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ameba

Finland

Member Since 2004

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Friday Feb 02, 2007

Feb 2, 2007
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Okay.. this is going to be another rant.

I visited a friend this week and he said he had something really cool to show me. He went fishing around his closet and came up with an old military rifle. He showed it to me and asked: "Cool, isn't it?". Here's the conversation that followed between myself (me) and my friend (F):

me: Does it work?
F: Of course not.. it's deactivated. (meaning that the cartridge chamber has been welded shut and a large part of the bolt has been sawed off to make it unable to function)
me: Why? It would be much cooler if it could still work.
F: No it wouldn't.. working guns are dangerous and people get injured or killed with them. I don't like guns that shoot.
me: I'm a bit confused now.. you don't like guns, but yet you have this one and you think it's cool?
F: This is different. It's been deactivated so there's no way you can even accidentally shoot with this one. This gun is safe, and nobody will get hurt with it. And it looks cool.
me: Umm... so, guns are OK, if you can't use them, but not OK, if they can be used?
F: Yeah.. I'm a pacifist, but I just like the way guns look.

This just really rubs my noggin the wrong way. I can deal with pacifists, no problem there, I can deal with gun enthusiasts, no prob there either. But a pacifist that likes guns as long as they can't shoot. That's just perverse.

Why do guns look cool? Because guns look dangerous, efficient and threatening. If a gun doesn't look like a gun, it doesn't look cool, it looks ridiculous. A gun is supposed to look like it's made to spit deadly projectiles to a long distance. It's a simple design matter of "form follows function". But if you take away the function, the form has no longer any use. It's like saying: "I like stallions, because they look so virile and masculine.. so very MALE. I got myself a stallion, but I had him castrated because wouldn't want him to accidentally impregnate some mare."

A stallion with no nuts is no longer a stallion, it's a gelding. A gun that has been deactivated is no longer a gun, it's a paperweight.

In my opinion, if you admire the way guns look, you should also acknowledge and accept the purpose they were made for. If you don't like people shooting at things, then you shouldn't like guns at all. Maybe I'm seeing things a bit black-and-white, but I think that if you like the way guns look, you should also at least accept shooting.. if not hunting, at least target practise.

I just think there is no point in deactivating guns. I can relate to the people that want deactivated guns for show, if they are unable to aquire licences for functional guns, but still.. every gun is essentially a result of countless hours of design, experimenting and craftmanship, with the goal of creating a well-working piece of machinery that shoots bullets accurately. Deactivating a gun is like taking the value away from the process of bringing the gun to existence in the first place.

Collecting deactivated guns is like collecting cars with their axles welded in place so the wheels can't rotate and their engines broken so they can't run. It's a whole different thing entirely when you collect cars and you are not allowed to drive them, but you still know that every one of them is in perfect working shape. I know some old men who painstakingly polish small pieces of an antique automobile's engine knowing that IF they wanted to start it, the engine would purr like a kitten, but they don't want to start it, because the whole point is to HAVE the car, not to use it.

I think that if you should collect guns, every gun should be in fully functional condition to honor the guns purpose as functional objects, even if you wouldn't ever fire a single shot with them. Of course, most of the people who collect guns, usually also like to shoot with them. But the point is not taking away the functionality by deactivating them to be mere showpieces.

Here I started to write about who should and who should not be allowed to own guns and the responsibility of gun owners and such matters, but since that strays a bit off the topic and this rant is very long even as it is, I'll save it to another time. Thanks for your patience.
uni:
Well, I collect emply alcohol bottles because they look nice smile
Isn't that almost the same thing?
I can understand your friend. I would like to own a gun which wouldn't work. I think guns look cool, but I don't want a working gun in my apartment.
Though, shooting could be fun.
Feb 2, 2007

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