Is it time to talk about guns?

The biggest issue I have with FOX opinion these days is this: FOX talking heads promote the Right's right to freedom in a way which justifies endangering the rest of the population. What I mean can be made simple to understand. One's right to forego a vaccine based on liberty stops when they endanger the public with a contagious disease. People are always saying your right to freedom of expression ends where my nose begins. This is no different. The Trump supporters can have their constitutional liberty as long as they do not make me sick with Ebola, Covid, or some other new sickness. We have a government for many reasons, and protecting the public health is one of them.

 

I used to hunt many years ago. I only killed wild game to eat. I never killed a bear or lion for sport. I considered that to be a sin against mother nature. I have been within a few feet of bears, lions, a wolverine, a rattle snake, etc. I have never been attacked. The animals seem to have a sense of the spirit inside me and wished me no harm. I always knew they were out to get food for their own babies. The few times I was concerned included a time when a group of wild pigs came close to me in Arizona. In the Vedavoo in Wyoming there has been a group of feral dogs running about for years. They came close to me a few times but were never aggressive. In Yellowstone I had a grizzly climb on top of my truck. In Colorado I had a lion and a black bear come on to my property. That bear got into a disagreement with my neighbor's dog. I was the dog's behavior that pissed off the bear, but the bear did not kill the dog, when it could have. The bear climbed a tree and slept there for the night. There is always a way out of the scenario where you need to shoot a wild animal. The worst such scenario is if a lion or coyote, or bear is rabid. They might attack you because they are not thinking straight at that point, and the right to defend one's self is justified.

 

We lived in Missoula for many years and spent much of our time hiking and camping. Since I didn’t want to carry a gun capable of stopping a Grizzly, we simply avoided Grizzly bear range. No hiking in t he Bob Marshall or adjacent to Yellowstone for us then.

 

One of my fears is that I might be in imminent danger due to the provocation of a wild animal by others.

Cool. Wild animals aren't the enemy, nor are they part of the problem... only one factor in the ultimate equation when I consider a wilderness excursion.

 

great example, mynd. DC no less...

 

It's like, let the guns do the talking

 

My advice is to go with two others of your friends. Animals will just naturally stay away from you then. If you talk loud and make noise when bears or lions are near, they will just naturally leave. I've never had to use pepper spray or anything. If I camp, I put the food in a tree two hundred feet from my sleeping area.

 

I am now in North Dakota and get the Minneapolis news every day. There have been shooting and killings everyday there. Most of it I think is crime that would happen anyway. But, the availability of guns has some to do with it. I noticed from gun advertisements that most are the paramilitary type and semi-auto. The looks of them are also RAMBO tough guy black or desert tan/camo. A lot of the long guns are AR-15 types. I saw very little traditional hunting/cowboy action guns. When I was a kid the Winchester 30-30 was the ultimate deer rifle as far as my buddies were concerned. Now you can't even see one. When we went bird hunting, we just used an HR shot gun which was just a single shot. You don't need a semi auto for bird hunting. There wouldn't be much left of the goose or turkey.

 

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You don't live where I live. Moose and bear attacks are a real possibility in my neighborhood. Recently two men with a snowmachine, and a dog sled were attacked by a bull moose four dogs stomped to death more wounded before the moose could be dispatched.
That said; much can be done to get along. Both extremes are out there for me. I do hunt, and in the past was willing to take a human life in protection of my own. Today I am less willing to do so. My children are grown, my responsibilities are fewer. I now maintain defensive every day carry items, tourniquets, first aid kit, pocket knife, etc. When hunting, I use bolt action five round rifles, a shotgun or .22 depending on what I am hunting.

The concept of using a rifle to defend against government, to overcome government tyranny is ludacris. That's what Guillotines are for.

 

Agreed. As a one shot one kill guy it is funny to me when I see folks with high powered rifles for pig hunting. I killed several scores with a .22 rifle. Distance shots were made with my 30-06, I only had the two rifles and a 20 gauge (also good for hogs) they like to shoot prairie dogs from long range, and crows. I never liked "eating crow" so I don't shoot them. Starlings are a different matter.