ways, it's a cool photo.
I was with a buddy and his very petite girlfriend. He gave her a 2" barrel .357. It about knocked her over. Kind of funny actually. That's my experience with Magnum's and real little people. The kid looked like he should be able to handle it and bravo for him. The fact remains, it was a somewhat irresponsible act to take the photo, and really irresponsible to publish the photo on the Internet.
Bows are deadly, but they lack stealth. They might be quiet, but it's damned difficult to sneak them anywhere. Outside of woodland warfare, I wouldn't worry too much about guys with bows. We'd see them coming.
And guns require a certain temperment. As the instructor of the CCL class I took said, "If you threw an ashtray at your girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife during your last fight, you might want to rethink carrying a gun."
How about this one?
you do realise you just gave about a thousand liberal DU lurkers strokes and caused many more to wet themselves when they scrolled down and got to that picuter right ?
:-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.