SpanktorTheGreat: On your comparison of guns and cars I can only say that in today's society time is of greater value and transportation is a means to further society. Do guns further society and save time? Not a very good comparison. Yes both the automobile and guns kill people all the time. But very few instances are car used to specifically kill another person. They are accidents. It is far less frequent that a gun kills someone by accident. A grand majority of gun related deaths are malicious and on purpose. So comparing cars and guns isn't a good argument. Find another one.
SpanktorTheGreat wrote:
I live in the hood (Pontiac, MI, go ahead and google the crime rate for this city). Right now, down the street there are some people lifting weights in their front yard. The gas station I’m looking at right now, a man was carjacked there this summer. They got his car and wallet then they left and then they came back to shoot him, he’s dead; the murders were 17 and 19 years old, not old enough to own the gun they used. I hear gunshots all night and every night.
I'm sorry to hear that you live in a crappy neighborhood. I hope nothing every happens to force you to use your firearms to defend yourself.
Point #1-If you take away every law abiding citizen’s firearms guess what? I’ll still hear the gunshots at night. This city doesn’t have the capital to protect it’s own citizens.
A grand majority of normal citizens require anything more than a handgun, shotgun or rifle in order to defend themselves, their home and their loved ones. Regulation of firearms does not take away the ability to acquire firearms for normal everyday citizens above the age of 25.
Point #2-True change comes from the inside of an individual, not from laws or government programs. Take away the guns and you have the same old misfortunate poor bastard, mad at the world, whose parents were too selfish to invest in his/her future. Sad but true!
Except now when he flips out he will run around the school with a butcher knife and most likely be stopped quicker than two teenagers taking a school hostage with guns.
Point #3-If something is to happen to this area like; natural disaster, drinking water sabotaged, power grid sabotaged, anything that will make times hard around here, and it happens as a planed attack on multiple areas from within this country at the same time, who do you think I will be defending myself from? The morons, thieves and thugs of this city, that’s who! Not terrorists! I will have to use force to get out and head north where it’s safe.
I legally possess an assault rifle, 12ga pump shotgun, and a .45 semi auto pistol, with enough ammo for a whole city block. Are my wife and kids getting out with me if the crap hits the fan? You’re damn right they are!
This is a very extenuating circumstance in which hopefully you will never have to deal with. But if it should happen I believe that firearms that are available would be adequate enough for protection. Do you believe that an Assault Rifle will suddenly make you more safe in this situation? It only takes one or two bullets to take someone down. I can achieve the same stopping power without an Assault Rifle. But that's just my opinion.
I hate guns, but I respect them as tools, and they are necessary unfortunately. The best kind to have is one you never have to use to defend yourself with. As far as locks, safes, and kids, hey when my kids are old enough to rack a round in a chamber of a firearm then they will be old enough to go to the range with me and see what a firearm is. I got my first 20ga when I was 11.
I do not believe that children should be shown how to use weapons until they are old enough to understand the severity in which a weapon would be used. If you choose to teach your child to fire a weapon then it should be done in a very strict fashion and entirely supervised. If you take you child hunting with you I expect that child to be trained and knowledge on how to use a gun safely. I expect that gun to be locked away safe when not in use and I do not expect to see a child have convenient access to a firearm. The stability of children is in question and hormones can play nasty tricks on judgement. Common sense isn't all there also. Kids do stupid things, we all know this, we did them to. I will not however introduce a situation in which a child can make a stupid thing into a very deadly thing just because I choose not to take every procaution to secure my weapon.
If you choose to teach your children how to use guns then I expect you to be a responsible parent and take every procaution to make certain your children are not allowed at any time to use their guns in the wrong way.
Those are my opinions.