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March 27, 2009

Truth or Scare

Truth or Scare


By Kathy Sweeney

Today, let's share what gives us a scare.  Personally, I don't like to be scared - I don't even like suspense. This means, among other things, if you've seen a movie before me, I will hound you until you tell me how it ends.  My son and I almost came to blows over that scene with the ferries in "The Dark Knight".

Blog horror_movies I understand that fear is important - even critical - for survival.  I get the chemistry of it, the endorphins and whatnot that help us run faster and react with greater strength.  I just don't find it fun.  I don't like scary movies; I don't do the real ghost tours of cemeteries; I don't even like to read books that scare me.  An astute counselor helped me figure out how to deal with manufactured fear, so it's not like I'd have a complete meltdown if I went to see an M. Night Shamalan flick, but I don't seek them out either.

There is also a difference between intelligent avoidance and actual fear.  I give you, for example, the squirrel.  Many people think they are just cute as a button and feed them so they keep coming around.  Not me.  Squirrels are roving bands of killer vermin with fluffy tails.  A squirrel will bite your face off and not think twice.  Like that cute little bunny in Monty Python's Holy Grail, a squirrel's playful exterior houses a soulless killing machine bent on world domination.  So the fact that I avoid squirrels does not mean I am afraid of them, it simply means I am smart enough to keep myself out of obvious danger.  I wouldn't run around in the middle of one of Nancie the Gun Tart's shooting ranges, either.  Duh.

Blog roller_coaster Then there is the difference between thrills and chills.  Thrills you can get on roller coasters.  I love them - there isn't a ride out there I won't get on.  But a realistic haunted house?  No way, bub.  Call me crazy, but I don't like surprises that involve chain saws.  Real torture (as opposed to Penelope Pittstop on the train tracks kind), even for pretend, is not entertaining to me.  I totally understand the appeal to lots of people;  I'm just not one of them.

In my day to day life, real things scare the heck out of me.  Every time my kids leave the house without me, I'm afraid something will happen (control issues much?  nah). People who act like total creepers scare me.  Nutwhack jobs with guns scare me. Fire scares me.  And, the older I get, the more stupid people with political power scare me. On the other hand, thunderstorms do not scare me.  Neither does the dark.  We even had a little pet snake once.  Spiders are a nuisance but they don't scare me.  I've kayaked on white water and bungy jumped, but I won't play chicken with a real car (any more).  Get the idea?

Here is today's game, my TLC friends:

Tell the truth.  Do you like scary stuff for fun?  What really scares you?  

Just so you know, you have to tell the Truth because I told Her, Margie and her cousins they could be in charge of the Dares.  Assuming she shows up for work.  Fridays are always dicey with that one.  Come to think of it, so are Mondays.  And sometimes Wednesday afternoons.  Sigh.  

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Comments

Okay, I'll start.

Rides that make me go fast, or upside down or around and around and around in circles TERRIFY me. Rural darkness scares me, but not urban darkness. And I'm with you on the vermin. And the scary movies. Include me out.

Snakes, spiders, no problem. Making a fool out of myself in front of hundreds of people? No big deal. Finding myself without access to coffee? Nightmare.

I love scary movies, but not the "torture horror" that we see so much of nowadays. I'm also not too big on gore, but it doesn't scare me.

Most horror novels might creep me out, but the only piece of horror writing that ever caused me to have a nightmare was stephen King's "IT". Even then, the nightmare had more to do with forgetting my friends than it had to do with horrific clown creatures.

Poisonous spiders are pretty scary. So are sharks, if I'm ever in the ocean. Which I'm not.

Crazy people, especially those who make up the bulk of the Religious Right and their GOP lapdogs are pretty scary.

Caves are scary.

Tornados are scary. So are floods and wildfires. Earthquakes, on the other hand, are pretty cool. But then, I'm a native Californian.

Pissed off women with guns, or even knives, are scary as hell.

Flesh eating bacteria is scary.

Hmmm...can't think of much else.

I find as I grow older my fear of heights has grown along with my age. So that also rules out rollercoasters.

I don't like spiders but they don't scare me. Bugs, snakes, and furry critters don't bother me a bit.

Nutballs especially nutballs with guns scare the crap outta me.

Earthquakes, I went through the one in Alaska in 1964 so yes, if the ground shakes it scares me.

Tornadoes I've been through them, lived in Tornado Alley long enough to respect them. They don't scare me near as much as a severe thunderstorm does.

I don't like the new, gory and just plain sick horror movies at all. However, I always enjoyed the Bela Lagosi Dracula movies, the old Mummy movies, and Frankenstein.

I'm with Harley on not having access to coffee. EEEKS!!!!

Things that scare me...hmmm...

Political leaders following the religious right scare me, after all those same leaders have their finger on 'the button'.

Racism scares me...gender profiling scares me.

I don't much care for gory movies, gives me bloody nightmares...real life is bad enough as far as the gore goes.

I don't mind making a fool of myself, if I don't do it, someone else will make a fool of me anyway.

Pedophiles scare me, sexual predators scare me, pedophiles and sexual predators with weapons scare the hell out of me.

Gun loving right wingers scare me, some people just don't need guns. We've had too many nutjobs with guns playing shoot em up to not have some type of gun control. I know it's not a popular view, but I am who I am.

Bugs (including spiders) of any kind, snakes, and small rodents--don't really scare me, but I have an extreme dislike of these little critters, tend of squish them or sic my Westie on them, he loves to play with the rodents.

A world without chocolate really scares me.

Drug company ads scare me. Truly, the list of possible side-effects and symptoms caused by supposedly good remedies befuddle me. The side effects are worse than the original condition.

Snakes scare me.

Floods scare me.

Books and movies that treat violence as an acceptable method of control scare me.

The government scares me. The financial melt-down has shown me how little control people have over their own destinies because, ultimately, you have to trust someone, somewhere to hold your money.

Liars scare me. I keep wondering how they manage to convince people to trust them.

The diminishment of my idealism scares me. I dislike cynicism but find myself more and more cynical every day.

Television news scares me because I know what we aren't being told is at least as important as what we are.

The "me first" attitude scares me. Are there no strangers left to be kind?


I'm afraid of running out of ammo under assault by wave after wave of armored rabid zombie spiders.

Oh, yeah, you laugh -- but it was a really near thing last night!

I'm struggling to find a fear y'all haven't mentioned so far but I think you've got most of them covered.

Snakes - Check

"Moral Majority" whackjobs - check

Violence against women - check

Running out of ammo during an armored zombie spider attack - check

I don't like scary movies. Even if I can sit through it, scary movies give me nightmares.

I know! I'm scare Octamom will be back in 28-14 months with more babies. (Shivers!)

(I'm guest blogging at http://ridingwiththetopdown.blogspot.com/2009/03/follower-friday-guest-arkansas-cyndi.html Come by and make me look like I have some friends, okay? thx)

I can do suspenseful movies, torture and gore I can't do. I don't read Stephen King, or Koontz, or any of their ilk.

You would have to pay me millions to go on a roller coaster. I even won't ride the big water ride at Hershey Park that goes straight down and splashes water everywhere.

Snakes creep me out. Spiders don't bother me much, but we in Eastern PA now have this lovely new bug, which I find really gross and make me scream when I see them:

http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/brownMarmoratedStinkBug.htm

They started infesting my house in the Fall looking for a place to spend their winter - I had dozens of them in my bedroom. Ugh.

Kathy, your description of squirrels scares me.

Harley Jane nailed the single biggest fear first crack out of the box: No Coffee? Um.... That would be a Bad, BAD, *BAD* Thing.

Peg nailed it with the "Gore and Whore" movies. They don't scare me, but I don't watch them. Give me Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney any day. Toss in some popcorn and a pizza, and I'm safe for the day.

Got to go with Tom on the whole Zombie Thing. I'd have no option but to use an obscure martial art I've studied for years: 'Harada Karu' (English: 'The Way of Fast Feet', or as I call it, Run Like Hell)

Stupid decisions made by people in power scare me. There's a movement at the moment down here that has genuinely terrified me: no more teaching Evolution in schools. Creationism only. And it's gained some serious momentum. I always thoughts a real education meant one got BOTH sides of the story, and had been taught and trained to make one's OWN decision.

People in power who have no concept of the Real World terrify me. I'm all for gun control.... as long as I am the one in control. (Hypocritical yes, but give me a little credit for admitting to it.) The very idea of some of the stuff proposed is chilling, and the reality is a Bad Guy will ALWAYS have a gun when he wants it. The new laws will affect those of us who do it properly: register, license, train, etc. (Margie, if I may impose upon you to take a letter: Dear Washington, Bad Guys don't give a shit about the rules, so chances are slim they'll register their stolen guns.)

I could go on and on and on, but it's time for me to get some coffee, ponder the Meaning of Life, and clean my guns. (Just in case someone new reads this, this last paragraph is intended as Irony....)

Kathy, I appreciate you staying off the gun ranges. If I can only get others to follow your lead on this one, that would be wonderful, because that scares the hell out of me!

And what kind of squirrels did you have in your neighborhood growing up?

The mutant small cat sized cockroaches with bullet proof armor that live in Phoenix freak me out.

Books don’t bother me, but movies loaded with gory pointless torture/kill’em scenes are disturbing.

William, I agree with you. Gun control laws control the ones who follow the law in the first place and the criminal element is all for gun control because they know their victims won’t be armed or able to defend themselves. I carry a gun because a cop is difficult to carry around all day.

Things that scare the hell out of me:

Stupid people in high places
Religious fanatics
Religious fanatics having lots of kids and homeschooling them
Spiders, large AND small
Rollercoasters (but I love double ferris wheels)
Gory & horror books, movies
Rural dark (me too Harley)
Caves (because of the dark)
Close spaces (claustrophobia here)
My kids leaving the house (do all moms feel this?)

Okay, anti-gun control people, a serious question.

Given that criminals will get weapons whether or not it's legal, let's remove them from the equation. What about the idea that other people (ordinary citizens who are not dope-dealing, bank-robbing, home-invading gang members) will acquire a weapon because it will be easy to do so, and that person will get involved in an incident, like an argument with a neighbor or road rage or a domestic fight, and will use the weapon because they have it, but if they didn't have it, they wouldn't use it?

I know a lot lot lot of good citizens who have absolutely no business having a gun.

The idea of living in a world where everyone is armed--that really scares me.

You guys are good . . . you've got just about everything covered. Here are my biggies:

My kids driving late at night
Snakes
Heights (bungee jump? Good God, no!)
Claustrophobia (as a kid I could never hide under the bed!)
Fanatics--religious, political, and gun toting (They often have the face of Ann Coulter)
Scary, gory movies.

I do like storms--snow, thunder (even tornadoey weather). We had an earthquake here last April--it was sorta fun.

Include me out! I hate to be scared. Probably because my heart isn't up to speed and tends to go into fits of weird crazy beating if the adrenaline valve is turned too high. I'm the one at the amusement park who's enjoying the flowers and the landscaping while everyone else is screaming on the roller coaster.

I have to get to work, so this will be a short response.

Ramona, a gun isn’t the only weapon available to use, especially in a vehicle, house or even carried on a person. If someone feels the need to solve any type of dispute with violence they will do so with whatever means are available to them; crowbars, bats, knives, tire irons, their fists, and this is a short list. A person intending on solving their disputes with violence doesn’t need a gun to inflict harm upon another or even kill them, and I don’t believe not having a gun will stop this type of violence in any society.

I do NOT want to take a life, but I’m not going to offer mine up to some nut willing to kill me, my family or friends because they think the best way to end a disagreement and have the final say is the death of another.

I feel braver already! Great responses, and as soon as I'm off this INTERMINABLE conference call (people who talk but never listen don't scare me, I just hate them) I will be back.

Thank heaven for the Mute Button. A business phone without a mute button now scares me...

Hijacking my own blog to share a joke from Beachfla that made me laugh out loud today:

Happy Marriage
An elderly gent was invited to an old friend's home for
dinner one evening. He was impressed by the way his buddy
preceded every request to his wife with endearing terms such
as Honey, My Love, Dar ling, Sweetheart, Pumpkin, etc. The
couple had been married for 70 years & clearly, they were still
very much in love.

While the wife was in the kitchen, the man leaned over to
his host saying, "I think it's wonderful that, after all these years,
you still call your wife those loving pet names."

The old man hung his head, "I have to tell you the truth,"
he said. "Her name slipped my mind about 10 years ago & I'm
scared to death to ask the old bitch what it is."

Okay, back to scary stuff.

Nancie, I understand your POV, and of course I know that guns are not the only weapons in the world, but they are the most deadly.

My thinking on this issue is that more guns equates to more gun violence. Also, more home accidents with guns and children. The more guns out there, the more often they will be used. That's my take.

Kathy, you and Dave Barry share an aversion to squirrels. He calls them "terrorist bastards", and is always finding hilarious things to blame on them.

No terror, horror, or thrill rides for me, either. I'm not an adrenalin junkie, thank you so much. And I really don't understand those who are. Which is weird, because I'm usually more empathetic than that. But if I had my way they'd close all the amusement parks. That could be because of 35 years of child-rearing and endless waits, a la Nancy, next to rides with lines winding through the park. And while I don't care for critters in the house, they don't actually scare me, much less terrify. I'm bigger than they are.

I'm worried that someday the EPA will make us dig up our entire house and driveway to remove the obsolete oil tank after we switched to gas. Now there's a fear.

When my kids were small it occurred to me that my husband did not have the imagination to be afraid of what would happen if the kids did the things he was allowing them to do. Ride your bike down the steep driveway for your first non-training wheel trip? Sure. Never mind the stitches, honey. Mom will take you to the ER, I get sick at the sight of blood. Sigh.

Re: gun control. Ramona makes some good points, so good I can't argue with her about them. BUT, a lot of it falls back to REAL background checks, training, education, training, knowledge, training, awareness, and on top of everything else, proper training.

Guns scare me. Rollercoasters scare me (now. Once upon a youth ago I was as up for the Fireball as anyone). Spiders? If they're hanging over my head. Allowing someone too much authority terrifies me...I can't think of an instance in which that has ever ended well. High winds and hail sacre me, but not as much as lightning. And the thought that I'm half a country away from my kid has given me some nasty moments as well (I don't let go well).
As for Penelope, Kathy, (called Pen by her friends and Jinxed by everyone else), we met at a stock car rally in Chattanooga. Her beater had just gone through the wall and taken out a deserted porta-potty. Not pretty. The porta-car combo I mean. Pen is cute in her own way. We correspond occasionally and get together when she's in town (not often since the scariest thing in C-U these days seems to be the Centennial basketball team). I don't do sushi with her either. She had this close call with...
Great blog, Kathy. Now I have to get ready to face the scariest creature of all. A bookstore shopper in search of Cosmo UK!

William - A-HEM! Excuse me while I find something to hit you with that won't leave a permanent scar. I do not 'take a letter' you caveman. I am the Manager of this place. Plus, a message like that has to be delivered in person. Which I will do thankyouverymuch.

Yeah, I'm late this morning, so what? I was here until all hours last night cleaning up the big f'n mess the Authors of Deadline left in my copy room. And don't even ask about the coffee area. These women may look nice, but when they're under pressure, they are savages.

Uh oh, William. I guess you need to be scared of Me, Margie.

Soooo....scary? What scares me? Aside from everything everyone has already mentioned? Blind dates.
Internet dating.
Something like the ceiling falling down on top of me while I sleep. (Maybe that's more of a worry.)
Living alone, on a lake, where at any given moment there are bumps in the night.
Waking up next to dead baby possums.
My imagination. Now that is scary!
I'm with you Nancy at the theme parks except I'm the one waiting for my son at the adult beverage booth.
Just saying.
And guns. I know my name is Deringer and my family did a lot to improve the little killing machines...but they scare me.

Think about this.

Are you afraid of your kitchen knives? Your car? Hammer? Chisel? Saw? Shovel? Pitchfork? Tennis racket? Baseball bat? Toothbrush?

No. They're just tools. But any of them can be a deadly weapon. It's the intent and character of the user that makes all the difference.

We are each other's greatest strengths when we are at our best. When we face someone who means us ill, though, we deserve the best advantages we can find.

Survival is a moral as well as a biological imperative.

My top scary list:

Ignorance
Octo-Mom
Guns in the hands of the untrained (I tried to be open on this one---how'd I do??)
Mice
Scary movies (suspenseful, ok---scary, blood and gore-not ok)
Right wingers (political, not hockey)
Religious zealots
War
Me on a roller coaster (I am the one holding all the purses, wallets, sunglasses and picking up the loose change near the ride. Not too close, because I am also afraid of being puked on from someone on the ride)
Loosing a family member
Running out of toilet paper
The library closing
No more LC blog....now THAT is really scary!

Losing a family member (not loosing them)
Sheesh--maybe I should also add no spell check as something scary to me????

Wow, I bet William is hiding under his bed from Me, Margie. I got SCARED just reading that note! But since you were kind enough to visit me today, I'll visit you in the hospital when Me, Margie gets done with you.

I'm afraid of our Supreme Court. I feel my right eroding away.

I love this blog. We can actually have an intelligent discussion here without people taking it personally or winging out in any direction.

Here is something that scares me: big barking dogs that are not on a leash. I've never had a furry pet (allergies) but I can't tell if a dog is friendly or not.

Cyndi - loved the photos on your blog - we don't have that many flowers in bloom yet.

Not scary, but oops - I had Memphis going to the Final Four in the NCAA tournament. I'm pretty much done in the brackets since I had Duke over Villanova. But still - GO PITT!

Kathy, glad Pitt is still in it for your sake, but


HOW 'BOUT THOSE MO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!

Go MIZZOU!!!!!!

Okay, after a phone call with a daughter I remembered one of my biggest fears. DD2 has been living with her boyfriend since September. DD3 is moving in with her boyfriend in August. I worry that they are getting in over their heads, both emotionally and financially.

For the record, DD1 lived with her husband before they were married for six and a half years, back when the other two were little girls, so they grew up with that example. I only hope it turns out as well for them as it did for her.

Do moms ever stop worrying? Guess not.

Lots of things, but one thing that I thought of on the drive in is heights. In December 1974, I went to the top of the World Trade Center and was scared as heck to get within a yard of the windows. No way did I go up the escalator to the outside observation deck, although my mom did. Guess I don't have to worry about that again, though.

I almost took my kids there when we were in the City in December 2000, but we didn't get further south than Macy's. Macy's was fun, but I think it's still there.

Has anyone been into the Arch in St. Louis? That ride up is scary. So is being at the top.

Ciao Bellas!

Rocco here with a current crazed fear: that ALL my clients will come in with some hideous problem they didn't mention when they made an appointment for a 'regular haircut' that ended up taking me hours and threw off the rest of my day.

Please, precious ones, don't do that to your stylist. AND - Rocco's tip of the day: Make your spring mani, pedi and color appointments now - suddenly the phones are ringing off the hook and everyone wants it done yesterday. You know we love you, but there are only so many hours in the day.

Must dash.

I am claustrophobic. I WILL NOT get into the tram in the Arch. I would be clawing my way through the metal to get out.

I have two big fears. Losing my sight is one (not being able to do my crafts & see my grandkidlet's faces would be a bummer) and the other is lack of oxegen. That includes: small places
turtleneck sweaters (anything that is closed tightly acround my throat)
bodies of water-swimming pools, the ocean (I almost drowned in the Mississippi River when I was 18. I can swim, but just enough, obviously, to save myself)

I know exactly when it changed from being able to watch stuff like the original Last House on the Left (OMFG!) to not even being able to watch the "I want my baby back" channel, Lifetime. It was when I had my daughter. I couldn't even watch the TV movie "Adam" about John Walsh's son disappearing. And bloody, gory stuff is just a big no.

Forgot one big scary thing: looming deadline.


I went up to the top of The Arch once. "Once" being the operative word. Between the hell of getting to the top (and knowing I had to get down the same damn way), and then being at the top (and feeling it sway!) I thought I was going to have a complete out of body experience. Never ever again.

And here's another fear--my son will be driving home from his spring break trip this weekend--through the predicted "blizzard" expected in the Texas panhandle, Okalahoma, etc.

And oh, yeah, GO MIZZOU!!

Do you ever stop being afraid for your child? My daughter is 24 years old and I still afraid a lot. Of course she lives at home for now and I know everything she does by virtue of proximity. Maybe it will change when she moves out (crossing my fingers she gets a job come August when grad school is completed).

Me I can't believe the things I did when I was younger than my daughter of which I wouldn't want my daughter doing or even myself.

Many things scare me:
Will the world end in 2012?
Will the USA be obliterated by the Yellowstone Super Volcano?
Asteroid from space wiping out life as we know it?

I know it sounds like the program on one of the Discovery Channels, but I cannot watch these programs. Solution: I don't watch them anymore. I think sometimes I'd like to be an ostrich and stick my head in the sand until it all goes away.

By the way found this site this morning
http://www.mapyourname.com

In this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090325/od_nm/us_names_odd_1

You might find it interesting.

Most of the guns in my neighborhood are stolen and currently in the possession of boys between the ages of 12 and 22. The reason guns aren't owned by boys over the age of 22 is that those boys are mostly dead. I'd go further, but you all know my stance on gun control by now. If I had one, Her, Margie might be in big trouble.

Xena, I'll join you in the adult beverage department.

Peach - you are so right! Plus, I don't think it ever ends. I'm 48 and my Mom insisted we get together in person so she could "eyeball" me and make sure I was all right!

If my kids did half of what I did at their age, I'd have an aneurism.

Thanks to those of you who recognized Penelope Pitstop! Wasn't sure that one would work!

I find 'gun control' scary but CCW is warm & fuzzy. Let the punks be scared of the little old ladies that can aim better from inside their purse than they can with their piece turned sideways to be cool.
My fear of heights is actually logic. My bones break very easily.

Kathy, I'd completely forgotten about Penelope! Wonder what else has fallen out of my brain?

Never mind.

My greatest fear happened to me today. I woke up with one of the songs from the freecreditreport.com commercials earworming me.

AND.I.CAN'T.MAKE.IT.STOP.

I HATE when that happens!

Tziedel - Start singing "If I Were A Rich Man" - it's a good sweep-out song.

I'm on a Motown kick again today.

I'm afraid of all firecrackers except the really pretty ones that are set-off by people far away from me.

I'm also afraid of phone calls in the middle of the night

And, I'm careful to avoid when possible - snakes, big hairy spiders, loose dogs, and amusement rides with "free-falls" in them.

Kathy, did you see Idol Wed night? Wasn't Adam amazing?

This is the very thing I WAS afraid of. I had asked Margie to write a letter HOPING she wouldn't decide to visit Congress in person. The image of Margie on the loose in Washington, D.C., um, 'explaining' her point of view is a little nerve wracking.

Besides, I consider it my civic duty to prevent violence....

Tom, I think your list of "deadly weapons" is somewhat disingenuous. No, none of us fear those items, because none of them were invented for one purpose only--to kill. The gun holds that honor.

Given the choice, I'd take my chances against a toothbrush instead of a gun.

You're right, Ramona. And something gun proponents rarely tell you, even trained professionals sometimes make mistakes and shoot the wrong person.

My first husband was a police officer, and I once witnessed him discharging a loaded gun by mistake. Thank God no one happened to be in the path of the bullet, or his career and very life might have been cut tragically short, as well.

Not disingenuous at all, Ramona. Purpose is in the mind of the user. It's the user, not the tool, who may oppose you.

Fear of any object, by itself, is pointless, and perhaps even distracting. Things are inert. They have no mind. Fearing the human holding the tool, the weapon . . . that puts your focus in the proper place.

I always loved Penelope Pitstop! Didn't remember her until now.

As for guns, I live in a rural community where everyone wants, needs, or has a gun--it still scares me, sorry. With that many guns floating around the community, it leads to at least one accident per season. By summer everyone has forgotten, and looking forward to guns again for the fall. If there was better training, gun locks issued and used, and if the gangers from Decatur didn't come here to use their illegal guns and sell drugs, guns might be okay. I'm still scared of them.

Did you know you can get gun locks for free from many police departments? I didn't know until my Citizen's Police Academy class. The chief gave us as many as we wanted, and really nice ones.

I can understand why some people don't like guns. I don't enjoy shooting, hunting or any of that other stuff 'the guys' like to do. (Although, I have to say, I rather enjoyed shooting Dear Hubby's 22 one day. I hit every little thing I aimed at!)

But I grew up around guns...handguns, shotguns, even semi-automatics. Dad has hunted my entire life. Even as a kid we knew not to touch Dad's guns. He took us out and explained what they were, how they worked, and showed us how easily they can destroy something. None of us are afraid of guns, but we respect them and know how to use one if the situation requires it.

I'm all for background checks, waiting a few days until it comes back and registering the guns (not the ammo). Its like everything in this country. Make a law that punishes the people who are law abiding and don't usually get into trouble. But the criminals (who ignore the law most of the time) get by with everything.

Holy crap, you can ride up the Arch in St. Louis. OMG NO.
I also don't like big 'friendly' dogs. Always seems to be that they are friendly right up until they try to chew someone's face off.
Also rambling shambling incoherent homeless people. It can make walking in downtown Vancouver very interesting.
I am not much for gory torture movies either. Suspense, okay but I won't go out of my way for it. But I will read books about just about anything.

Oh yeah, I had my vision corrected (laser) over 10 years ago and still have nightmares that I wake up and can't see.

Left one off of my list.......

Drunk drivers

Ramona, I also see your POV, and I’m always curious to hear other opinions on the gun issue, especially the opposite side. I will see your point on, “The more guns out there, the more often they will be used,” and raise you this example:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/738709/firearm_ownership_is_mandatory_for.html?cat=17

William, you hit the factors near and dear to me; education and training and these are facts that should never end for any gun owner.

Tom, I agree, it’s the person you should fear.

This may not make me popular with fellow gun owners, but I would like to see mandatory training and education courses completed and passed 100% before someone can purchase a gun. Owning a gun is a huge responsibility and that should not be taken lightly.

I agree Nancie! I was raised around guns & safety was #1. I was scared when I had to qualify for security license because of all the dumbshit 'cowboys' on the range.
Everybody knew me at my dads range & treated me as an equal but the county rangemaster didn't know me and treated me like a dumb blond the first time there. After he scored the targets & we talked for awhile, he would ask me to help him keep an eye on any 'weirdos'.

I love the idea of mandatory training - is that part of any of the proposed legislation?

I’m not aware of any mandatory gun training proposed in any current legislation at this time, but I have been lax at keeping up on current gun legislation in the past several months. This is our busiest time of the year and our biggest event is taking place this weekend. We expect 30,000 people to attend.

Nancie, that's an interesting article, but I think it's telling that the ordinance was passed to make a political statement, not for the protection of or in service of the citizens of that town.

I know--Guns don't kill people, people kill people. But, more people with guns will nevertheless result in more people being killed. And, despite what's being said, accidently dropping a loaded gun and accidently dropping a loaded toothbrush will not end up with the same result.

I don't see exceedingly strict laws regarding guns as a punishment to good citizens. Having a deadly weapon is a serious responsibility, and should be treated as such. I don't see that as punishment.

Much of our citizenry cannot be counted upon to be responsible pet owners. So, it dismays me to think of those same people being armed.


When my Citizens' Police Academy class did our weapons class, there were some surprising results in the simulated shooting part.

There were 14 in the class, six of us women. The other half were split between students in the criminal justice program at University of Cincinnati (three seniors, all of whom have done their ride-alongs), and three men who had previous experience in some area of law enforcement (mostly in the judicial process, and they all had CCW permits), plus one other guy. The women did the best as far as hitting targets, making decisions on who to shoot, and on shooting sparely (as opposed to just blasting the hell out of the place). Of the six of us, I'm the only one who has had firearms training (and that was almost 40 years ago), and we ranged in age from mid-50's to nearly 80.

My point is that it did not seem to matter that the guys in the class had for the most part had training and had logged lots of time at the range, etc. They had guns in their hands so they used them. I found that profoundly interesting, and a little disturbing, even though they were not real guns.

Granted, this is empirical evidence. Or it could be more evidence of testosterone poisoning. Who knows.

PS--I was also raised in a gun-friendly family. Hunting rifles mounted on a rack in tne laundry room, right above the washer and dryer. My dad kept a loaded handgun under his bed and another under the seat in his truck. (No idea if he had a CCW permit or whatever you call it, so don't tell anyone.) I trusted my dad with guns. Just not a lot of other people out there.

Nancie, I agree with you. I think when you go to get your hunting license, every year, it should be mandatory to take a refresher gun safety course. Or when you purchase a new gun you have to take a class to learn how to use it & throw in the safety course. EVERY TIME!!! I have no problem with waiting periods. I do have a problem with some aspects of the NRA, my father does too (even though you will have to take his guns out of his cold dead hands, lol). If you get caught with alcohol and a gun, you lose your right to carry. I have a problem with the conceal/carry law in MO (not only the law, but the way it was passed...behind our backs when we voted it down).

But I do draw the line at banning guns. We all know how the drug war is working and how prohibition worked out.

It's an odd situation, isn't it? Half the world fears anyone who'd own a firearm, and the owners fear those who fear them.

Perhaps we should just deal with the fear, first.

Ramona, the law might have been passed as a political statement, but it has proven a community can be responsible with gun ownership. And I agree, dropping a loaded gun doesn’t get toothpaste all over the place, but it doesn’t discharge either. The gun range I work out is outside and heavy winds, such as the case yesterday, will throw guns off tables and we’ve yet to have one discharge. I’ve seen hundreds of guns hit the ground over the years and the only result is damage to the gun itself. Guns are designed to prevent a discharge when dropped.

The problem with strict guns laws is the simple fact they don’t address any real issue with gun crime. The focus should be on education, training, and continuing training as long as you own a firearm. I’m all for this avenue, and at the gun owner’s expense. Instead, we’re given the ill thought out solutions that generally cost states millions of dollars and they fail as history has shown. California Assembly Bill 1471 signed by Governor Schwarzenegger is a great example of a bill that will not produce the results as claimed. The microstamping technology can be defeated easily by filing off the end of the firing pin or just simply replacing the firing pin. The end result will be million spent in creating a database with little to no results from the effort, except a huge waste of money paid for by the tax payers.

In 2003, the California attorney general issued a report to the legislature entitled "Feasibility of a California Ballistics Identification System." California's chief law enforcement agency concluded that neither the methodology, money nor technology exists at the present time to implement such a scheme. The report uses data from similar programs in New York and Maryland, which ended up costing those states $2.4 million and $1.8 million respectivel - without solving a single crime.

And yet another bill was signed as law to spend millions of dollars for a program that is doomed to fail and sad part is we all lose in these cases by paying for these ineffective gun laws.

And Ramona, I agree with your viewpoint overall, gun ownership is not something to be taken lightly nor is it for everyone, and this is why I’m all for mandatory training and education.

Karen, it is interesting to note the differences between men and women when dealing with guns. I’m not surprised by your observations as I see this every day on the range from a handful of individuals.

I think it would be fine for every man, woman, and child to own a gun. It's the bullets that should be outlawed.

Hmmm. This sounds like a future "Point-Counterpoint" blog...

In late 2006, Dr. David Allie, a cardiovascular surgeon from Lafayette, Louisiana, learned that his 18-year-old son had been afflicted with flesh-eating bacteria in his upper neck and torso (40% mortality rate) and was not responding to the onslaught of antibiotics that were being administered. Having successfully used the Microcyn Technology (www.oculusis.com/us/technology) to treat a broad range of infections (including MRSA and others) in diabetic foot ulcer and stasis ulcer patients, Dr. Allie decided to have his son treated with Microcyn as well. Within 24 hours of treatment with Microcyn, the infection retreated and within a week his son was out of the ICU and on his way home. Dr. Allie’s experience with his son is detailed in a video at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b0gp2C8R5E

Hi Kak,
Squirrels were our friends growing up. We all walked through the IUP campus to get to grade school and junior high. We would tap nuts on the sidewalk and the gray beasts would come and eat them out of our hands. We were never told to stay away from them and so we were never afraid.

Carol, my cousin, was never afraid of ANYTHING----that was until she was nine months pregnant, living in Pittsburgh, was attacked on her front porch by 2 of the varments. She was on the porch floor tapping a nut for them to come when they attacked her. She couldn't get up very fast and was terrified. We figured they were city squirrels, not country ones. Forty years later she still sees no humor in the story. I haven't been too excited about them either.

You don't have enough paper to see what I am afraid of. Flying is at the top of the list. That's a long story.

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