I'm probably going to shock a lot of folks here. I think the whole gun control issue is bogus. It is a huge waste of time and emotional energy. I say let the gun lovers have their guns and let's stop wasting so much effort fighting about it. It is a distraction from more important things.

Sure, guns are a publc health issue, just like TB or AIDS. Big city emergency rooms see a huge number of gunshot victims and it is a real problem to have the means to escalate domestic quarrels into murders in 10 seconds flat.

But consider how much time we waste on this issue compared to its importance. I say let's drop it and go on to other issues that could be more fruitful.

My number one choice to make our society less violent: stop the war on drugs and just let the damn things be legal. Regulate their sale, accept that there will be addicts, and give the addicts free treatment. But it is insane to continue filling up prisons with drug users and bankrolling gangsters who make a mint on drugs, all because we have delusions of making the USA "drug free". Not to mention the fact of all the freedoms we've had ripped away from us, supposedly in the effort to stop drugs.

If we had a national argument over the Drug War, at least we'd be arguiing about something vitally important. So let's drop the gun issue. Sure reasonable people can disagree over the advisability of flooding the streets with guns, but I'm tired of it.

Let's just agree to move on, as long as we start getting somewhere on other issues. OK?

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), March 18, 2001

Answers

Hear hear! The war on drugs has been one of the most perverse, destructive policies ever devised. We are getting the exact opposite of what we intended, and doing terrible damage in the process, in countless ways. We have created a pure evil, an ill wind that blows nobody good. You would think we would have learned something from historical parallels, but no. You would think we would learn by current observation, but no. We can only wonder...

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 18, 2001.

I take a little issue with that, nip.

First of all we do have free drug rehab, problem is, most cases, it simply does not work. I say legalize it, let the addicted kill themselves, it is their bodies, no?

Like abortion, so to speak, free choice. As for the firearm issue, let them have guns too, hopefully the ignorant will kill the ignorant.

Who cares? Let me decide if I want to protect my home. I'd gladly shoot any sob who comes in without an invite.

How about the government/state involvement of childrearing? So many issues, so lil time.

-- morph (morphed@here.now), March 18, 2001.

I would like all the gun owners on this forum to notice that there are so few zealous proponents of increased gun control posting here that this post of mine didn't even cause a ripple of protest. So much for the theory that there are millions of "gun-grabbers" lurking around every corner.

I also notice that when zealous proponents of guns make strong claims about the effectiveness of guns as a means of self-defense, they do draw fire (so to speak) around here, usually blasting their claims with some well-placed facts, tightly-clustered on the target.

I'll make a deal with the gun owners. I'll leave you and your guns in peace, as long as you don't keep making unfounded or exaggerated claims about how owning guns keeps you safe from bad guys and how we should all carry them at all times. I would point out that nothing in the Second Amendment requires me giving my money to a gun shop owner, just so I conform to your ideas of how I should live my life.

Hearing ad nauseum about how attached you are to your guns is about as interesting as hearing a cock-a-poo enthusiast drivel on and on about how smart and cute and sweet their little darlings are, when they're just a bunch of yappy, shedding, eating, pooping machines.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), March 20, 2001.

Nipper:

It doesn't seem like you are striking a nerve here, despite your efforts. I admit I'm a gun enthusiast, we own quite a few and shoot them regularly. Ammunition is one of our major budget expenses. And we carry guns wherever we can, which is most everywhere. We've never needed them, and hope we never will. Mostly, we enjoy target shooting.

Guns have four major uses -- hunting, competition/target shooting, collecting, and (very rarely) self-defense. We don't hunt. A couple of our guns are just collectors items, not to be used.

I don't regard most of the "anti-gun" regulation as either particularly restrictive or particularly unreasonable. We have no desire to own or use military weapons like mines, grenades, machine guns, or even fully automatic weapons. None of these restricted categories strike me as useful for anything but collecting. I'll admit, though, that you can find someone collecting almost anything you can dream of.

We regard the 10-round-clip limit as silly but not very annoying. We don't like the variability of the different carry rules among the states. They are all different, and all changing too often. Obeying these laws is damn near impossible even for the most law-abiding person. We don't mind the background checks, but do appreciate the elimination of the 3-5 day waits. The instant checks are nice.

We oppose efforts to force gun manufacturers to defend themselves in cases where their products are misused, NOT because the manufacturers are guilty in any way, but just to make their business too expensive to engage in. We oppose efforts to add cumbersome locks to guns. These add weight, add cost, and make the gun worthless in an emergency.

All in all, we regard guns as a rewarding hobby. You are encouraged to adopt a hobby of your own, not necessarily ours.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 20, 2001.

Flint, the civil tone and reasonable conclusions you offer make a refreshing change from those who offer nothing more thoughtful than the straight NRA party line. For me, the whole association of guns with super-patriotism and with fantasies of shooting criminals is an emotion-laden red herring. This NRA approach to the issue has a power similar to Lamont Cranston's to "cloud men's minds." Useful when you want to shake them down for contributions, perhaps, but it makes the NRA acolytes sound strangely like parrots who were taught to speak by a rather malicious child.

Happy shooting next time you show up at the range. May you cluster all your shots so tightly they share the same hole.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), March 20, 2001.

Nipper:

Thanks. I'm working on that. I can actually do it, too, once the hole gets big enough...

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), March 20, 2001.

once the hole gets big enough...

As long as the hole is smaller than the palm of your hand, I will be duly impressed as hell.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), March 20, 2001.

Hey little nipper,here's some FACTS for you...handgun control inc. likes to use the statistic of every day 14 children die from gun fire!!they dont tell you that their definition of "children" is 1-19yr.olds,that includes your sweet little gang bangers,your innocent little drug dealers,drive bys...etc...they want us to believe that 14 kids accidentally kill themselves every day...now who's streching the truth a bit?In closing,the one FACT that no anti-gun people want to address is a little place called Australia and their gun ban success story,since the ban...murder rate is up,so is assaults,but heres the clincher...Armed robbery up 44%!!!FACT!!!But for some reason they dont show them figures on the nightly new's, I wonder why?...we all know why!Because the liberal people who run hollywood and the media have $10,000 alarm systems on their houses,and hollywood has ARMED guards protecting their precious asses!,but they dont want joe average to be able to protect himself and his family.But never fear pro-gunners out there,we have a new president(thank GOD!),that useless sack of shit is outa there,and gore could'nt even steal it..know why?Because common sense and integrity always will win out over the hypocritical self-interest group known as liberals! Sylvester Stalone-"they should just go door to door collecting everyone's handgun's" gee..I wonder how much money he's made putting violence with guns on our t.v's,video tapes,and in our movie theaters?.....see what I mean!!!

-- Tommy Heart (progun@NRA.com), March 21, 2001.

Ditto.

-- Chuck Weaver (right@side.com), March 22, 2001.

Ditto...ditto!

-- Ron Tressa (loki@great.com), March 24, 2001.

very well said Tommy!!!

-- Franko (progun2@gun.com), March 25, 2001.