People buy guns in a moment of passion. I think if you’re going to kill someone, you’d better make sure you take the time and make sure you’re prepared to take someone’s life.
Suzanne Verge
December 7, 2009
Sister takes a stand against gun violence
[I’m willing to entertain the proposition that the reporter messed this quote up because most of it just doesn’t make any sense to me. But the main point I wanted to make is about “People buy guns in a moment of passion.” I have never bought a gun in that manner and I don’t know of anyone that has done that. Guns are expensive and it involves budgeting for them and a lot of time selecting the best value for the intended purpose. It is carefully considered decision and has nothing to do with “a moment of passion.”
This is just another data point that demonstrates the anti-gun people make a lot of false assumptions about gun owners. Whether they confirm Markley’s Law, call us uneducated (false), or think us as vigilantes they are just demonstrating their bigotry.—Joe]
Oh, I dunno. I’ve bought guns in a moment of passion. I’m at a gun show, and I see a really good deal on something that would fill a hole in my collection. “Holy cow, would you check out the price of that C96 Mauser? Honey, can get it pleeeeez? I promise I’ll wear it in a thigh-rig holster, and then you can pretend I’m Han Solo.”
Er, heh.
I’ve never met anyone working in a gun store that would be willing to sell a gun to someone who was agitated or showing any signs of being a fit of passion. They don’t need the money that badly.
They have sold guns to women who were obviously fearful of violence from ex-lovers (or stalkers), but included a detailed discussion of what buying and using that weapon entails. I wouldn’t call that buying it in passion.
I wonder if there is any data for that? Is there any state with cash and carry gun laws that tracks criminal use of the gun (or suicides) with the purchase date?
It seems to me that those types of gun sales would be a very small minority of gun sales.
The assertion is not merely made from ignorance, it is part and parcel of the intentional lies that gun control advocates tell. They know it is false.
“make sure you’re prepared to take someone’s life”
well at least she got that portion right. If you’re going to carry you DAMN well be prepared to take someone’s life, and explain yourself to the authorities afterwards. Our right comes with huge responsibilities.
Really? I have bought guns before in a spur of the moment type situation. At least once I thought “I’m going to buy X”. Didn’t plan it out or anything. But I did look around for the best value.
There is a difference between “spur of the moment” and “moment of passion”. A “really good deal” could present itself or you could buy a gun from a friend who needed the money but didn’t really want to sell the gun to just anyone.
If you read the linked story, what strikes me is how much she wallows in her tragedy. It’s as if she doesn’t want to recover from it. It defines her, and if she stopped being a “gun violence survivor,” who would she be?
Anyone know what her brother was doing when he got shot?
Ahh, here’s what happened. Apparently he was a surfer who lived with a lawyer. Lawyer got hooked on heroin in 1976, and in 1979 this happened.
http://www.lawlink.com/research/caselevel3/8999
The events which led to the manslaughter and assault convictions occurred in December 1978, about six months after petitioner was placed on inactive status. Petitioner had spent the day ingesting drugs and alcohol with Vicki L. (Vicki), the 18-year-old woman with whom he shared his apartment and Peter V. (Peter), a 19-year-old friend of Vicki. Prior to this day, petitioner had asked Vicki to move out and to return to him the keys to his apartment and his car. At the end of the day, Peter and Vicki went to a party. As she left, Vicki told petitioner that she had another place to stay and that she would not return. Nevertheless, Vicki and Peter returned to petitioner’s apartment late that evening and slept on a mattress in the living room.
When petitioner awakened about 5 a.m., he was angry to find Vicki and Peter in his apartment. He awakened Vicki and demanded that she and Peter leave immediately. When they did not do so, he went to his bedroom and retrieved one of his several guns. The gun was loaded and the safety was off. He returned to the living room and threatened Vicki and Peter with the gun. A struggle ensued and the gun discharged several times, finally striking and killing Peter.
Petitioner directed Vicki to telephone for an ambulance and the police. He then pulled Peter’s naked and bleeding body into the common hallway and left it there without administering any aid. He hid the gun in a chair before police arrived. Police officers testified that when they entered, petitioner told them that Peter had tried to break in. He also told them that he did not know where the gun was because Vicki had been “waving it around.”
ubu,
ATF trace data does note the time between purchase and trace when possible. The national average is 10.77 years. In Illinois, for an example, of those able to be traced 2.5% are traced in under 3 months from purchase.
I’ll bet that the kind of people who might purchase a gun in a “moment of passion” are the same people who would know who they buy a gun from on the street.
The paperwork at a gun store takes long enough that any “moment of passion” I might have had walking into the gun store would have been drained from me by the time I finished the mind-numbing form-filling.
Maybe there is a purpose to the background check form after all?
Have to agree that it takes time and budgeting in our household for a purchase like that. I recently purchased a pump shotgun for myself last December, I saved up $10 per paycheck until I had enough for it.. took a year to do it.
“Heat of the moment”.. uh, sure… whatever
PS – Nothing puts the brakes on “heat of the moment passion” like a Form 4473.
I think it goes back to that mentality that they must save us from ourselves.