Again, you cite a single instance of one fool as a broad brush to paint 80,000,000 gun owners. You also totally neglect the overall positive affect on society of gun ownership. You can't produce a logical opinion being selective with the facts. You have to look at ALL of the facts.

Are there places and situations where gun ownership would be a bad thing? Certainly! I think people shouldn't drink with a gun in their due to the possibility of judgement being impaired. Likewise when under sever emotional stress.

Are there fools and criminals who misuse guns to cause harm? Of course there are, but overall I believe the vast majority of gun owners are honest, responsible people. I've lived with them all around me all my life. I see people in the grocery store, restaurants and other public places that are armed (there are signs if you know what to look for).

In 1988 my wife used a gun to stop two attackers who were kicking in

the front door to our apartment. They knew she was there but didn't stop

until they saw the gun through the window on the door. They were coming

after her and my (then) infant son. She had overheard them describing

her as they were preparing to attack, so there's not much doubt what

they had in mind.Up until that day (and it was broad

daylight) my wife had barely tolerated my owning a gun. She felt as you

do. After that day she made sure there was always one somewhere in the

house.

Leaving work late one night in 1992 I used a gun to (I believe) save my own life. Two men were coming at me, one with a brick raised over his head to hit me. All I did was show I was armed and they ran. I was still shaking when I got home, but I was unharmed and I didn't have to shoot anyone to do it. Hopefully my attackers may have learned something, too, and just maybe they stopped attacking others.

Neither of us had to actually shoot anyone, I'll note, and neither instance was reported to authorities as the criminals were gone. Studies have been completed which show that the vast majority of legitimate gun uses are never reported because people don't want the hassle of talking to police.

When people say that I and my family shouldn't be armed because of some nebulous and disproven idea that guns (inanimate objects) somehow cause crime, what I "hear" is that I and my wife and son should be dead or seriously injured because...guns are scary to people who have had virtually no contact with them, don't understand them and their legitimate uses, and are irrationally frightened by them.

Please view the following and feel free to contact me if you wish to continue a discussion.

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

http://americangunfacts.com/

http://www.top5ofanything.com/index.php?h=66db25e2