From the Gun Safe of the Well Armed Sheep

Back to one of my favorite subjects: Gun Control. I do not know why so many people cannot agree on this issue. Several things are SO obvious. First- Yes we do have a right to have guns. Second- No, it IS NOT an absolute right- NO rights are absolute. Even though the Constitution says we have the right to "Life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness" we CAN be jailed or imprisoned.
OK, Third- Taking guns away WILL NOT stop violence. Even inmates in prisons can make their own guns. One inmate became rich making guns from tubing and ammunition from ball bearings and scraped off match heads. And there are ALWAYS knives. HOWEVER, Fourth- Some restrictions are reasonable. A waiting period, as almost all domestic murders are done while in a rage. Planned murders are seldom shootings. Background checks for violence or insanity (or membership in a terrorist group, but as the Bush administration has classed the Society of Friends (the Quakers) as worth watching, this could be a dangerous issue) ARE a good idea. And no one needs machine guns except for shooting up a McDonald's or a schoolyard. If you cannot hit a deer, or a robber, with 5 or 6 shots we'd all be better off if you stopped shooting.
And I LIKE guns. So does Tab. We each have a Concealed Weapons License. Tab would rather leave the house naked than without her favorite revolver (a tiny .22 ankle gun). I have a matched set of military M1911s with molded Pachymar grips which I want to be buried with me. We have several other handguns and long guns as well. But we keep them in a gun safe and have gun safes mounted in our cars. We take gun safety VERY seriously.
One of the few things Republicans have right IS the gun issue- for the most part. Some Republicans are so beholden to NRA money that they have lost all reason, though. The NRA, which I supported for most of my life, has lately gone bonkers. The final straw for me was the rally in Littleton, Colorado (where Columbine High School is ) right after the massacre there and against the parents' pleas for a mourning period. Charlton Heston found a parent who wanted the NRA there and he was paraded out in a really despicable manner. I have found the Michigan Coalition of Gun Owners (MCGRO) to be a much more sensible organization. I strongly suggest you consider joining (or like me, simply supporting) it. Of course some extremists saw Columbine as proof everyone, even children, should be armed at all times. Several right-wingers stated that gun laws created "pools of disarmed victims at U.S. public schools". Personally I think the idea of a dozen or so students and teachers "shooting it out" with Harris and Klebold is the most idiotic idea I have ever heard.
One change in the law I do support concerns the "concealed" nature of the carry laws. The goal of carrying is to be safe, not to shoot someone. Concealed weapons are almost a trap for muggers. ALWAYS the better solution is deterrence. Rather than hiding your weapon until the attacker gives you a chance to draw it- at which point you had better shoot before he/she attacks, takes it or pulls their own weapon, we should carry OPENLY, hoping to discourage attacks in the first place.

This is all so easy- I do not know why so many people have simply "dug into" their positions and refuse to really discuss this issue. Some issues are like that, and I will discuss them all- abortion (legal but rare); same-sex marriage (civil unions for all, let Churches handle marriage); capital punishment (it DOESN'T deter anyone, but maybe if someone started an unnecessary war and killed thousands...). Read on, read on.

jessie