Perhaps the Pink Pistols can educate the West Hollywood News...

[WeHo News]

Thanks for all of your excellent replies. I will be publishing Nicki's letter as a stand-alone counterpoint op-ed in tomorrow's edition of our publication.
I still think the world would be a far better place if people's enthusiasms were more of the pony variety than of the gun variety - safety issues, killings accidental and purposeful and death rates from gun fire would be a lot lower. Ponies don't kill people - not even people riding ponies kill people (as often as people wielding firearms).
All the best...

[CCWFacts]

I think it's cool that WeHo News has joined our conversation here. Sincere welcome to them, even if we disagree. WeHo News, I would be happy to give you a hands-on tour of the AR-15, including shooting it. Contact me by PM if you're interested.

[Mitch]

Thanks for all of your excellent replies. I will be publishing Nicki's letter as a stand-alone counterpoint op-ed in tomorrow's edition of our publication.

Ryan, there's no active Pink Pistols chapter in LA that I know of, but I used to be part of one ten years ago and I'd be happy to host you at a monthly fun shoot I put on at Burro Canyon above Azusa.

PM me if you are interested.

[furyous68]

Good deal WeHo.

The vast majority of the gun-owning population are not neanderthals hell-bent on mass destruction. We value our civil rights the same as anyone else who has had theirs infringed upon. We don't expect you to change your personal feelings towards firearms in general... if you do not want to own one, that is your business. We do hope that you will respect our viewpoint. Gun rights do equal civil rights. The right to protect one's self isn't just for protection in the home or against the common criminal. It also includes protection from oppressive & tyrannical authorities, which was the basis on which this country was formed.

[The Wingnut]

I still think the world would be a far better place if people's enthusiasms were more of the pony variety than of the gun variety - safety issues, killings accidental and purposeful and death rates from gun fire would be a lot lower. Ponies don't kill people - not even people riding ponies kill people...

Agreed, however, there's still a considerable risk involved in riding a horse (or pony, as the case may be, and it can be argued that riding a young pony is far more dangerous than riding a broken-in horse that's accustomed to being ridden) - there is no reliable way to remove all risks involved in life, but one can mitigate them, and one should be familiar with and accept the concept of acceptable risk.

...but this isn't about an analogy.

It's not a perfect world, we cannot expect it to be, and we cannot realistically hope to turn it into one.

Thank you for posting, thanks for the consideration, and thanks for providing an opportunity for a counterpoint to be heard from the firearms community in your paper.

[CEDaytonaRydr]

I still think the world would be a far better place if people's enthusiasms were more of the pony variety than of the gun variety - safety issues, killings accidental and purposeful and death rates from gun fire would be a lot lower. Ponies don't kill people - not even people riding ponies kill people (as often as people wielding firearms).
All the best...

I don't think anyone on this forum would disagree with your genuine desire to make the world a safer place. We believe that safety comes in numbers, and that the faster that a threat can be nutralized, the safer we are as a society. Our "enthusiasm" for guns stems directly from our desire to survive incident similar to Shady Brook, if we happen to find ourselves in that situation.

Home invasion robberies are a common occurance in Southern California; search the major news outlets in LA and you can read all about them. Sometimes they simply tie you up while they take what they want, sometimes they rape the victims, and sometimes they kill them. I don't want my family to have to endure that type of trauma either, if it is in my power to prevent it.

I also think you should let your readers know about the "Pink Pistols"; our gay 2nd Amendment group, who's motto is "Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed". I don't know about you but personally, I'd rather see a skinhead get taken down, as opposed to assaulting a law-abiding citizen. This is not a "left vs right" issue; this is a "civil rights" issue.

[dave_cg]

Thanks for all of your excellent replies. I will be publishing Nicki's letter as a stand-alone counterpoint op-ed in tomorrow's edition of our publication.

Thank you for enabling reasoned debate. I've had my fill of one-sided, knee-jerk demagoguery.

I have to say, though, the whole "pony" analogy is stretching a little thin for me. Just guessing, but I'd say you are what we farm boys call a "townie". I say that because you don't seem to understand either firearms or horses.

Where I grew up, a varmint gun is a tool. Sure, a lot of people hunt, too. But everybody also has to deal with a family of opposum that takes up residence under the feed shed. To which the townie says: "live trap!" -- of course, you don't want a rotting carcass under the feed shed either. But you have to ask yourself what to do with a cage full of live animals that reproduce as fast as mice. Releasing them is an exercise in futility, so you need a humane way to dispatch them.

Where I grew up, most kids had horses. One more animal was a trivial extra expense, so parents traded horses around as their kids got to be horse riding age. Guess what -- kids got hurt on horses, broken bones and such. Horses are not as safe to be around as most townies would think. Especially if you have no horse-sense and do things to put yourself in danger. Getting hurt by their own sheer stupidity in terms of animal sense common among townies.

And, interestingly enough, the area where I grew up is going Amish. Guess what? The oldest boy in the family drives the buggy to school, typically. So... horses in school? Yes, I can show you many schools with horses on campus. Big, dangerous cart horses that can break limbs if mishandled and can cause deadly buggy accidents if poorly driven.

I think a key reason attitudes about guns have changed is that the USA has transitioned away from a rural society. Prior to WW II, about 48% of the population lived on farms. When I was growing up, about 3% lived on farms. Now it is less than 1%. So the number of people who grow up with familiarity with firearms has declined drastically.

Speaking of school tragedies... one of those Amish schools where I grew up had a major trajedy. A buggy with 8 kids from age 6-12 was going home after school. Some jack-*** in an 18-wheeler decided he wanted to pass going up a blind hill on a two lane highway with full buggy lanes on either side. He didn't want to violate the double-yellow by passing in the lane for oncoming traffic. Instead, he used the buggy lane, came over the hill, and turned the buggy into matchsticks and killed every child instantly. OH NOOOOO!!! LET'S BAN 18-WHEELERS!!!! Nobody needs an 18-wheeler to bring their groceries home from the store!!! THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!! --- said nobody after that incedent. The jackass was convicted of 8 counts of vehicular manslaughter, which seems about right.

[nicki]

Observation.

I could have written a "snarky letter" and get in a "pissing contest", but what would that get us.

I don't know how well my comments will be recieved by the readers of the West Hollywood News, but I'm the type of person who jumps out of planes and does "firewalks", so we shall see.

I was actually surprised that Ryan got back with me and although we do have differences, perhaps we can grow a relationship to where we can at least have dialogue.

The truth is we will find things that we can agree on and working together on things we agree on ultimately will build bridges.

Violence reduction is something we all should work toward because the less violence there is, the safer all of our rights will be and that improves the quality of all of our lives.

Nicki

[furyous68]

Violence reduction is something we all should work toward because the less violence there is, the safer all of our rights will be and that improves the quality of all of our lives.

Nicki

That is the truth of it right there. Banning guns will not reduce the violence. We have to look at the problem through another pair of glasses.

[WeHo News]

Hi all - Nicki's op-ed is up now.
I also ran across this in today's NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/kristof-looking-for-lessons-in-newtown.html?ref=nicholasdkristof&_r=0

All the best

[aklover_91]

Hi all - Nicki's op-ed is up now.
I also ran across this in today's NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/kristof-looking-for-lessons-in-newtown.html?ref=nicholasdkristof&_r=0

All the best

It's worth noting that according to the FBI Unified Crime Report for 2011, that 323 we murdered by someone wielding a rifle, 356 were murdered by someone with a shotgun, and 728 people were murdered barehanded.

That means in total, 679 people were victim to unlawful homicide where any kind of long arm was involved, which still clocks in at less than the number of people simply beat to death.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/crime-in-the-u.s.-2011/tables/table-20

I don't mean to take anything away from these tragedies, but this clearly isn't a weapon related issue. Sandy Hook was indeed a tragedy, and there are things that could potentially be done to help prevent such tragedies in the future, but it and similar incidents are anomalies. Vilifying the most popular model of rifle in the country and the people who own them clearly isn't productive, it's an intellectually and morally lazy way to feel like you're doing something.

Time would be better spent examining why anyone would do something so horrible, and how we could increase the security of our schools and public places to prevent more of them in the future.

Clearly, a sign that says 'PLEASE DON'T DO BAD THINGS HERE' isn't terribly effective.

As to where my enthusiasm should lie, myself and close to every other gun owner aren't destructive or violent and I'm personally insulted by the assertion that we're more likely to be. I sincerely doubt you'd make the same claim of people who are into fencing, archery, or martial arts.

If you really want to effect positive change, you need to examine the underlying causes of the problem and work to fix those, not treat the symptoms. If you have a broken bone you want to fix, do you take pain killers and pretend everything is fine, or do you set it and splint it?

[MOA1]

Thanks for all of your excellent replies. I will be publishing Nicki's letter as a stand-alone counterpoint op-ed in tomorrow's edition of our publication.
I still think the world would be a far better place if people's enthusiasms were more of the pony variety than of the gun variety - safety issues, killings accidental and purposeful and death rates from gun fire would be a lot lower. Ponies don't kill people - not even people riding ponies kill people (as often as people wielding firearms).
All the best...

Tell that to Christopher Reeves. His fall killed him, eventually, a long, slow, impotent death.

I own horses BTW. I thought about ole Christopher the other day when my pony was screaming down the road because she had too much energy........ I also have Big bad pit bulls too, they all get along just fine. And we are safe at night while we are sleeping. So are the dogs.

[MOA1]

Hi all - Nicki's op-ed is up now.
I also ran across this in today's NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/opinion/kristof-looking-for-lessons-in-newtown.html?ref=nicholasdkristof&_r=0

All the best

I hope you're not endorsing that piece of junk.

Answer this question: Q: What do the last three mass shootings have in common?




















A: Gun free zone.


All the best and more sugar britches.


add: Investigate the Oregon mall shooting, the shooter was in the process of clearing a jam when he had a citizen with a CCW draw down on him, he saw it and ate the next round. Two were killed. The CCW holder was in violation of mall policy, thankfully so.

[Bhobbs]

WeHo News (Ryan), how can you write an article on something you are clearly so clueless about? You think someone with some journalistic integrity would write articles about subjects they thoroughly understand.

[DarkSoul]

Well, the way I see it, since so many children die each year from drownings (more than from firearms) I guess since everyone is hellbent on banning firearms, I guess it is only logical to also ban water, I mean just think, we would actually save MORE children's lives that way.

I understand that there is great concern for the welfare of children, who would disagree with that, but to ban firearms to do so, is the very definition of insanity, the only thing you WILL see, is MORE senseless deaths, since by the very definition of a criminal, is someone that does not follow laws, and if you and others that want all guns banned get their way, well guess what, now only criminals will have guns, and now the risks involved in being a criminal go away since there is no worry that LAW ABIDING citizens, that are now disarmed, have no way to defend themselves against an armed intruder, mugger, rapist, and so on.