Michael

SultanOfSwing

I didn't mean screening everybody at school but even you yourself have said in one of the previous threads that the mental health issue needs addressing as well as the gun discussion. Maybe I'm mixing up posters, but I think it was you.

Anyway, I just don't think prohibition is the answer. There are a great many people who own guns and keep them safely locked away at a range and only get them out when they're shooting at a target. I don't see why they are a problem at all, that's all.

Nutek

This seems ok to me. I'm not buying the whole "hunting" thing that's being bandied around though... Who uses a handgun (or an auto) for that?

SultanOfSwing

You can use a handgun for hunting small game, I think. Unless you have a .50, that could probably take down most large game too. They'd be more common at the range for target shooting and obviously a popular choice for home defense.

Nobody needs an auto though, except the army.

FlaviusAetius

I believe the Sultan is right. My wife taught 11 to 13 year-old kids in middle school for 30 years and over that time observed that some parents were almost terrified of their own kids. Those parents should be intelligent enough to know they shouldn't have guns in the home, but clearly not all are that smart.

Teachers, with proper training, are potentially a first-line of defense in identifying which kids need screening. Such kids are a tiny fraction of those who flow through the system. But clearly, this isn't being considered - perhaps because of civil liberty issues, or because in so many cases it would play into the anti-profiling agenda of some people.

Also, prohibition is never the answer. There was an earlier argument in this thread equating alcohol with guns, implying that both should be prohibited to prevent untimely tragedies and death. Anyone with a knowledge of the history of this country would know that the lunacy of Prohibition was tried for 20 years, with massive unintended consequences.

Prohibition of drugs - our 45 year "War on Drugs" has seen the enormous expansion of drug use, drug deaths, crime, the growth of incredibly powerful narco syndicates (100,000 drug dealers in Chicago are affiliated with just one Mexican cartel) and corruption of our police and public officials.

Count me out on prohibition. Gun control properly involves holding the weapon with both hands while aiming at the target. At least that's what they taught us in the Army. Michael's Navy experience might have been different. But the argument really should focus on mental health issues.

Michael

When I was 12 or 13, my friends and I would go out hunting (the woods were 5 minutes from our doorsteps) and we usually went with .22 rifles. I bet I went out hunting at least 100 times and shot at partridges, rabbits, and quail and not once did I ever get a kill. So mostly we did target practice. Now you know why I quit shooting a gun when I was 16.

I mostly used the .22 since bullets were so inexpensive but we also had a 4-10 shotgun and a 30-06 rifle in the house but no one in my family did much hunting. In fact I would say that our family did the least hunting of anyone in the village.

SultanOfSwing

Sounds like me and fishing - all I ever caught was the sea wall at Carrick harbour

That's the one advantage archery has over firearms, I can use the same arrows many times over ...

Nutek

You tell it like the idea of over 100 shots missing their intended target is a good thing. Did you ever consider joining the NYPD?

SultanOfSwing

That's why I love shooting arrows at paper targets. They tend to stay still

Sally Redux

I probably said that poor mental health provision makes easy access to guns even more unwise.

Well, we're back where we always are after one of these.

The numbers are obviously still in the acceptable range.

Nutek

Unlike fleeing pedestrians.

Michael

That's why I said that no one in our family did much hunting since what I did doesn't count as hunting. However try to shot a snowshoe rabbit with a .22 hopping 12' at a time and traveling 30 miles per hour, a partridge flying, or a partridge on the ground (it's mostly feathers) and I doubt you'd hit any of them.

Nutek

I suspect you are right.

SultanOfSwing

I knew there was a connection somewhere.

Nobody would disagree that access should be made more difficult but that can be done through responsible gun ownership. It's common sense that if you have kids you lock away your guns or better yet don't keep them in the house at all if you're a hunter/sport shooter.

The really, truly ****ed up among us who want to kill will always find a way, unfortunately. As a species, we've been killing each other since time immemorial. It's the one thing we're really good at.

Inconsiderate bastards.

Nutek

People.