Originally posted by Pongo:
(oh ya I do own a gun) but a gun for defence. But where I live it just seems a total non requirement. I guess you could say I am gambling. ...
Toad you seem to have all the stats. Isnt there a stat somewhere that correlates the chance of being killed by a gun with having a gun in the house..
Pongo,
Obviously I own guns too. 90% of them shotguns. I don't really ever think about using them for defense. I shoot a LOT of clay targets and in the Fall, the boys, the Labs and I shoot a LOT of pheasant, quail, ducks and geese. Like golf clubs, they are simply "sports equipment" at my house.
I don't feel I'm gambling at all. The guns are in a true safe when not in use.
Hunting and shooting with my sons has been one of the high points of parenthood for me. I would not trade the sunsets over a marsh, the sunrises in the wheat stubble and the joshing around the campfires at night with my sons for a mountain of gold.
I hope they will be able to do the same things in the same places with my grandchildren and the grandchildren of our Labs.
Where I live I literally never worry about violent crime. It's not why I have guns.
As for stats, if you can use a search engine you can easily find anything I've posted. Even a study that likely shows having a gun in the house raises the possibility of a gun accident.
You can also quite easily find one that shows that owning a car raises the possibility of having a car accident. Further, you'll find there are more fatal car accidents than gun accidents and a disproportionate number of car fatalities involve children.
Point is that it is NEVER simple. Point is that it is NEVER just the stupid inanimate object's fault. It's about a person's responsibility and accountability to himself, his family and his society.
Take the Firestone/Ford Explorer tire crashes. Clearly, there is a problem with those tires. SomeONE at Firestone has to step up and take responsibility.
However, check and see how many of the people, including children, that died in the crashes were NOT wearing seatbelts. Crosscheck and see how many of the other occupants that WERE wearing seatbelts
lived through the same crashes.
There has to be some responsibility/accountability there as well, I think.
Violent crime rates need to fall. There are differences of opinion over how to do this the fastest and the most inexpensive way.
So far, Exile/CeaseFire have been very successful at a relatively modest cost, without bothering anyone but the criminals.
Why not pursue that immediately and see how things go?
In the meantime, the law-abiding citizens are causing no one any trouble anyway.
[This message has been edited by Toad (edited 10-20-2000).]
