My favorite NRA arguement is "If you make guns illegal then only the criminals will have them!" Precisely, by definition, if you own a gun it will be against the law thus make you a criminal!
Rufie I think you are being far to generous is saying that the majority of people can handle a gun I would say quite the opposite. I think very few people are cognitant of the dangers firearms are capable of. And how many accidents occur due to the irresponsibility of the gunowner themself misusing it or the lack of the owner to keep it safely away from someone else using it, in many cases a child.
However, I will concede all the above points, if the US government would outlaw many of the "souped-weapons" such as automated weapeons, armor-piercing bullets and the like. Or if there really was investigations and longer waiting periods for firearm licensure. Trust me you would hate to know how any psychiatric patients that are homicidal and still have a gun card!
And why handguns and concealed weapons? Why does a lawabiding citizen require their weapon to be hidden? Wouldnt a rifle be more intimidating to scare off those nasty bad guys? I tell you what it would sure prevent a helluva lot of school shootings.
And the arguement that these weapons are obtained illegally wont cut it. If the handguns, automated weapons et al were illegal then obviously the numbers manufactured would be cut as well as being regulated as to insure they only got to military and police enforcement. Sure some of it may fall through the cracks but it sure would decrease.
One more thing, I would love to see the stats showing how many crimes were prevented as a result of gun ownership and have that compared to how many accidental and planned injuries and deaths were caused as a result of same.
