Responsible Autistic gun owners

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I felt the need to bring this up considering the likely media witch hunt.

I have been diagnosed with two major mental illnesses: Bipolar Disorder II and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I have also been doagnosed with Tourette Syndrome. My psychiatrist says that I am at least on the border between PDD-NOS and Asperger's Syndrome. I am also a responsible gun owner. I have never discharged a round at a living thing, and I have never discharged a round outside of a range unless I was way outside of city limits and I knew exactly where the bullet was going to land.

If you own a gun responsibly, I encourage you to speak out, especially if you legally carry a gun openly, in your car and loaded, or have a CCW. Our rights will likely come under attack.

Note: This is not a gun control debate. This is about not getting labeled as a bunch of violent lunatics. We can have big, heated gun control debate later.

From what I've seen on the news, there was no mention of Asperger's Syndrome.

I'm a responsible gun owner. I've never done anything danergous or foolish with a gun.

There is more to responsible gun ownership than owning a gun and using it properly. You have to decide whether you can and will use it properly and make sure you get the proper training to do so.

I do not own a gun because I feel that I may not be able to control myself from using it in certain situations. That is my decision however. That does not mean that I am against gun ownership.

As far as gun ownership laws in MN, I think they are murky when it comes to AS. I know you cannot get a concel-carry permit if you have a history of mental illness and AS may fall under that. I do not know what the rules are regarding rifles though.

Why will there be a witch hunt? (Did I miss something? I never watch the news.)

I honestly don't see why an otherwise competent autistic person shouldn't be ale to responsibly use a gun, assuming that he/she has control of their temper and is aware of appropriate use of the gun. A gun is a tool. I don't think anyone should own a gun unless they have a use for it, as a tool, ratherthan as a statuts symbol or a security blanket or to show off with, or worst of all, as a toy (! !!).

Hmmm. Well, I have. That's why I own a gun, to killl things with. It's what guns are for; killing living things. I use and have used a gun for the following, in order of frequency:

To humanely kill goats before butchering them.

To chase marauding dogs away from the goats and other livestock. I haven't ever actually hit or killed a dog. Sometimes the shot is intended mainly to frighten and warn them off. I usually warn the forst time, and then aim to kill if they come around again. Nearly all of them stay away after the warning. There have been a few times when I did intend to kill the dog but missed. If only more people were responsible dog owners!!

Shooting at crows who were stealing our duck eggs and raiding the nests of the ducks (with developing ducklings. It got to the point where we had very few eggs for our family and no ducklings at all because the predation was so high. Again, I missed (hey, you try to shoot a crow out of the sky with a .22!! !), but it did reduce the incidence of the problem.

I have shotguns for hunting and a target pistol.

There are a few common sense rules to follow:

1) Never leave them loaded.
2) Put the bullets under lock and key away from the guns.
3) I personally take them appart to clean them after using and don't put them back together until I plan to use them.

Unfortunatly several of the NTs I hunt with think it is ok to leave loaded guns in their houses.

Trust me, it will come up soon enough. Then the lobbyists will be all over it like, as my girlfriend would say, a fat kid on a cupcake*.

(* = I do not see obese people this way!)

how does one decide if one is responsible enough to own a gun or not? when a person is severely mentally-ill, they are often not aware of it- their detachment from reality leads them to believe that it is everyone else who are deluded. i'm sure that many of the world's most notorious serial killers thought that they were the epitome of sanity as they acquired various weapons and killed their victims in cold blood.

and it's not just mentally-ill people who should be denied access to guns either. everyone occasionally experiences emotions that makes them do impulsive things that they regret when they have calmed down and can see things more rationally. having a gun close to hand in these situations adds an unecessary potential complication.

and, sean: what is this thread for if we can't discuss gun-control? what sort of things are you expecting people to post? in my opinion, advocating gun ownership should not be allowed on this site. there are some impressionable people on here who might be influenced by your guns-are-cool attitude, leading to tragic consequences- intentional or accidental.

By all means, start a thread in the Politics forum for a gun control debate. My purpose for this thread was to express anger and concern how what Will Freund did could impact my right to own a gun. I'll admit my medical record and personality can make people uncomfortable with the thought of me owning a gun, but the only situation in which I would ever kill anybody is if they do something that gives me the right to legally defend myself. In my State, that would mean that they would have to be armed and in my home.

well, if these people who (hypothetically) break in to your home were not able to obtain guns in the first place there would be no need for you to have a gun. personally, i think that it's more likely that you will come to harm by having an accident with your own gun then people breaking in to your house in the middle of the night to murder you (although, i suppose it depends on how many enemies you have ).

i see people who claim that they own guns to defend themselves from other people with guns the same as people who use drugs recreationally and then complain that addicts "give them a bad name." it doesn't seem very sensible to me and there's an increased chance of danger which ever way you look at it.

I am pretty sure that you wouldn't be able to get a liscence here for guns because of your bipolar. I have not tried to get one but have been told that my history of depression would be an issue. I am in Canada though.
I am not a big fan of guns but I wouldn't think AS or autism should be a factor in saying someone can't have one. Will Freund was very messed up and what percentage of that was his autism is hard to say. Hopefully the media won't go beyond describing him as a loner because I think you are right to fear a witch hunt.

I would argue that if we don't want to get labeled as a bunch of gun wielding maniacs, then the easiest solution is simply to give up gun ownership, or at the very least, advocacy of gun ownership in these fora. I suspect you would prefer not to do either of those?

It stands to reason, by promoting the merits of owning a powerful ranged weapon in a forum where there are people with a whole range of disorders, we're risking being labeled irresponsible, at best. God knows how the over-reactionary media would label us?

Last edited by eyeenteepee on 31 Oct 2005, 4:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

Even that is damaging enough, encouraging suspicion and mistrust of people like us, whether or not they have AS.

I hate the media sometimes!

I'm currently (and temporarily) living with a responsible autistic gun owner.

Just ban the damn things. Then nobody would be allowed to have them.

If we want to talk gun control, lets do it in the political forum. Sean has asked a simple question and has made a request to keep gun control debate out of this thread. If people cannot do that, the mods will do it for them.

Thank You

As Moderator,

>> just read the moderator posting

why don't the mods take my sporks away from me while they are at it