Should people with Aspergers be able to own guns?

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Well, I think anyone who can't understand that "don't kill people unless they are trying to kill you" is not an arbitrary or stupid rule has problems much more severe than an ASD.

I often wonder if people with AS shouldn't be issued with a automatic weapon and a substantial quantity of ammo upon diagnosis!

Still, it seems to me possible that as soon as ANYTHING is entered under "mental illness" you find yourself in a "guilty until proved innocent" place for safety?

Sorta sensible, but a bummer

M

Last edited by mechanima on 17 Oct 2007, 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

imo, I really don't think anyone should be allowed guns...

People with AS are as varied a group of individuals as NT's.

Some individuals should not own firearms, most are okay to own firearms.

I do not believe that having AS should be an automatic exclusion from the list of those who are okay to own firearms.

I've followed Australia's gunlaws a little for quite a few years now and I'm sorry that country has taken the path they have.

Like Triangular Trees mentioned, there are traits of AS that could be seen as positives for gun owners no matter what label we put on them.

If I were to stereotype a little here, I would say that Aspies would have a much less emotional attachment to their firearms than some NT's do.
A firearm is a machine. Treated like one, it can be handled safely if all facets of it's operation are understood.
Once people start adding in their emotional attachments... cowboy image, gangsta image, and so on... then the gun seems to become an extension of themselves and less like the machine it is.

I think Aspies would see a firearm more for what it is than NT's would, in general.

Now, anyone who feels suicidal, or actually gets to the point mentally where they are going to hurt someone, will use a firearm in the 'bad' way... killing innocent people.
I have never seen anything that says Aspies are more often that sort than NT's.

But then, I'm rambling here, aren't I?

This is going to go into the damn gun debate. However, where I live they are still needed. It isn't people that they are needed for.
Although when they break out of the max facility near by, they normally head away from this area. I just lock my door, which isn't usually.

We have our own rules. When one hears a gun shot in the night, it isn't a drive by. Some one is feeding their family.
When a rabid animal gets near, it will die. Call the authorities? The closest is about a half hour away. If they aren't busy else where.
I call them after, I just don't shoot them in the head, the animal that is. Bears run if you make noise. Coy dog packs the same, usually.
Rattle snakes, no time to get a gun, a garden tool works just fine. I leave them alone when they live in their own places and not under my back deck.
Probably make me just a little sick, but they could kill my dogs and cats and little kids.
Animals after the live stock? Dead. Anything after the kids, is dead.
I've used my guns for putting animals out of their misery more then anything else and it breaks my heart every time I do.

So I'm an aspie, doesn't mean I want to waste people. I didn't when they shoved the M-16 in my hands and thank the stars I didn't have to.
Don't preach to me about the rights and wrongs and what if's till you have faced it, then we'll talk.
It's all just theory till the hammer comes down, isn't it.

But to address the original question. Too late, I already do.

Last edited by postpaleo on 17 Oct 2007, 12:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't have it THAT bad, and would be more reasonable anyway!




I don't, and I doubt many do!




I don't overreact in that way. Most don't!




I weight outcome so, again, this wouldn't be adversly affected.




SO? I for one STILL don't think about killing others!



YEAH RIGHT(sarc) Maybe ***YOU*** shouldn't own a gun! BTW my mother, for some odd reason, let my friends sons take nearly everything I had. So I didn't get to keep THOSE guns. HECK, even toys I had MYSELF are GONE! Then again, she "helped" me move about 7 years ago, and THAT was a disaster. I guess I can't trust her to move other peoples stuff very far. But about 10 years ago, they decided to try outlawing guns in California. SO, I got one. I do have a nice 9mm ruger semi automatic with over 15 rounds! The leftist communist jerks like to call it an assualt weapon!

I also have several dozen rounds.

Well yeah, but nobody was saying that was an arbitrary or stupid rule. I mean stuff that's illogical or has no scientific basis, that sort of thing (I can't come up with an example on the spot, but I want things explained if I don't see a logical reason for them).

I don't see why the rules for who may own a gun should be different for Aspies than for anyone else.

I also don't see why anyone should be allowed to own a gun without regular safety classes. Boring and obnoxious, I'm sure. But guns can kill or maim by accident if people are stupid about them. As far as I'm concerned, everyone and their safety-trained dog can own a gun; and, just like property taxes and losing your house, or medical licenses or teaching licenses, routine recertification just makes sense. As long as any gun owner is hyper-paranoid-careful about not letting a little kid get ahold of it or doing anything similarly stupid, I don't feel it's even my business.

But, you live in Australia, which is fairly notorious for not wanting anyone to own a gun. Sorry about that. I'd see if I could get some kind of psych eval that said I was safer than the average NT, if I were you. Assuming, of course, that it was worth whatever additional time and or money is involved in that.

full disclosure notice: I am an NT with no wish to own and not much interest in guns.

That's wrong. You should fight it.

I own an FN FAL :]

I don't see any reason why having Aspergers has anything to do with gun ownership. I think that there is nothing wrong with anyone owning a firearm as long as it is for self-defense, hunting or something like that. Now I don't want to place all aspies into a box, but aren't we supposed to be less prone to violence?

I have my grandfathers M1 garand from WW2 and its a sexy gun! Unfortunatly its very old and aside from looking at it and admiring that it was used in Europe during the war I never have had the desire to try and get it into working order to fire it.

Other then that i have no gun, someday maby I will tho, i do like to shoot but i would only shoot at targets, no animals ect unless I absolutly must. Currently I have no desire to purchase 1, maby someday.

I also think its stupid ppl with AS may have a harder time obtaining a gun, obviously.

If Dick Cheney can own one, why not an aspie?

Last edited by whiteskunk on 17 Oct 2007, 8:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

fixed 10rnd mag Kali special or a registerd AW?

Cho was not autistic, he had something called "selective mutism" which is actually more common than AS is.

I find it morally wrong that they denied you the gun because of AS. If I was in your situation I would then not have a problem with lying on the written part about my AS. If you can apply again at a different location and just lie about it, then you could get a gun. Hearing about people taking away rights because of AS is what makes me so hesitant to admit it other people in real life.

I think the problem is lack of definition of "mental illness." AS is in ICD's section on mental disorders, but so are crossdressing, anorexia, sleepwalking and tension headaches. I don't know about you, but I'm not worried about armed anorexics.

In the U.S., they don't usually worry about diagnoses unless one has been institutionalized. I don't think that's the ideal standard to use, but at least it's something.