I really don't care about guns per se. I grew up around guns because almost everybody I knew hunted and the only people that got killed or injured were hunters accidentally shooting each other. I remember the filled gun racks in the cab windows of pick up trucks like it was yesterday.
The only reason I really have to talk about guns today is because massive amounts of innocent people are getting killed and the only solution to stopping the senseless killing that I can think of is to ban them. All the talk about proper training is pointless when you consider the NRA's own research that something like 30% of all households with children leave their guns unlocked, loaded and out in the open. Adam's own mother seems to fit that description and I suspect that she was a true blue NRA member.
Owning a gun for self defense is a bogus arguement when one looks at the statistics...
"....The issue of "home defense" or protection against intruders or assailants may well be misrepresented. A study of 626 shootings in or around a residence in three U.S. cities revealed that, for
every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides (Kellermann et al, 1998).
Over 50% of all households in the U.S. admit to having firearms (Nelson et al, 1987).
In another study, regardless of storage practice, type of gun, or number of firearms in the home, having a gun in the home was associated with an increased risk of firearm homicide and suicide in the home (Dahlberg, Ikeda and Kresnow, 2004). Persons who own a gun and who engage in abuse of intimate partners such as a spouse are more likely to use a gun to threaten their intimate partner. (Rothman et al, 2005).
Individuals in possession of a gun at the time of an assault are 4.46 times more likely to be shot in the assault than persons not in possession (Branas et al, 2009).
It would appear that, rather than being used for defense, most of these weapons inflict injuries on the owners and their families.
FIREARMS TUTORIAL
4 accidental, 7 homicides, 11 suicides to 1 actual self defense. Thats a lot of people getting killed and injured to justify one's persons right to self defense. "Rather than being used for defense, most weapons inflict injuries on the owners and their families."
So I'm open to suggestions from gun rightys as to how we can stop these senseless killings, but the only solution gun rightys ever seem to have, is more guns. IMO, that is the problem, not the solution.