At 09:59 PM 6/11/01, Patrick Sweeney wrote:
>I think it's time the discussion got its own subject line. :)
Oh, why? It's so much more fun to be surprised by the content of a
message. <g>
Just a couple of thoughts--
>While I've made fun of what I consider the sillier arguments of anti-gun
>control folks, I don't favor a complete ban on firearms.
>
>I think rifles and shotguns have a legitimate sporting use and should not be
>banned. I'm ambivalent about a ban on handguns, but there are plenty of
>things I'd like to try before we attempt to get rid of them -- which I have
>serious practical doubts about.
Even if you know a way to magically make all firearms disappear (including
those owned by the police & military, which could be stolen if those were
the only ones left), how long will it take before homemade ones turn
up? Do we summarily execute everyone who can run a lathe or knows the
formula for black powder?
>I think strongly enforcing the gun laws we already have is great, but it's
>not enough.
>
>I think mandatory trigger locks for all firearms are a great idea. Anything
>we can do to try to reduce the number of children who kill themselves or
>their playmates with carelessly stored firearms is a wondeful idea. And
>prosecuting the grieving parents afterward for negligence is not a good
>substitute.
As I've said before, when I was growing up, my father kept a loaded,
unlocked revolver in the house, and the same was true in the homes of many
of my friends and neighbors. (My grandfather, uncle, cousins, etc., who
lived in the country also kept long guns handy on racks in the house.) My
father made sure we all knew where the gun was and how to use it in case
someone broke in (which never happened at my house but did happen to a
friend of mine when he was alone--the would-be burglar beat a hasty retreat
when he found himself face-to-face with a kid pointing a service .45
automatic at him), and that we also knew the difference between a real gun
and a toy and what a real gun could do by firing it at cans, etc. A
neighbor who lives across the street from me and is a retired police
officer who currently works as a security guard told me that when his kids
were small and he was on active duty with the police department, he
similarly taught his kids about the dangers of guns. He then tested them
by leaving his service sidearm (unloaded) on the kitchen table while he
watched from the other room. His kids passed the test, though he was ready
to run in there and punish them sternly if they had disobeyed him and
touched the gun. Even if you choose to keep your firearms locked, your
children may come across unlocked ones, either at a friend's house or
perhaps finding one that has been dropped on the street, so it is necessary
to train them how to behave around firearms whether or not you have
firearms in the house or whether or not you keep yours locked.
And FWIW, not only did none of my friends take a firearm from home to shoot
up the school, none of us even _thought_ about doing so.
>I think mandatory safety classes and refresher classes for firearms owners
>are a good idea. We test prospective drivers. If you can't be bothered to
>take a half-day safety class once a year or so, you don't deserve to have a
>firearm.
>
>I'm ambivalent on registration. I don't know if it helps any, and it just
>riles up the fringe types, like the militias. There's no sense getting police
>and ATF agents killed trying to enforce laws that don't do any good.
So how do you know who has a firearm and needs yearly training unless you
have a list of gun owners?
>I'm leery of relaxing concealed carry laws. The idea of a woman defending
>herself from a would-be rapist with the pistol in her purse is appealing, but
>real life doesn't always work out so neatly. What happens when she misses the
>rapist but kills a child playing down the street? What happens when she
>overreacts and shoots an obnoxious but harmless street person? What happens
>when she gets drunk and pulls it on her boyfriend, or the police who've come
>to arrest him? The same, even moreso, for men, of course.
See my earlier post about the role of alcohol.
-- Ronn! :)
