Appeals Court Overturns D.C. Gun Ban

[Gary Keedwell]

Obviously, gun owners need to be responsible with their weapons.

I'm struck by VP Cheney's shooting incident. Here's a man whom half the country feels is responsible enough to assume the presidency should that befall him.

And yet even he isn't able to use a gun responsibly. He fired without looking properly.

Jack

Didn't President Ford hit someone with a golf ball? What's that got to do with the second amendment?

Gary K.

[Al Willits]

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Obviously, gun owners need to be responsible with their weapons.
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Kinda goes with out saying you'd think.
fwiw I've been involved in shooting for prob 40+ years now, including action pistol (formerly combat shooting) where one moves and shoots at the same time, and the stats I see tell me I'm safer on the gun range than the drive to and from the range.

Considering the amount of vehicle mishaps that take place daily, me thinks our illustrious leaders has misplaced their priorities....but what else is new.

Al

[Belinda Barfield]

Obviously, gun owners need to be responsible with their weapons.

I'm struck by VP Cheney's shooting incident. Here's a man whom half the country feels is responsible enough to assume the presidency should that befall him.

And yet even he isn't able to use a gun responsibly. He fired without looking properly.

Jack

Does Chappaquiddick ring a bell? Maybe car owners need to be responsible with their weapons as well.

I feel I am being responsible as a gun owner by not depending on someone else to defend me. Not speaking of the military here as I appreciate every one of them and what they do. If a crime is being committed against me why should I expect someone else to risk his or her life trying to save mine?

[Keith Outten]

The question is;

Do American citizens have the right to own firearms?

.

[Belinda Barfield]

The question is;

Do American citizens have the right to own firearms?

.

Sorry. I bow out gracefully with this:

“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure.” —Thomas Jefferson

[Gary Keedwell]

The question is;

Do American citizens have the right to own firearms?

.

Of course we have the right to own and carry firearms. In a perfect world we can all throw them (firearms) away. Not only do we need protection from our own government but our borders are not secure. The amount of deaths in Iraq pales in contrast to the deaths attributed every day by illegal aliens.

Gary K.

[Al Willits]

I think a better question would be "why shouldn't we have the right?"

Al

[David Epperson]

Obviously, gun owners need to be responsible with their weapons.

I'm struck by VP Cheney's shooting incident. Here's a man whom half the country feels is responsible enough to assume the presidency should that befall him.

And yet even he isn't able to use a gun responsibly. He fired without looking properly.

Jack

While it IS true that gun owner/operators need to be responsible, this is a very poor example. The VPs huntng partner freely admitted that he was NOT in the normaly expected position in the current hunting formaton being employed, where he had been instructed to be. He knew this at the time. Hunting of the sort that was being done at the time of this accident often leaves one or several hunters out of visual sight of each other. The wounded man was not in that position where he was thought to be, a position free of any intended line of fire. He had broken formation without informing the rest of the group. So no it was not the VP who did not look properly, it was the person who crossed into the possible line of fire without communicating what he was doing. The responsibility in THAT situation falls not on one single person, but on the thinking that "It's be ok if I break the rules this one time." He forgot that his safety was HIS OWN responsiblity and assumed that others would take care of it for him. Always a dangerous assumption.

[Joe Melton]

I wonder how the percentage of U. S. households where presence of a firearm has brought "safety" compares with the percentage where it has brought sadness.
Joe

[Al Willits]

Dave, every gun safety course I've taken states to know your target and where your round may go, he fired before he made sure.
Bad gun handling in my mind, unfortnately it happens.
It was the attempted cover up I didn't care for, but that's another forum...

Joe, John Lott has wrote several articles/books on gun control, one of them might have numbers for ya.
Might be one of them, hard to get accurate numbers things though.
Another thought is why should I/we be penalized for the misuse of a gun by someone else, be like saying I shouldn't have a car because my neighbor killed someone with his.
Problem is the neighbor, not the car or I/we.
Al

[Dave Fifield]

Why just US Citizens? What about Legal Resident Aliens?

[Matt Meiser]

I wonder how the percentage of U. S. households where presence of a firearm has brought "safety" compares with the percentage where it has brought sadness.
Joe

Same could be said for pools with respect to happieness vs. heartbreak. I can see both sides of the argument, but ultimately laws tend not to solve probelms. Have laws against drugs, underage drinking, speeding, etc really been that effective at stopping the results? Or in generating revenue?

BTW Joe, I'm not singling you out--just something in your question struck a thought.

[Gary Keedwell]

I wonder how the percentage of U. S. households where presence of a firearm has brought "safety" compares with the percentage where it has brought sadness.
Joe

We will never know because felons tend to avoid any residence that they suspect will have a deterrence waiting for them...
I also wonder how many households with swimming pools have sadness.
Gary K.

[Jason Roehl]

I've seen various estimates on the use of firearms by civilians to prevent a crime, not necessarily in the home. They range anywhere from 5,000 times/year (from the anti-gun crowd) to 2-3,000,000 (from the NRA). The anti-gunners tend also to include in the "children killed by guns" category deaths of 15-19y.o. gangbangers killed by other gangbangers, which is a significant number. True accidental shooting fatalities of children are probably on the order of several hundred at most.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello David,

Perhaps Richard Jeni would still be alive today, if guns were not so easily available to people, despite the fact that clinical depression affects a sizeable proportion of the population at some time in their lives.

Highly doubtful. Availibilty of firearms has little or nothing to do with suicide. Japan, which is nearly devoid of firearms - the rate of suicide is over twice that of the US. - Ja - 24 per 100K US 12 per 100K.

Even the rate per 100,000 for Austraila - with ever increasing gun control) is near that of the US - Aus - 14 per 100K US 12 per 100K.

(What generally happens is the qualifier - "gun" suicide - is thrown in to skew the facts/figures.)

Also, the National Guard was created in 1903 - some 112 years after the Bill of Rights and the 2nd amendment. It's doubtful the founding fathers would refer to a body that didn't yet exisit.

True accidental shooting fatalities of children are probably on the order of several hundred at most.

Fairly high my friend. One problem with the "children" part is what age defines a child. The CDC and the AMA often extend the age to 19 (some even higher - 24 is often cited by some).
Total in 2004 for children 0 to 14 was 63.
Total in 2004 for the age group 15 to 19 was 80.
Total in 2004 for the age group 0 to 24 was 235.
Source - CDC.

Anyhow - on topic - nice to see some common sense come out of DC for a change.