Should people with Aspergers be able to own guns?

Post Reply New Topic

AS or not, I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't have or what I can and can't do.

If that happens to be their special interest, than they should own guns.

I SWEAR my father has some AS traits and if he were a kid today he would probably be diagnosed. He's always buying old guns to clean up and fix. He gets such a thrill out of fixing them. He will go out to the range once and a while (where you shoot at targets) but I think he likes the aspect of fixing them more. He's always going to gun shows and taling about the ones he'd like to have. I should ask him if he would teach me to fix them sometime so we can have a "father/daughter" thing to do.

Guns can be fun, why not have one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

You miss my point, although I didn't actually spell out the point that I was trying to make.

My point was supposed to draw attention to the fact that those with AS are probably no more likely to be trigger happy than 'Republicans'.

It wasn't intended to be a comment on the political stance adopted by the two main parties in the US.

That said, you could actually be making a joke (although your capitalization seems to conflict with that possibility) and I have simply fallen into the AS trap of taking things literally.

Either way, thanks for your honest and passionate reponse and HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Last edited by Blindspot149 on 03 Jan 2010, 1:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

I still support the right to own them for self-defense.

The Major Hassan dude who shot up the army base graduated from Virginia Tech. As did this other dude who put an ax or something in this woman's head recently.

that school cranks out winners



I said it before and will say again. Abolish the Age of Consent.

How else will you ward of zombies and the King of England?

It's funny you said that, my obsession or "special interest" happens to be guns >.> it kind of sucks since it's not really productive and my family is pretty anti-gun >.<

It's entirely an individual thing. I own multiple firearms, of a wide variety. I definitely show a preference for World War II and Russian-designed firearms, though. I also have the mental conditioning to use them properly in an emergency. I have planned, considered scenarios, and know each of my firearms intimately well, and, most importantly, I have firm rules established for things I will NEVER do with a firearm or any other weapon. Frankly, I am probably more qualified to own and utilize firearms than even the vast majority of NT's. I have my rules and procedures already laid out, and that's far more than 99% of firearm owners can say, including many law enforcement officers.

However, there are aspies who should probably not own firearms, just as there are NT's who should probably not own one. I've known many people I wouldn't trust with a gun, and Asperger's, by itself, makes little or no difference. In my case, my autism makes me a safer gun owner because I am big on rules and procedures. There are things I will not do, and lines I will not cross. To someone else who has significant motor impairment or another condition affecting judgement, it is something they need to think long and hard about.

In short, no. Asperger's should not, by itself, ever be a disqualifier from owning guns. It is not a mental illness, nor would it impair judgement in a life or death situation. Sometimes coexisting conditions or extreme traits can cause significant impairment to a person's ability to responsibly possess a firearm, but Asperger's by itself does not.

AS should absolutely not be a blanket disqualifier. I served for the United States Army for 7 years and incurred zero criminal or otherwise serious offenses (I did get in trouble for sometimes being mouthy, tobacco use and other such juvenile behavior). This includes not only working in four different job capacities (from Radio and COMSEC Repair to Infantry), but also serving full time for a period in Bosnia Herzegovina.

Because of the wide spectrum that AS covers, I wouldn't be opposed to AS being a flag for more individual scrutiny.

There are two generalizations that seem to be at play here:

"Guns" and "People with AS".

Not all firearms are the same. A license for a hunting rifle, or a firearm for sport shooting purposes is a very different thing than a license to carry a handgun.

And as even the briefest review of WP will demonstrate, not all people with AS are the same. There are some people here for whom owning and safely using a firearm would present no risk; there are others for whom taking all of the steps to properly secure a firearm would present a challenge.

At the end of the day, screening for firearms ownership should be a purposive examination, not an exercise in categorization.

I know one person with AS. He also has Adult ADD/ADHD. He is one of my roommates. I'm sure there are varying degrees of the syndrome, but from what I've read, my roommate's case is severe. He owns multiple guns, including an AK47. He should not only not be allowed to own a gun, he should not be allowed to drive, or do anything where innocent people could be hurt or killed. He is so uncoordinated that can't even stand still! He can't concentrate! He forgets what he's doing. It's scary! He is offensive in every way possible. It seems like he goes out of his way to make life unbearable for everyone around him- like not flushing the toilet and leaving his junk piled up in common areas of the house, never washing his dishes, the list goes on and on. I don't want to be "mean" to him if none of this is by choice, but I pay rent too and I shouldn't have to live this way. I have about 6 months left on my lease. I never know what he will do next and I HATE being around him! I guess I got off the subject of guns and Aspergers.....but I'd say NO, they should NOT be allowed to own guns. EVER! PERIOD!

There is. There is mild moderate and severe. I think it's offensive to say all aspies can't own a gun. The correct answer should be "it depends on the aspie."

Your room mate just sounds lazy. Have you ever talked to him about his behavior about picking up after himself and being more considerate?

To be 100% honest, I agree with him being lazy. I don't know enough about Asperger's, I guess, but I did read that they are often uncoordinated and clumsy. Those two things alone don't go well with guns. I can give an actual example- we had to take a trip to Wal-Mart and as we were walking across the parking lot a loaded 45 semi automatic fell to the ground! I don't even know where he was carrying it.
AND
Yes, I have told him repeated to clean up after himself, etc. He ALWAYS acts like he's hearing everything for the first time. He will either stand there and tremble, cry, or a scary darkness will come across his face. Our landlord leaves notes regularly about cleaning the house. If it doesn't have something to do with comic books or guns, he doesn't have much interest in it. He will use other peoples' things and just be disrespectful in a variety of ways and I am the only one who has the guts to say much to him about it. Nobody likes him though and everyone in the house wishes he would just go away! He has alot of survivalist type books and it's clear to me that he is scared of something himself. Personally, I'm afraid if he ever did "crack", I'd probably be his first "target".

He sounds like a dumbass.