Quote:
Originally Posted by zuluking
Having grown up on a ranch, I can tell you that our guns were used primarily as tools and secondarily as entertainment (target practice). The comment about predators and rodents is absolutely true. We had multiple sections of pasture land for cattle and wouldn't have been able to appropriately distribute our wolfdogs and donkeys to be effective. Poison was an option, but was also a risk to other wildlife so typically not used.
We also butchered our own beef and, although I supposed we could've clubbed the animal to death or strung it up live and slit its throat, a bullet to the brain was far more effective.
This post isn't for or against any augmented gun control. It is merely to support the notion that guns on farms and ranches are not exclusively owned for vanity or enjoyment. I'd also like to point out that referencing methods used in farming in the 1600s does not support any application to farming today. It is as relevant an analogy as the spear-hunting.
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I respect and accept this anecdote as evidence of guns as tool use on farms. I posit that there are other tools that could potentially be used to similar effect that don't pose the same level of societal harm that mass firearm ownership does.
I also take your reference to farming methods having developed, and didn't intend to make it seem like all farmers have not changed tactics since 1600s.