imported post
Uncommon wrote:
Guns = false security blanket.
I could post countless links to show where someone was killed in their own home with their own gun, or killed by intruders & never got to their guns in time, etc. In some cases even under the pillow. A whole lot of good it brought them. The best example: one guy was killed during a home invasion by thieves stealing his GUN COLLECTION! Their entire reason for being there! :lol::lol::lol:
Then I challenge you--I DARE YOU--to do so. Please, do, post all those countless documentable news reports of incidents where armed homeowners had their own guns used against them. I'll wait...
Meanwhile, I'll post a few stories about people who's lives were saved because they successfully defended themselves with their legally-owned firearms against thugs and criminals:
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/local_story_047193255.html
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0109/585528.html
http://www.wapt.com/news/22403309/detail.html
http://www.kmox.com/pages/6199704.php?
http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/St-Rose-homeowner-shoots-kills-burglar-79415882.html
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/09/person-shot-during-possible-robbery-in-south-shore.html
http://www.ocregister.com/news/gun-200911-homeowner-year.html
And "Range day is a family activity"? Oh how does that go?
My grandfather gave me his antique Ithaca .22 rifle when I was 10 years old. He and my father took me out to the back part of his farm that Saturday afternoon and we went through a couple boxes of ammo, and they taught me proper and safe firearms handling. My first "family range day" is one of my most cherished memories of my paternal grandfather...
I have taught one of my daughters to shoot. She was 23 at the time, and had never handled a firearm. At first she was a little nervous, and although my .45 was just TOO much gun for her to be comfortable with, she REALLY enjoyed shooting my .22 (that same .22 my grandfather gave to me over 30 years ago!). Her whole attitude about firearms changed that day. Now that she is more familiar with firearms, and knows she can handle one safely and proficiently, she has no issues with me carrying, or having them around. Before she went to the range, she was always a borderline "anti". Not any more. Now, I know she could defend herself if she needed to, AND she enjoys sport shooting too! Any tie she comes to NC to visit (she lives in the Peoples Republic of Maryland, in the Gulag of Baltimore), she always asks me to take her to the range and shoot...
I was an Eagle Scout. Many of my best memories from summer camps are related to afternoons on the rifle range at Camp Leatherwood. Our CRSO was a gruff, hardened retired Marine Master Sergeant. He ran a TIGHT ship on his range, but he taught me a LOT about safety, and he helped me get one of my first merit badges--Rifle & Shotgun Shooting.
I understand you are an "anti". I respect your 1A right to voice your opinion, regardless of how illogical, irrational, or full of nosense it is. HOWEVER, the 1A does NOT include lies, slander, or fraudulent information.
I'd suggest that if you are going to make all these wild, generalized claims, you need to provide reliable citations.
The CDC report that you quote is one of those dubious exercises in statistical manipulation that the Brady Bunch likes to throw around, and has been thoroughly discredited by REAL scholars in the field. What they DON'T tell you in that report is how they arrived at that number. First, they include suicide. So when they say you are 4.9 times more likely to be killed by your own firearm, they are INCLUDING the people who kill THEMSELVES with a firearm, which make up about 99% of deaths where someone is killed by their own firearm. Of the TOTAL firearms-related deaths in the US each year, about 60% are suicides, according to the CDC and BJS.
It is, in fact, incredibly rare for gun-owners to be killed by their own firearms.
It is also VERY rare for children (and I mean REAL children, not 15-20 year old crack-dealing gang bangers, which are included in the Brady Bunch's "Child Death" numbers) to be killed with accidental or negligent discharges. In fact, according to the CDC, a child under the age of 12 is MUCH more likely to die from a traffic accident, accidental drowning, falling, or poisoning than from an AD or ND.
http://www.anesi.com/accdeath.htm
http://volokh.com/posts/1205343824.shtml
And according to BJS, ALL homicides have been SIGNIFICANTLY dropping since 1993, and are, in fact, down to nearly 40% the rates of 1993...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ushomicidesbyweapon.svg
As are death rates for ALL age groups, but the REALLY dramatic reduction in deaths is the 14-24 age range. Interestingly enough, according to BJS, death rates in the "under 14" age range has remained essentially flat, below 2 per 100,000 since the'yve been keeping records on the national level since 1976...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Homoffendersbyage.svg
Go do your homework, child. We don't mind a contrary opinion here--heck, I LOVE a good debate. But generally will only engage in discussion with a properly equipped opponent, and you, sir appear to be intellectually defenseless...
When you come to an intellectual debate armed with only lies, twisted data, meaningless propaganda, and emotive talking points, you're not going to get a lot of love ANYWHERE...
In other words, don't bring an
(exacto) knife
(that you use to manipulate the statistics) to a gun
(rights) fight...
Especially on this forum, because, son, I'll tell you what, some of us are pretty darn crafty with Goggle and the library. Heck, some of us have Masters degrees and PhD.s, and IQ's edging into the 160's.
Take your propaganda somewhere else. We're only interested in FACTS here, sonny boy...
