Amen, Gryphon... a few more things
"Why do children have to come near firearms anyway ?"
I don't know, but nobody has the power to stop that from happening altogether. Not governments, not parents, nobody. The only thing anyone can do is make sure they don't do any harm when dangerous situations arise.
"Sorry folks, but i entirely dissagre with u that "education" is the key."
I'm sorry, GM, but it's the only way. In 23 days I'll be 17 years old (I'm legally a minor). I know the difference between right and wrong, I know the cardinal rules of gun safety, and I know how guns work and what they are capable of. I also have access to a gun, and I could take it, and over 1,000 rounds of ammo out of the house and drive away with it in my jeep, and there's nothing my parents or anybody else could do about it. Even if guns were illegal and my parents didn't own any, I could still get them (and/or as much drugs as I could carry) illegally from gangs in the area (members of which I know by attending public schools). But, because of all those things my parents taught me, I will never, EVER kill or hurt an innocent person with a firearm- it's that simple.
"U all feel so insecure that u have the need to carry a 357 ?"
"Only a government with weapons is capable of protecting you."
Fact: People in the US use firearms to defend themselves over 2 million times a year.
Fact: Defending ones self with a firearm against an aggressor in the US is statistically safer than both using anything else (fists, pepper spray, a stun gun) for defense, and not resisting at all.
Fact: The average police response time to a 911 call in the US is over 30 minutes.
[sarcasm] Oh yea, but you're right, even though the kids of those 2 million people have a better chance of choking do death on a plastic toy wrapping than killing themselves with a gun, we should force those 2,000,000 a year to just wait for the police while criminals rob/maim/rape/kill them. [/sarcasm]
_______________________
Shot four puppet governors in a line,
Shook all tha world bankers, who think they can rhyme,
Shot the landlords, who knew it was mine,
Yes, its a war from the depth of time!
[This message was edited by DeadeyeDan[ToA] on Nov 04, 2000 at 15:31.]