How many people are seriously afraid of firearms?

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i think the issue is that the gun was pointed directly at the viewer, and it's not related to the gun itself. if members post a similar picture in a thread, it can be easily avoided but as an avatar it is literally "in your face" repeatedly in multiple places on the forum. it's aggressive and can be considered offensive.

Isn't there a "show avatars" option? There is probably no image whatsoever that won't offend or freak out at least one person somewhere.

Frances

You could probably adblock an avatar you don't like.

the adblocker on my workplace computer (IE 8, non customisable) leaves avatars intact. some photos are blocked in threads depending on the picture hosting site people use but avatars always show up. firefox on my computer at home might work, though i imagine it would block all images all the time on every site.

OliveOilMom, i checked and there doesn't seem to be a box anywhere that allows a member to "show avatars". not sure where you are seeing that?

Guns were one of my special interests earlier in my life. So no, firearms themselves don't scare me much, and I'm not even terribly afraid of people using firearms against others. Around 15,000 people get murdered in USA every year, so that means probably around 10K of them are with firearms. On the other hand, 40-50,000 people die in car wrecks every year in USA. So, I'm generally a bit more afraid of dying on the road, it's a constant fear of mine, but I still drive, just it's in the back of my mind while driving and I can get overloaded if there's too many people talking in the car or I get lost. That, and I've crashed before and it caused lots of heartache for my family though I had no injuries.

So...yeah...

Not really. I grew up around them, had them pointed at my head a couple of times, and have been in environments where they're a necessity. I see them as a tool like any other that is often misused by people either threateningly or negligently. I am not afraid of an object.

In Scotland, the weapon of choice seems to be a knife. I've never come into contact with a gun and police don't carry them as a norm. I've heard of a few people being killed by them, it's just really uncommon. This tends to be drugs related, of course. But, we had a massacre in a primary school 15 years ago, which no doubt made worldwide news. That sort of thing is terrifying for a parent.

I'm not against firearms. I intend to buy a rifle eventually and get a hunting license. I currently have a hunting bow (obviously not a firearm) that I enjoy shooting. I spend a fair amount of time reading about classic weapons, especially Second World War era

I'm a registered gun owner. I keep my guns loaded and I'm an excellent shot.

I'm going to make sure never to piss you off, ma'am

I would like to shoot people to learn how it felt. Guns should be totally banned though, they only encourage criminals to shoot people.

The only time I point one of my guns at someone, is when I feel threatened. That usually takes care of it. I'm not an angry violent type of person Vigilans.

I'd be scared if a gun was pointed at my head, but I'm not really scared by the mere fact they exist. Humans will kill each other with or without pieces of metal to help them. I'm more scared of the nature of our species.

If they're banned, criminals will still get them. The central concept of being a criminal is that you disobey the law. Guns are banned in my country, but criminals still have them.

In Britain criminals don't have guns unless they absolutely need them, and they very rarely use them. I'm not saying that banning guns would instantly solve the gun violence problem in America, but if you could deflate the gamestate until the police no longer had guns, everyone would be a lot safer.

Really? I researched this before for another WP thread and this is the most up-to-date information I could find on the subject, and it seems to suggest differently, with multiple sources to support it.

People were just as dangerous to other people before explosively propelled heavy metals.

However, people like to look at an icon; I don't know the reason why they do that. Perhaps it's to protect oneself from the fact that there's people out there who will harm you for personal gain. They often use an object to give themselves an advantage. If there were no firearms, it could be a club; one whack with a club will do the same job as any firearm. These types take you unawares most times, so it doesn't matter if the range of said object is short--spring propelled projectile weapons exist, and they've been used countless times in history (bows).

There's an argument that modern, high capacity weapons equate to large scale murder; that's true, but large scale murder can be inflicted by many means (examples for both are there), and it has been.

Better awareness by teachers and carers on the signs of a potentially violent individual, from as early an age as possible and therapy for that from the same early age, will help more than any restrictions on an object. You can never stop it completely though.

I've noted that the anti-bullying implementations taking place now at schools here, which was never there when I was younger, has helped a lot to create a more peaceful environment to grow up in.

As an aside, my firearms, bows, swords and fists will never harm anyone (there's always self-defense, but I have no bravado and I loathe to hurt another, as they often have no say in it, just like I have no say with my ASD).