Quote Originally Posted by Gregg View Post
That is mind boggling to me. At NO point in my life (beyond just being a young child) was putting any kind of gun in my hand ever dangerous in any way to any other person. Not one time...EVER. I was taught from an early age how to properly and safely handle and fire guns of many different configurations. So was everyone I grew up with.

I've relayed the story before, but my high school had 100 kids in it. At any given time, and especially during hunting season, there were 200 or 300 guns in the back windows of pick ups or the trunks of cars in the school parking lot. There were semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, hand guns and bb guns...all kinds. There were also several thousand rounds of ammunition available because we all knew that a gun without ammo is a club. Not one time, EVER, was there ANY incident of violence involving a gun. Even awash in that sea of completely accessible guns and teenage hormones it was absolutely unthinkable to threaten or harm another person with a gun.

Contrary to popular propaganda, the guns have not changed since then. Yes, you can buy a few expensive and highly specialized models that were not available back then, but those are not what is readily available to most of us at the local hardware store. Mostly there are just different styles, just like clothes have different styles. The popular calibers are still the same. The rate of fire is the same. The accuracy of factory loaded ammunition is the same. The distance a bullet will drop at 600 yards at 65* into a 20 knot headwind is the same. It’s the people that have changed, not the guns. The problem isn't with the guns.

If a gun would have been dangerous in the hands of your DH he was neither mature nor well trained in its use. Period. Putting a gun or a steering wheel or a glass of whisky in the hand of anyone who is not mature and has not been properly instructed in its use is a problem. Putting any of those in the hands of someone who intends to use them to inflict harm on others is a problem. That's where we need to focus.
I think Mrs. M was referring to the fact that a 20 year old often hasn't the life experience or maturity to hold their emotions in check. A 20 year old is still a kid, in many ways, and I'm guessing she is thinking of the many stressful situations, school, girlfriends, new jobs, etc...where someone with very little 'life experience' might find themselves with very spun up emotions and not have the skill to deal with it.
I think this links with what she was talking about earlier about hate where it was a pile-on instead of trying to see what she meant. Mrs. M, if you don't mind, may I take a stab at it?

I think what she was looking at is the lack of civility in public discourse that we didn't have 30, or even 20 years ago. I don't think i have to give the links, but I will, again, if you want. Have you listened to Rush Limbaugh? This man is on the airwaves 2, 3, 4 hours a day, and it is just a constant litany of hate filled talk, in his monotone (which by the way is a tool of brainwashing) hour after hour, day after day. And you have one of the two major political parties that regularly defend, and pay homage to this guy. This isn't just some fringe nut job, which we have always had and always will, but a major player on the national political stage. And he is just one voice among the many.
We have that congressman from Florida, Alan West, who has said he believes 60-70 of democrat congresspeople are communist. There is Michele Bachmann who wants an investigation into unamerican activities by democrat congresspeople and now says the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the White House. She found 4 other congress persons to sign on with that one! These are elected leaders! Congressmen/women!
We have Fox News which is 24/7 GOPTV promoting lies and constant 'wars' all aimed at democrats/liberals. And you have a republican leader who said, up front, getting rid of the democrat President was job #1. Mind you he said this when this president was first elected and the country was in an economic free fall. Helping the country wasn't job 1, or helping the people through this horrible economic time wasn't job #1. Nope, getting back in power was job #1, period. They weren't in the slightest interested in helping this president help this nation, and everything they have done since then shows that.
WE have Santorum, standing before an audience and getting cheers and whistles by saying Obama was a snob because he wished everyone who wanted to go to college could.

Why am I giving these examples? Because, even though we have always had political rivalry, and hate mongers on the fringe, and heated debate, never in our history did we have an entire political party, as a whole, stand and cheer hateful speech, and demonize half of their colleagues as well as half of the Nations people. We haven't been this polarized since the civil war, and the constant demonizing drumbeat from TV and radio and even our political leaders has lead to this climate of hate. I believe this is what Mrs M was talking about.
You all had hunting rifles in your trucks at school. Fine, but you didn't have them strapped to your hip, spun up by the hour of Rush you listened to on the way to school, bolstered by images of tea baggers wearing guns to political rallies as political 'speech', and yes fantasizing about violent video games and bloody movies where sex is banned but blowing someones' head off is OK.
No, guns haven't changed, but we have, and society has, and political discourse has. Now to say liberals want to take away everyone's guns is simply not true, and really dishonest when some continue to say it. (NRA, many on the right) It's meant to stop the conversation, period. It's meant to stop reasonable discussion on sensible gun control. It's meant to get people spun up and in the stores to stockpile weapons and ammo. And who are they stockpiling it against? Why the liberals, of course! We are the ducks in the shooting gallery. WE are the ones who Limbaugh and Fox News and Bachmann and Allen West and Rick Santorum and the NRA are demonizing, day after day after day. Can you blame us for being a little nervous?

I can think of a lot of reasons one would have a gun. A cherished gift from a parent, hunting, clay target shooting (which actually sounds like a lot of fun!) etc...Saying you keep a gun because you are ready to fight your government is getting into Ted Kaczynski territory. Tin foil hat stuff. And that's another thing. We used to recognize crazy talk. WE don't anymore. WE celebrate it, and quote it as if it were meaningful, and give equal voice to every crack pot and crazy theory out there!

I guess this is just a really long way to say enough already. But unless the reasonable among us agree there is a problem, and probably some solutions, nothing will get done.