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| Yes, my gun is pink. Cute isn't it? |
Deciding to own a firearm or to not own a firearm is a big and important personal decision. Here are some arguments in favor of the former:
I want you to protect your family. Don't rely on the cops to do this. Not because they don't do their best, but because their best may not be good enough. And that is absolutely not an insult to cops. They don't arrive by instantaneous time travel - they come in plain old automobiles. While the Crown Vic has some power - it also has it's limitations, like those dang laws of motion. I was on the end of plenty 911 calls where I felt the caller was nothing but a sitting duck, playing the waiting game. Who is going to make it to me first, the good guy or the bad guy?
More guns in the hands of good citizens is a deterrent for crime. If you had a penchant for breaking into houses wouldn't you think twice knowing that say, 4 out of 5 homes had a gun inside? Those odds are far worse than Russian Roulette.
Now I know that a lot of you moms out there worry about having something as dangerous and scary as a gun in your home. Consider this, while every year there are accidents involving guns there are also other accidents. Far more "other accidents." In fact according to the CDC there were 29,846 accidental poisoning deaths in the U.S. in 2007. That compared to 613 deaths by accidental discharge of a firearm. Even intentional self harm deaths by way of discharging a firearm are at 17,352. More people are dying from accidentally poisoning themselves than by intentionally shooting themselves with a gun. Statistically speaking, your bathtub and family dog are far more dangerous to your child than a gun.
We can all agree the problem is that criminals injure and kill people with guns, right? I don't think the answer for stopping law breakers from breaking the law is giving them another law to not follow. If they are capable of murder than I don't think they are going to blink an eye at obtaining a gun through a less than legal channel. I think the only people that would follow any new gun control laws would be (now stay with me here - this is going to be hard to follow) the people that follow laws. Wouldn't we rather see those people with the guns?
The Constitution seems pretty clear in it's intent that the "right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
What is your opinion? If you are in favor of more gun control - please explain your feelings. I will keep an open mind - I'd like to hear from the other side on this one.
3 comments:
I can't offer an opposing view but I will say that if guns kill people, pencils misspell words.
Hee hee! Dorene! :)
I have to say that I am on the fence. I didn't grow up around guns but at the same time I did...
My parents never owned guns, never had one in the house, never showed me how to use one. My grandfather (moms dad) who has been like a father to me has every gun you can think of. The rest of his children own guns. Their children own guns. I think me and my sister are the only ones (besides my mom) in my family who don't have one.
I am nervous about it for 2 reasons: I am not used to shooting a gun and I am afraid I will have a bad dream one night when Sean is not home and end up shooting at some dreamed up bad guy in a half asleep stupor.
On the other hand...
I am PRO GUN! I want us to have one! I am all for responsible people owning and using them. Just this last year I finally shot my first couple of times and it's not as intimidating as I thought it would be.
Fair to say you are a bit conflicted about it? I can empathize, they make me a tad nervous too but I'm more nervous about the idea of not being able to defend myself, kids, grandkids from an intruder for example. I do not want to be a sitting duck.
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