[hackerspaces] Firearms in Hackerspaces?

[Phillip Rhodes]

On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Al Billings <albill at openbuddha.com> wrote:
> Phil,
>
> My hackerspace is in Oakland, one of the roughest cities on the West Coast.
>
> That said, if I knew someone was carrying a gun into the space as a matter
> of course, I'd be raising the issue with the other members. First social
> intervention and then, later, maybe asking them to find themselves a better
> home. I don't need to be around geeks with guns. Thanks.

What "issue"?  What exactly is it you're afraid of, Al?  And why?
Again, you can
look up the statistics yourself if you don't believe me... less than
one half of one
percent of firearms (civilian firearms) owned in the US are *ever*
used in any kind of crime
much less a homicide.  And the truth is, whether there are statistics
to back it up or not, law
abiding gun owners, the kind of people who open-carry and/or take the
time to get their
CCW permits, are even LESS likely to ever commit a crime.   Given
that, I ask again.. what
is it you're so worried about?  Do you expect a fellow member of your
hackerspace to just
randomly flip out, pull a gun and start shooting people?  If so,
you're spending time worrying
about something that's about as likely as being hit by lightning.  How
much time and energy
do you spend worrying about being hit by lightning?

It sounds to me like you have a totally irrational and unjustified
fear of guns and gun owners, but
if you can provide some rationale for it, I'd love to hear it.


Phil