Most gun owners are responsible people. They keep their weapons locked away when not in use, take care to make sure they are not loaded when put away, that sort of thing. I do not have issues with such people. They may have a gun to shoot vermin, or to put down a sick animal on the farm, or they may use them to hunt game, or they may like shooting at targets on a shooting range on weekends, or they may just feel safer with a gun nearby. Whatever their reasons, I respect them if they are responsible people.

The problem is, not all gun owners are as careful as they should be.

The careless ones are the ones that make like harder for legitimate gun owners. They are the ones that leave loaded guns lying around, or don't lock their guns away when not in use, and otherwise do not treat their firearms with the respect that they deserve.

All too often such carelessness leads to trouble. Children may find the guns and start playing with them. It's not uncommon for such carelessness to lead to tragedy.

When she was very little, someone I know had the experience of having a loaded gun pointed at her by her brother, who found a rifle in the house that had not been secured properly. She remembers this very clearly, as does her brother. After turning the gun on her, the brother turned the gun on another brother. And then pulled the trigger.

Blam.

Their brother died that day.

I don't know how common such events are in the USA. But if the figure I heard of 30,000 deaths by firearms per year in the USA is accurate, I would not be surprised if some of these deaths occured in similar circumstances.

I don't know what the laws are in the USA in relation to deaths caused by unsecured firearms. I feel that people who do not secure their firearms properly should be responsible for them. If one leaves a firearm lying around unsecured and it causes the death of a child, is it possible for that act of negligence to lead to jail time in the USA?

It often does.

Very true...that's why I can't agree with the argument that gun ownership makes everyone safer, including non-owners.

When I was 7 years old, the gun owner who lived in the apartment above us wasn't what I'd call careful--he kept his gun in his unlocked nightstand drawer. I know this because one day, two of his kids, not much older than me, decided it would be fun to sneak into dad's room and show the gun to me. Thank god it wasn't pointed at anyone or the trigger pulled. :headshake

So your neighbor was an idiot is reason to tell 300,000,000 people they shouldn't have guns and only the other few million that are criminals will have them?

I've never said that I'm in favor of banning guns. In fact, I've said that I'm fine with people owning guns, as long as they are responsible.

This is the first time in history where the weapon difference between the people and the leadership is so large, it is almost scary. A handgun would do nothing against a tank or anyone with body armor. Remember the LA (?) shooting where those two guys with AKs held off all those police officers for an insane amount of time. And what did the LA police do about it? They gave the police officers more powerful weapons.

To get to my point, handguns won't do shit against an opposing/our own army. And let’s be serious here for a second, if we do become a police/1984 state, who would seriously fight against it? I can't see many people actually doing anything about it and the few people that do fight would be dead very quickly.

Only idiots would violate the rights of millions for the irresponsibility of a relative few.

Pierce, you have a little problem with truth -- especially when you hear it from me, child.

I'd say transferring to a college in Utah would acquaint you personally with the truth of the matter.

Umm....what truth?

I live on one of the biggest campuses in the country. What do I not know?

How in the heck did you do this?
 

?!?!

Sigh.:headshake

What don't you know? Practically everything.

Is it or is it not true that Utah doesn't forbid college students concealed carry and on campus? Is it or is it not true that Utah isn't having school shootings?

Was it or was it not true that the U of T at Austin tower's sniper, way back in the Sixties, was shot back at, and in quantity? Wanna guess how many lives were spared because the sniper had to keep his head down?

Contrariwise, is it or is it not true that by disarming students and faculty at Virginia Tech, the authorities created a hunting preserve for a crazy? Is it or is it not true that they couldn't stop him immediately at the beginning of his rampage? Is it or is it not true that the only one who killed the crazy was himself -- when he was durn good and well ready? No -- banning the guns meant exactly that somebody would shoot up the campus. Only a matter of time.

Are you living and studying in a hunting preserve?

Is any of this the desirable outcome?

It is not.

Last I heard Minnesota hasn't had a school shooting and legalizing guns on campus wouldn't have stopped the Texas shooting. He was in a tower with a sniper rifle, you are delusional.

Yes. Red Lakes, but no one heard about it because it was an Indian Reservation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Lak...chool_massacre

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/22/sch...ing/index.html

BWAAK! BWAAK! BWAAK! BWAAAAAK!

Hey, Chicken Little! Shut the f*ck up, ok? You're scaring the children, and pissing off the adults. "Hunting preserves for the crazies"?!?! Do you listen to yourself? Ever? You should stick that load of crap back up your ass so far you choke. *Everyone* would be better off. Including you.

Tens of thousands of campuses in this nation. All "hunting preserves for crazies", eh? Ah, no. The answer is no. Let's change "all" to "any"; are any of these campuses "hunting preserves for crazy people"? Still no, you loudmouth dumbass. You're spreading FUD, fear uncertainty and doubt. Fearmongering. Your logical constructions are gossamer smokescreens that obscure only your blind eyes.

Even Virginia Tech, where we have all witnessed this horrific mass murder does not rise the level of your hysterical raving hyperbole. It's a college campus. A school. People are getting shot All. The. Time. And in places that *do* allow guns, which leads you to what conclusion? Everywhere is a hunting preserve? BWAAK!

You weary me and sadden me. You should know better. You're an adult (putatively), who has apparently wasted the experiences of a lifetime to be able to know better. To think better, as you sometimes (rarely) demonstrate. It is posts like these that are most common, however. It is posts like these that reveal you to be such a comic figure. Edith Wharton nailed it: "You are intemperate, aggressive, disputatious, and extremely sensitive to adverse opinion", especially regarding gun control, Democrats, and those *stupid* people who oppose your point of view.

Especially the "stupidity" of others. We are not all stupid, UG, and, brace yourself, you are not all that smart.

Darn, and I thought that what he said made some sense.