12-24-2008, 03:08 PM
From Jon: "Again did you note that miles of open land on both sides of the neighborhood? Or the Fact of the neighborhood only being 1 mile wide? So that open land is 1/2 mile or less away from everyones homes?"
What this neighborhood is surrounded by is irrelevant, the issue is shooting a gun in a suburban neighborhood. The surrounding area doesn't change the reality of how close together the houses are there, and how many people are in close proximity. Lack wasn't shooting his gun off in the brush surrounding his neighborhood, he was shooting in his yard.
Hawaii County allowed all sorts of subdivisions to be platted in the middle of ag and forest land. These were mostly land scams and no one really expected people would ever actually live in these places. The goal was to sell cheep Hawaii lots to main landers who would never see what they bought. A lot of swamp land was sold in Florida around the same time. The result is residential neighborhoods with small lots that are zoned ag and surrounded by ag land, but are increasingly suburban in nature as they fill in. Zoning and land use planning will eventually catch up and redefine a lot of these places. In the mean time there is a conflict between life styles and the gun issue really brings it out. Personally I would like to see the small lot subdivisions rezoned as residential with good nodal development of commercial and light industrial so all of Puna doesn't have to drive to Hilo for jobs, goods, and services. But that's just my opinion.
Back to the gun issue, Lack may be a conscientious gun owner and user in his own mind (and maybe even in reality) but the State of Hawaii, acting on behalf of the collective sum of our community, has set some reasonable limits on where you can and can't use a gun. I am not rabidly "anti-gun" but I have known enough complete wing nut gun owners whose judgment about where and when it is appropriate to use a gun was so completely off base that I am a big supporter of limits on where guns can be fired. I had neighbors whose idea of constitutionally protected fun on Christmas, New Years, 4th of July, or if they just did enough meth, was to start shooting at the stars. The simple fact that what goes up must come down evaded them and they seemed to think that their bullets just traveled out into infinity. When the duplex next to us was reroofed the roofers were blown away at all the bullets they found embedded in the roof. This was not the house of the shooters either. Am I supposed to entrust the safety of myself, my family, and my neighborhood to the judgment of every person who manages to scrape together enough money to buy a gun? Or do we as a community come to some sort of agreement as to where people are too close together to be firing guns?
I actually agree with Jay on the need for the government to not be the only people who have arms, but I still don't think you should be firing guns in a suburban neighborhood if you or someone else isn't in danger. That doesn't make me anti-gun, just pro-safety.
Carol
What this neighborhood is surrounded by is irrelevant, the issue is shooting a gun in a suburban neighborhood. The surrounding area doesn't change the reality of how close together the houses are there, and how many people are in close proximity. Lack wasn't shooting his gun off in the brush surrounding his neighborhood, he was shooting in his yard.
Hawaii County allowed all sorts of subdivisions to be platted in the middle of ag and forest land. These were mostly land scams and no one really expected people would ever actually live in these places. The goal was to sell cheep Hawaii lots to main landers who would never see what they bought. A lot of swamp land was sold in Florida around the same time. The result is residential neighborhoods with small lots that are zoned ag and surrounded by ag land, but are increasingly suburban in nature as they fill in. Zoning and land use planning will eventually catch up and redefine a lot of these places. In the mean time there is a conflict between life styles and the gun issue really brings it out. Personally I would like to see the small lot subdivisions rezoned as residential with good nodal development of commercial and light industrial so all of Puna doesn't have to drive to Hilo for jobs, goods, and services. But that's just my opinion.
Back to the gun issue, Lack may be a conscientious gun owner and user in his own mind (and maybe even in reality) but the State of Hawaii, acting on behalf of the collective sum of our community, has set some reasonable limits on where you can and can't use a gun. I am not rabidly "anti-gun" but I have known enough complete wing nut gun owners whose judgment about where and when it is appropriate to use a gun was so completely off base that I am a big supporter of limits on where guns can be fired. I had neighbors whose idea of constitutionally protected fun on Christmas, New Years, 4th of July, or if they just did enough meth, was to start shooting at the stars. The simple fact that what goes up must come down evaded them and they seemed to think that their bullets just traveled out into infinity. When the duplex next to us was reroofed the roofers were blown away at all the bullets they found embedded in the roof. This was not the house of the shooters either. Am I supposed to entrust the safety of myself, my family, and my neighborhood to the judgment of every person who manages to scrape together enough money to buy a gun? Or do we as a community come to some sort of agreement as to where people are too close together to be firing guns?
I actually agree with Jay on the need for the government to not be the only people who have arms, but I still don't think you should be firing guns in a suburban neighborhood if you or someone else isn't in danger. That doesn't make me anti-gun, just pro-safety.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb