[killslowly]

Saya, I appreciate your poor man's lawyer approach, and I am glad that we can talk about this like adults.

GothicusMaximus, thank you for your logical dissection of the replies.

These are the problems with passions. Once we are passionate about a subject, we defend them without quarter. I am just happy that in this particular posting, we are talking like adults. It is refreshing to say the least.

I mean, if you want to have a ball, start a posting on abortion, and you can find so many pros and cons and in betweens, with passionate debate, crude remarks and pathetic comebacks.

As far as the "Gun Show Loophole" there are plenty of horror stories about it, but it is not the prevalent Modus Operandi. Criminals will get their hands on whatever they need to commit their crimes, regardless of gun laws or not. Law abiding gun owners are just that, and the Gun Show is just a place to purchase their hobby.

As far as people being qualified to purchase a firearm, most states have a test you must take in order to show safety handling and proper manipulation of such weapon. And all states have to do a background check in order to be able to purchase a weapon. Are people abusing the system? Of course. Criminals will do as they please, damn the law. But who pays the price? The law abiding gun enthusiast.

Same things with cars. The argument goes that cars were not designed to kill. They were designed to make life easier, facilitate transport of goods and people, etc. But this does not diminish the fact that cars kill more people than guns in the United States. Should we ban cars because.... they kill people? Should be ban cars because qualified and licensed drivers Drink and Drive? Should we ban them because people have sex in them? Or use them to transport illegal materials from state to state (interstate crimes)? Should we ban them because they hurt the environment? Remember that criminals and lunatics can and do purchase vehicles. How can we stop this?

Banning vehicles would be inappropriate in our society. It would literally grind our society to a halt. Goods will not be moved from place to place, people would not be able to work far away, emergency personnel would not be able to assist the needy, etc.

So as a society, we accept the price of death that having tons of metal going at 65mph brings with it.

Guns, on the other hand, are another story. Guns are evil in the eyes of some. Guns are designed to launch a piece of brass or other metals at a high velocity, in order for penetrative force to destroy what it hits. Guns have been glorified and vilified by our media. But guns have also been used to liberate people, secure property and defend our way of life. It is a lot easier to make guns "scary" and "evil" and therefore a subject of banning because of their single minded purpose and their effectiveness at killing and or wounding. But fear is what causes these laws to take effect. It is like the modern Witch Burnings. Fear, mob mentality, and a lack of understanding creates the banning of perfectly useful tools.

Like abortion. Abortion is an easy subject to vilify. Killing unborn babies, destroying life, making irresponsible decisions by young and/or uninformed people. Abortion is bloody, disgusting, death, murder and it is legal. But bring up the subject, and you get labeled a Christian, a misogynist, a Republican or a fascist.

It is an ugly subject and people are passionate about it. And if abortions are illegal once again, this will not prevent abortions from happening. I can tell you stories about the illegal abortion clinic run in the country that raised me and gave me my education. Want to hear about the third trimester fetuses flushed in my childhood's bathroom?

So we can all sit down, quote statistics supporting our perspectives, but it always comes down to the individual's responsibility on how they conduct their lives, and how they interact with each other.

There is a saying: "an armed society is a polite society". I would like to say that: "an armed society is a free society".

So people will use guns to commit crimes. They will also use knives, tazers, the internet, cars, trucks, rope, masks, etc. But wholesale banning of things is nothing but a bandaid trying to fix arterial bleeding.

Hopefully, in the near future, we will not need weapons to fix our problems. But until people stop burglarizing, robbing, ******, stealing, threatening, bullying, etc., we are going to need weapons for self-defense. When law enforcement is able and willing to show up at my location at the moment of the crime being committed, then I will gladly donate my guns to a museum.

When other nations stop being a threat or competing for limited resources (like petroleum for example), then we can all turn our rifles into plows (or computers and hybrid cars). But until that time comes along, I will continue to improve my marksmanship, ingrain safety in all weapon handling activities, teach whomever wants to on how to properly use a weapon, and defend myself, my friends and our property from people who do not care about ownership rights and hard work.

Love you guys,

Uncle Jerry