STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Drew · Gucci

It's Gonna Be the Wild, Wild West in Florida

honey · Gucci

iirc private citizens are allowed to carry guns in a lot of states. i think you just have to have a license for it -- but i could be way off. also i think in tx you're allowed to carry a concealed weapon on your person.

Drew · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: honey
"iirc private citizens are allowed to carry guns in a lot of states. i think you just have to have a license for it -- but i could be way off. also i think in tx you're allowed to carry a concealed weapon on your person."

What does IIRC stand for?

It doesn't surprise me Texis allows for gun toting; it is the wild west out there.

valenciana · Dooney & Bourke

i'm pretty sure you could already carry a concealed weapon (w/ license) in Florida. when i was in college, i stayed with a friend in Florida and found out after our week in the Keys that her dad was carrying a gun in his fanny pack. i was *completely* freaked out. he said he had it "to protect us."

but i agree with you Drew, i think it should be much harder to obtain guns, and i'd be happy if they were illegal altogether. i see no need to carry a gun on vacation in the florida keys, good lord, much less most anywhere else.

bex · Chanel

in ohio private citizens are allowed to carry guns AND ohio passed a concealed gun act!!!!! when they did that i FREAKED!!!!!!!!!!! in order to carry a concealed gun, citizens had to go to a day long course and pass a test first... but still!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so against guns...

honey · Gucci

drew, iirc = "if i recall/remember correctly" and when i posted it, i was hoping some wise soul would correct me and say you can't just walk around with a gun. but it seems like you can.

blubirde · Chanel

Yep, in Texas we are gun-toting, wild cowboys and cowgirls.

Puh-leeze. No one I know has a gun (oh, except my mom, my dad, my brother, etc., etc., etc.). And you can carry a concealed gun here, too. It's quite splendid.

I, personally, am not comfortable with guns in any shape or form. Not hunting rifles, not automatic weapons, and not handguns. I do not feel safer knowing I can carry a killing machine on my person or that others can do the same.

However, I believe in the 2nd amendment so it's always a hard line to draw for me. I go back and forth on the issue.

Funny thing. As soon as I started law school I started getting all these calls from "friends" about the legality of gun-toting. It was really bizarre. I still get them every now and then but I don't know anymore than I did then, which is nothing.

jess · Kenneth Cole

Yes, us Texans are all cowboys! ;) {jumps off horse} I kinda laughed to myself on Sunday when I went to the movies and there was this sticker like the one below on the ticket counter window. . .

luckylily · Gucci

Yeah, it is legal in WA to carry a concealed weapon with a permit as well. Honestly, I didn't realize that this varied from state to state.

I once dated a guy who had such a permit. At first it didn't seem like a big deal to me, I grew up in a family of hunters and I'm used to being around guns. However, after a while it just became creepy. It was as if he was waiting for someone to commit a crime against him so that he could have an excuse to use it. Years after we broke up, I heard that his motorcycle was stolen and he chased the thief down the street with his gun shirtless. Trashy! Let the motorcycle go, it isn't worth shooting someone over.

honey · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: luckylily
I once dated a guy who had such a permit. At first it didn't seem like a big deal to me, I grew up in a family of hunters and I'm used to being around guns. However, after a while it just became creepy. It was as if he was waiting for someone to commit a crime against him so that he could have an excuse to use it. Years after we broke up, I heard that his motorcycle was stolen and he chased the thief down the street with his gun shirtless. Trashy! Let the motorcycle go, it isn't worth shooting someone over."

this is why i'm very anti the idea of ordinary people walking around carrying guns. once you have a gun you're so much more likely to use it (and most times in a reckless fashion) than you would if you didn't.

and it annoys me when pro-gun people bring up the 2nd amendment, b/c it's so obvious (at least to me) that it was written at a time when society was very different and one could make a reasonable argument that it made sense to carry around a gun.

Mia · Kate Spade

Well, I suppose this makes me like the anti-Canadian but I, given some caveats, have no problem with guns. Those caveats being: some sort of background check to be sure the weapon isn't being sold to a criminal/mentally ill person and some kind of proficiency test. If you're not a crim or a psycho, and you can operate and handle and store the thing properly, then I am OK with it.

I would seriously consider owning a handgun if I could (but I can't here in Canada).

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

people have such a range of opinions about guns, some are totally comfortable and just consider them a form of protection whereas others are like ack, murder weapon!

like remember when i was in vegas for my clerkship, and that awful peeping tom experience happened to me? (i posted about it on FH at the time, quick recap: guy tried to peep on me, he didn't see anything because the blinds were drawn but i heard rustling, saw him run away, freaked out, called the cops, they caught him but couldn't arrest because apparently in NV it's not illegal to peep, and then i promptly moved to another apt. complex) well when i told my judge and bailiff and court reporter and the other law clerk, everyone was like--get a gun. all my friends in cali on the other hand were totally appalled by the idea (they just wanted me to come home).

anyway i used to be in the ack murder weapon! camp but now i think that a gun if handled responsibly is fine to have. i never got one though, just moved home as soon as i could!

blubirde · Chanel

quote:
Originally posted by: honey
"and it annoys me when pro-gun people bring up the 2nd amendment, b/c it's so obvious (at least to me) that it was written at a time when society was very different and one could make a reasonable argument that it made sense to carry around a gun. "

I sorta, kinda totally disagree. I say that because 1) it annoys the crap out of me when people argue the 2nd amendment unintelligently and 2) given the current state of affairs in our country, it's starting to make more and more sense to me why the 2nd amendment exists.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but if a police state ever exists here in the U.S. (not trying to be dramatic just using it for argument's sake), everyone will be glad the 2nd amendment existed for awhile so we could all stockpile our weapons and rise up against the tyrannical government!!!

luckylily · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: blubirde
" I sorta, kinda totally disagree. I say that because 1) it annoys the crap out of me when people argue the 2nd amendment unintelligently and 2) given the current state of affairs in our country, it's starting to make more and more sense to me why the 2nd amendment exists. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but if a police state ever exists here in the U.S. (not trying to be dramatic just using it for argument's sake), everyone will be glad the 2nd amendment existed for awhile so we could all stockpile our weapons and rise up against the tyrannical government!!! "

I actually completely agree w/ your 2nd point, blubirde. I'm not always convinced that the 2nd amendment fits with modern society, but I do believe that there need to laws in place that allow people to protect themselves from the government should the need arise.

Mia · Kate Spade

I like the range of opinions on this - and not all predictable, either. I think the 2nd amendment takes abuse from both sides, but the reality is, it exists. I don't favour allowing crazy people to stockpile automatic weapons and rocket launchers, nor am I convinced this is what the 2nd amendment is about, but on the other hand, the part of the second amendment that deals with reasons why (tyrannical government etc.) I really, really like. I like that it's built into the US state that the state itself is not infallible, and should not be treated as such. I don't know if any other country has such a provision. The dudes who founded the US did a good job, imo.

theotherjess · Chanel

quote:
Originally posted by: Mia
"The dudes who founded the US did a good job, imo."

Haha...this made me laugh.

shopgirl82 · Chanel

quote:
Originally posted by: blubirde
" I sorta, kinda totally disagree. I say that because 1) it annoys the crap out of me when people argue the 2nd amendment unintelligently and 2) given the current state of affairs in our country, it's starting to make more and more sense to me why the 2nd amendment exists. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but if a police state ever exists here in the U.S. (not trying to be dramatic just using it for argument's sake), everyone will be glad the 2nd amendment existed for awhile so we could all stockpile our weapons and rise up against the tyrannical government!!! "

it's funny, this is one disagreement my bf and i have all the time. he is from a communist country, so he firmly believes in the second ammendment and i understand that, and part of me agrees with it...

i, however, have taken care of many many many people who have GSW and have died. it's hard for me to believe in it when i have seen the face of it. i have an emotional connection (several times over) where as he has the practical side...

i also agree that if you have a gun, it's a lot easier to "find" reasons to use it. it makes it a lot easier to just pull it out and take matters into your own hands.

i believe that people have a right to carry guns, but i don't want one in my house. and i don't want my kids going to anyone's house that has a gun in it....i have seen what can happen.

sorry for the emotional response, but it's really hard to believe in the 2nd ammendment when i have seen it go wrong so many more times than right.

honey · Gucci

quote:
Originally posted by: blubirde
" I sorta, kinda totally disagree. I say that because 1) it annoys the crap out of me when people argue the 2nd amendment unintelligently and 2) given the current state of affairs in our country, it's starting to make more and more sense to me why the 2nd amendment exists. Not to be a conspiracy theorist or anything but if a police state ever exists here in the U.S. (not trying to be dramatic just using it for argument's sake), everyone will be glad the 2nd amendment existed for awhile so we could all stockpile our weapons and rise up against the tyrannical government!!! "

just a point of clarification -- i'm not arguing against the right to own weapons. i have no problem with people having guns in their homes, or even in their cars. however, i still don't think there is a compelling argument that jane doe should be walking around with a gun in her pocket at 12:30 on a tuesday afternoon.

and while i understand that the 2nd amendment gives us the right to bear arms, and in the most literal sense that would in theory allow jane doe to do the aforementioned, i do think that at the time it was written society was different and less regulated by you know -- the police and other peace keeping bodies.

and while i can't specifically speak to the intent of the founding fathers, it's interesting that the right to bear arms is pre-faced by a reference to a militia and the importance of one (which is a valid and imo reasonable argument). however jane doe and her gun does not equal a militia.

-- Edited by honey at 09:21, 2005-04-28

blubirde · Chanel

quote:
Originally posted by: honey
" just a point of clarification -- i'm not arguing against the right to own weapons. i have no problem with people having guns in their homes, or even in their cars. however, i still don't think there is a compelling argument that jane doe should be walking around with a gun in her pocket at 12:30 on a tuesday afternoon. and while i understand that the 2nd amendment gives us the right to bear arms, and in the most literal sense that would in theory allow jane doe to do the aforementioned, i do think that at the time it was written society was different and less regulated by you know -- the police and other peace keeping bodies. and while i can't specifically speak to the intent of the founding fathers, it's interesting that the right to bear arms is pre-faced by a reference to a militia and the importance of one (which is a valid and imo reasonable argument). however jane doe and her gun does not equal a militia.-- Edited by honey at 09:21, 2005-04-28"

Don't get me wrong. I theoretically agree with the 2nd amendment, but I'm probably the most anti-gun person you'll ever meet (who, at the same time, would never vote to rid someone of their constitutional right to bear arms).

I do NOT dig guns. I'm a pacifist and I, in no way, support people carrying weapons of death, no matter the circumstances. A gun is designed to kill. Period. I don't support violence, therefore I don't support guns. I've gotten up and left a restaurant because a cop walked in wearing his gun. I didn't want to be around one that much. My dad has hunting rifles in his house and if he ever brings one out to show my brother some such thing on it, I freak out. I do NOT dig guns.

I don't like 'em, I don't want them around me, I don't want them around other people, I don't want people carrying them, and I don't want random strangers carrying them without me knowing. All that said, the 2nd amendment is a necessity and I wouldn't change it for anything.

So anyway honey, I agree with your points. I feel very similarly regarding the everyday usage and carrying of guns. I just have a different viewpoint when it comes to the 2nd amendment.

honey · Gucci

b/c i love to beat a dead horse...just want to say i'm not calling for the abolition of the 2nd amendment.