Why Everyone Needs An AR-15

YEAH!!!!!!!!! 'MURICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Threads like this make me question whether folks really understand the difference between a want and a need.

I DEFINITELY don't need an AR-15. NOBODY I know "NEEDS" one in fact.

I can understand a want that is such a compulsion it feels like a need. But it that is not true for everyone.

Fantine said:

Nevertheless, saying that everyone "needs" an AR-15 can be easily disproven. Even in my state, which apparently has the most gun-owners per capita in the country, only a little more than 50% own guns, and probably a much smaller number own AR-15's.

I'm in my 70's, worked in NYC, rode subways, lived in four different states, all without owning a gun, and I'm still standing.

It seems as if a statement like "everyone needs an AR-15" is encouraging a dangerous paranoia which breeds anxiety and unhappiness.

I never felt limited or restricted because of not owning or carrying a gun. I have visited 4 continents, gone to all sorts of late night concerts and events, worked in NYC. I used reasonable safety precautions but never felt as if they cramped my style.

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I live in Texas and I'm a Vietnam Veteran and gun owner. The AR-15 is not good for home defense. Except for brick or concrete walls, the walls do not stop the projectile from killing the neighbor's kids. I keep a .357 loaded with .38 cal. target rounds. These have less powder and the projectile has a flat nose and will not exit my home with killing force.

I do not own any such defense anyway. I really have to trust God actually involved in my life, which I do. But there should be no restriction, and I understand that, by what there is governing our choice for defense. Some are with such defense and that usually is quite a good thing.

PloverWing said:

I have trouble picturing a morally acceptable use of any of the weapons on his table. If you live in an area like Alaska where you're occasionally attacked by polar bears, then okay. But I don't think that's what he has in mind. All of his video clips were about using the weapons on human beings.

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Oh. My.

I’m going to assume you grew up in town. That’s not an insult. You don’t have to live in Alaska for dangerous animals to prowl outside your door. I don’t live in what’s thought of as the boonies, but growing up we found bear tracks in the yard, and once we went to a neighbor’s after a black bear chased their children. I’ve heard cougars scream, and yes, the sound like a woman screaming. I’ve seen their tracks and sometimes then. There are rumors that red wolves survived here. Don’t know about that, but we’ve tangled with wild dogs in the hogs and once it took a shotgun to persuade coyotes that my father wasn’t easy prey. There are bob cats about and several varieties of rattlesnakes. We also have cottonmouths, copperheads, and coral snakes, though you don’t need a firearm to deal with the latter. Rabid animals occasionally show up. And then there are the wild hogs.

What’s funny is that an AR-15 round is too small for the larger critters here. Would need an AR-10. That’s a semi-auto of the same design, but chambered for a larger round, usually .308 Winchester. Growing up, we used semi-auto 12 gauge. Due to bears, we started loading them with four 00 buckshot shells, with a rifled slug chaser, and carrying them with us when fixing fences. Lack of a sling made it a bit difficult to carry it and tools and staples.

Not that it matters, but a 45-70 may work better for me, but an AR-10 is more cost effective.

As a concession to age, when I hear something prowling around outside, I carry a boar spear instead of walking staff.

My point is that weapons are more necessary for many people than is usually thought. And I see no more contradiction for a Christian to win a weapon than for a Christian to own an axe. The issue is how it’s used. Given I know of a murder committed by someone wielding an ax, there’s not as much difference as we may think.

If it came to it, have a certain type of six-cell D battery metal handled flashlight and a Bowie knife.

FredVB said:

I do not own any such defense anyway. I really have to trust God actually involved in my life, which I do. But there should be no restriction, and I understand that, by what there is governing our choice for defense. Some are with such defense and that usually is quite a good thing.

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Difficult question. If I have a fire extinguisher, does that mean I don’t trust God to take care of me? Both are pretty much the same thing.

I would rather have the guns and not need them than need the guns and not have them

Tuur said:

My point is that weapons are more necessary for many people than is usually thought.

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This septugenarian is proof positive most people can happily and safely live without them. Would you like some tips?

It gets into whether Christians should engage in self defense.

Tuur said:

It gets into whether Christians should engage in self defense.

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After considerable and continuing prayer and reflection on that issue, I do believe that taking another human life is never, ever a righteous act. I don't believe there is ever a circumstance that Jesus is in Heaven watching and saying, "I liked that. Good on you, buddy!"

I can't, as well, forget the words of Nate Saint in the face of being armed for self-defense as he prepared to evangelize a South American Indian tribe known for extreme violence: "I am prepared to meet my Maker; they are not."

This tempers me. I am licensed to carry, and I do carry, and I train weekly. But Nate Saint tempers me. I know I am ready to meet my Maker, but I don't know that for sure about anyone around me, not just the perpetrator but also the innocent bystanders. I might hesitate to kill the perpetrator if it's merely him or me, because I know I'm ready to meet my Maker and he is not. But I don't know that any of the innocents around us are ready to meet their Maker, and if I have to make the choice of who survives...the perpetrator loses.

And I still won't consider that a "righteous" act, because Satan still won. All I did, possibly, was mitigate the losses.

RDKirk said:

After considerable and continuing prayer and reflection on that issue, I do believe that taking another human life is never, ever a righteous act. I don't believe there is ever a circumstance that Jesus is in Heaven watching and saying, "I liked that. Good on you, buddy!"

I can't, as well, forget the words of Nate Saint in the face of being armed for self-defense as he prepared to evangelize a South American Indian tribe known for extreme violence: "I am prepared to meet my Maker; they are not."

This tempers me. I am licensed to carry, and I do carry, and I train weekly. But Nate Saint tempers me. I know I am ready to meet my Maker, but I don't know that for sure about anyone around me, not just the perpetrator but also the innocent bystanders. I might hesitate to kill the perpetrator if it's merely him or me, because I know I'm ready to meet my Maker and he is not. But I don't know that any of the innocents around us are ready to meet their Maker, and if I have to make the choice of who survives...the perpetrator loses.

And I still won't consider that a "righteous" act, because Satan still won. All I did, possibly, was mitigate the losses.

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Righteous gets into a different territory, one I don't know how to answer. In a self-defense situation, where there is a legitimate threat of death, it might be necessary, one that is understood to be such, but not necessarily a "good" event.

Tuur said:

Difficult question. If I have a fire extinguisher, does that mean I don’t trust God to take care of me? Both are pretty much the same thing.

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There is good in taking precautions, which we do have responsibility for within the limits we have. When such can and would take a life, we have reason to have further consideration about it. And it not just taking another human life that would not really be righteous... Proverbs 12:10. There is no righteousness we have that would get us to heaven or even to be able to come before God ourselves. We need the righteousness from Christ. But what is that righteousness? Christ was doing things that we can do, though we cannot do all of it. There is still more of what we can do, yet.

A few weeks ago, I stepped into an out-building at the homeplace, found myself from 10 to 15 feet (2 to 3 meters) from a dangerous animal, and things could have turned out very badly. Is it prudence that I now carry a handgun with me when I go there, or a lack of faith in God? And if that's a lack of faith in God, what then of something as basic as vaccinations?

HARK! said:

Do you have health insurance?

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No...
No one cares, though.
You may, I was not suggesting to you not to.