When I first came to the USA I was a bit shocked at the gun ownership, especially since I spent a lot of my early time in Texas where it's legal to carry a gun as long as it is not concealed. Yup, folks walking done the high street with guns in holsters openly on display.
I live in California now where gun ownership seems much lower than in "The South" and the whole gun thing just doesn't bother me now. Living in England, it's really hard to understand the American gun thing and the hunting thing. Once you've lived here for a while, it's just part of "a different culture". On 1/7/08, Bruce Sorge <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I will step up and take the gun issue. And if I seem to be rambling or > whatever, apologies. Dinner may be able to keep up though. :) > > Most pro-gun advocates are for *responsible* gun ownership. > Unfortunately not all states require a gun safety course unless you want > a hunting license. Then you need to take hunters safety, which is not so > much proper operation of a gun but how to keep from shooting fellow > hunters (I guess Cheney never took that course). > We will also tell you that the second amendment states that we are > allowed to bear arms. I believe that some will say that the original > intent was for state militias to be allowed to own guns, but back in the > day the state militias were everyday people. Basically everyone needed > to own a gun to protect the state/country. Arguably that could be > construed now to mean that only those of us in the National Guard and > law enforcement are allowed to own guns, and to take it even further, > since the state supplies us National Guard members with a gun, we don't > really need to keep one in the house, but I still believe that it means > everyone can own one. That is one of the debates though. > > As far as the reasons for owning one, you pretty much named them all. > The framers never intended for criminals to own guns to commit their > crimes, but I am sure they had some bad seeds in their communities who > did commit crimes with guns. So you pick the lesser of two evils? Back > then everyone owned a gun because you did not have Von's or Safeway or > Piggly Wiggly in every town to buy meat, so you had to go out and shoot > it. A lot of us hunters still do this. Whatever I shoot, I eat unless I > am shooting a coyote that is trying to get at our dogs. > > We (the U.S.) require a criminal background check to buy a gun, but, > just because your check comes back clean does not mean you are mentally > stable enough to handle the responsibility. The guy who blasted his way > through Virginia Tech is a recent example of this. But in my monthly > American Hunter magazine (a publication put out by the NRA, which I am a > member of) has a couple of pages that have news stories of armed > citizens (that is even the name of the section) taking matters into > their own hands against would-be armed criminals, and these folks always > fare well. I am sure that they only put in the success stories for our > reading pleasure, but still it is nice to know that there are people out > there who know how to handle a firearm and themselves. > So unless you also submit to a psychological background check as well as > the criminal one, pretty much anyone who does not have a felony or a > record of mental instability can have a gun, unless you live in > Washington D.C. > And the adage that guns kill people is bullshit. People kill people, > they just use guns as a means. A gun sitting around will not just decide > to walk out of it's safe, off the rack, out of the nightstand or > whatever and go out and shoot people. The gun still requires human > interaction to do it's job. > > Also, statistically, in most crimes that were committed using guns, the > perpetrator never actually fired the gun. Unless their intent is to > outright shoot people no matter what, they use them more of a persuasive > tool to get what they want or as a last resort. > > And also you have to understand that just because you have gun laws, or > you outlaw guns totally does not mean that criminals are going to adhere > to these laws. Your prohibition comment is pretty much right on. That > will just produce a thriving black market for guns, sort of like the ban > on assault rifles has done. > > And most importantly, the anti-gun lobby does NOT have a way to reliably > get rid of guns. Just look at assault rifles. Just because they are > illegal does not mean that they are gone, they have just gone > underground. Basically the anti-gun lobby thinks that if you just make > tougher sentences for people who commit crimes with illegal guns, that > will deter them. That has been proven over time to not work at all. > > Hope this helps a little towards your enlightenment. > > Bruce > > -- > Throttle Jockey - > Why golf courses should be motocross tracks > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:250093 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
