Yes, literally. Do you know what the term 'literary license' means? Is English your first language?
No, I do not know exactly. No, it is not my first language. Do you have a problem with that?
The accusation is that, generally speaking, gun control advocates consider the tool to be the part of the equation to be controlled. This implies, and for some is literally so by their own admission, that they consider the tool to be fundamentally evil/bad/harmful etc. That is the anamorphasizing that your side of the debate is accused of, for which Myrkul was openly & plainly mocking you for.
Let me understand, you are saying that I accused you to posses an 'evil/bad/harmful' weapon because users are arguing for the benefits of gun control?
At no moment I even came near to suggest that.
Let me remind you the premise from organofcorti: 'Sure. But if you didn't own a gun, you wouldn't feel safe.'
This is your premise: 'I don't believe that is generally true. It's certainly not true for myself. I've never felt unsafe, before or after owning firearms. All my firearms spend the vast majority of their time locked in a rather large safe, because they are valuable. The rest of the time, they are shooting at paper. I don't hunt, myself.(...) and the rifle is the king of personal weapons. I'm a sheepdog among a flock of sheep, and I'm fully aware of that.'
My observation: 'Then, because you do not hunt (and therefore, you do not kill), you can safely transfer back to you the moral conduct and avoid any criticism. In other words, when your premise can become target of criticism you assign your conduct to the firearm, when your premise cannot become target of criticism you do not assign your conduct to the firearm.'
I did not said that you "has done something illegal or wrong", even less that you firearms are 'evil/bad/harmful'. I am showing off how you act in the debate to avoid criticism. You even proclaimed that a weapon is 'the king of personal weapons'.
So, yourself assigned human or moral qualities to the firearms, not me.
Get it over!
No. You made an observation for which you believe I were justifying my intent. I have already explained your error of observation. I have made zero attempt to justify my firearms ownership. Again, I do not require your consent.
You indeed made an attempt to justify your firearm ownership: 'The military culture was not for me either, but I do enjoy shooting, and also understand that the judicious use of force is a cornerstone of civilization; and the rifle is the king of personal weapons. I'm a sheepdog among a flock of sheep, and I'm fully aware of that. Many of those here that defend the personal ownership of weaponry are also sheepdogs.'
The majority of them, yes. And yet, the vast majority of them are never employed in that purpose. At least not in this country. Punching holes in paper is, by a wide margin, the most widely intended purpose of those who buy them. This is particularly true with regard to rimfire caliber firearms, many of which are specifically designed to maximize their effectiveness for this particular purpose. All you have to do to find those is google 'target pistol' or 'target rifle' and you will immediately notice that they have features that make them particularly poor choices for self-defense or hunting.
This alone puts the lie to your line of thought.
Once again, I didn't present a premise. You are projecting. You seem to believe that you are engaged in a debate. You are not. I do not require your approval.
This is a forum, do you know that? There is a debate going on here. At no moment I demanded you to present any justification to approve your right to own a firearm. You presented yourself a justification why you own a firearm and I made an observation of your premises.
I said: 'So far I made an observation of how you justify your intent to use the firearms you own.'
You said: 'The rest of the time, they are shooting at paper. I do have a concealed carry license, but rarely carry at all. I have the weapons, and the license, in the event that I ever do feel that I should need to carry.'
You implied that you have the intent to shooting at papers to entertain yourself. You are showing "to be right or reasonable" your intent to use the firearms you own.
Not less than three of my firearms were specifically designed to sling projectiles at paper targets, and would have a limited usefulness in the role of self-defense. I literally have other firearms that were bought to serve that role, and designed for that purpose.
Once again, you presume that you are engaged in a debate. You are not. You are being mocked.
Oh, you are in the debate, but I am not? So the "sheepdog" metaphor is just a joke?
Accusing me of a falacy of logic has no mening if I'm not engaged in a debate.
Really? So you are just fooling around?
'I'm not anti-gun because I joined the USMC at 17, partialy out of rebellion to my childhood.'
I am not, and I don't believe that Myrkul is either. There is no debate here; neither concerning this topic generally (with non-citizens of the United States) nor in this thread specificly.
You have no more say about how I live or act than Piers Morgan does. And like him, you are welcome to your opinion; but you can keep it. Your opinion on my rights is inmaterial. You don't have an argument you even have the standing to compel me to respond to.
I still have the right to criticize your actions and arguments in this forum. Do you have a problem with that?
There is no need that all sheepdogs are protecting socity at any given time. The only requirement is that the sheepdogs exist, or the sheeps' civilization cannot continue to exist. That is the premise of the analogy. Again, did you bother to read ithe link I provided? Or did you simply not understand it?
You really are trying to stretch the analogy beyond it's limits, but what if a sheepdog society would lead to warfare? What difference would it make to the sheep? They are no longer around. BTW, you're a sheep, in this analogy. Don't take that as an insult, but you wouldn't be around to complain about the vilent nature of society if only the sheepdogs remained. I think that it's an irony that you are falling right in line with the predictions of the author of that analogy. Maybe you would see it if you bothered to read the link.
An article with self-prediction elements... How pathetic. I should write one of these one day and then use in a debates here:
http://a-human-right.com/You have the right, but not the ability. What you don't understand that your government does not grant you rights; it can either respect them and provide a legal structure that standardizes the social rules, or refuse to honor your rights and deny any practical utilization of your rights. I live in the former, you live in the latter.
There is no such thing of 'practical utilization of your rights'.
I do not require your approval to honor rights which you pretend I have. You are not in a position to dictate what rights I have.
You are comfortable with it because you have been conditioned to believe that you are safe and protected by the uniformed sheepdogs. This is understandable.
I said: 'I am comfortable with this lack of right because it is not just applied over me.'
So from this premise, you made a whole straw man argument.
How funny you are!
I still have the right of self-defense and I voluntary agree with society that men and women in uniforms can protect me.
You know what is really funny?
'You might not like the idea that we are around, but we are necessary for your peaceful society to continue to exist; whether or not we may be wearing a uniform.'
So, what is what, Moonshadow? Is the individual entitled or not entitled to feel 'safe and protected by the uniformed sheepdogs'?
Sometimes, othertimes it was not. You speak of a topic for which you have already admitted you have no first hand knowledge.
Well, I did not admitted that. Moreover, I still can argue with basic knowledge about a subject.
That varies significantly. The majority of my own firearms are rimfires, so they would be particulary ineffective if self-defense was their primary design consideration. Excellent at small game hunting, though. A rabbit doesn't leave much meat if you use a caliber actually intended for self-defense levels of energy.
If you are trying to ask if I have considered "less lethal" weaponry for self-defense, then the answer is yes. I actually have such weapons, including but not limited to, a 12 gauge shotgun that is designed to fire a shorter than normal shotgun shell, packed with rock salt and pepper powder. The explicit design goal is to inflict pain without great risk of lethal tissue damage, and without the risk of a projectile with enough kinetic energy to be able to pass through standard gysum board home walls and (potentially) harm my neighbors. This is an escalation of force method, since (should my invader not get the idea) later shells in the line up do include harder and heaver projectiles. A 12 gauge shotgun is very versitile.
Wow.. Now at least you presented logical explanations for simple questions.
I am glad for your choices and for your knowledge of firearms.
Well done.
Or you are just mocking me?