the CNN poll I'd love to see...
Anybody here remeber the astonishing study that proved that doctors cause more deaths through malpractice than gun owners do in one year?
I'd love to see a mainstream study of these numbers and a poll that asks:
If you are "X" times more likely to die from a doctor's negligence than you are from a firearm, should there be tougher laws on malpractice?
BTW have any of you ever been asked during a checkup if you have guns in the house?
I was and my son was...
My response:
"That's none of your business. That's like me asking you how many prescription drugs you have in your medicine cabinet."
My son did me one better at school:
"My dad has a few and he lets me shoot them. But I gotta ask him first."
His teacher overheard him talking with some friends during free time about how I let him field strip the AK-47. (sometimes at the range, he asks, I let him. He's good at it too! *sniff* he makes me so proud.)
She had to wait until she asked her husband what that meant before determining it was inappropriate and setting a meeting. I was unable to attend but my wife simply stated that if that was inappropriate then our son wouldn't discuss it at school. I sat him down and told him all about Columbine and how it was tragic and sad but not the fault of the firearms.
We are a society of tool users.
"Firearms are simply a device for throwing balls accurately"
I'm not sure who quoted that first or if it's exactly verbatim but the sentiment is what I generally feel:
Too many ignorant people have a negative opinion about what they don't understand or don't have a use for. I don't automatically think that all the beenie baby collectors are mental cases for throwing away gobs of dough for a second hand miniature stuffed animal, I just don't see the appeal.
No offense to beenie baby/gun owners, I collect other things, too.
There's just no real debate as to whether or not a cigarette lighter collection instantly causes me to become a pyromaniac... Is there?
Because I collect Vietnam era military surplus am I going to distrust the government and throw medals at war protestors for burning a flag?
Because I own a fast car does that mean I am going to want to drag race and outrun the police? If that's the case then I think spoons are the cause of people being fat. I think that the homeless should just be given a home.
I think that if the police and the military were the only ones allowed to own guns we'd all be safer. It's perfectly allright for me to own 35 cats in a one bedroom apartment because my mother gave them to me, but you have no right to keep a single firearm, even an heirloom, locked in a cabinet.
I usually just tell the anti-gun nuts that the freedom of speech that they so vehemently cling to is secured solely by our right to keep and bear arms.
I tell them to really stop and think about it for a minute.
Throughout history, whenever the government wanted to control the people it governs with immunity from civil grievences, the government has taken away the right to keep weapons in the interest of securing more safety for it's citizens. Which is fine if you like being the servant of an empire where your personal opinion counts for nothing in the writing of the laws or the grand scheme of things in general.
Somehow I don't think that's what our forefathers envisioned when they agreed to the constitution of the United States.
Freedom isn't won with an empty hand or strong words.
You have to dig it from the ashes of tyranny and oppression.
-James Hazell, aka effengee
P.S. I just love the look a liberal anti-gun nut makes when they get invited to the range by me to prove that firing a weapon is not a dangerous thing.
It's been my distinct pleasure to have converted three people so far.
I don't hate anybody... unless they try to take my freedom or my life or try to do harm to my family. Then they will see a side of me that goes way beyond simple things such as weapons and hatred.
