Warren J. Dew

By "sufficiently safe", I don't mean "perfectly safe". It's a matter of trading off risks.

There's some always some risk of a home invasion from someone - possibly a stranger to the neighborhood, as you say. That risk varies a lot depending on where you live; in some places, it's very near to zero, while in others, it's significant.

However, there's always some risk from having a firearm around the house ready to use. There's a chance someone will get into a really bad argument and use it in a fit of rage against a friend, whereas if it hadn't been there, they'd have calmed down instead. Even if you don't think you're the kind of person that could ever happen to, there's always the chance of an accident - a child finds it and plays with it, setting it off, or someone drops it accidentally and it goes off.

The situation I'm talking about is neighborhoods that are "sufficiently safe" that the risk from having no firearm to defend against a criminal are so small they are outweighed by the risks of an accident from having a gun around ready to use.

MAGGIEMAE

We have the right to bear arms as well luckly for us the only consequence is a sunburn

vtec9

Figured this was a good place to post it up..

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/30/gun....ap/index.html

I link that because it includes an interesting figure

Lets do some math.

31,000 gun deaths in 2005. 55% suicide, 2% legal (police, etc) leaves 13,330 deaths by assault with a gun. Advocates of a gun ban want to possibly save 13,330 lives per year by endangering over 1 million more. Based on statistics alone, I'm over 32 times more likely to save a life or prevent serious injury using my CCW than I am to take one.

RC - Ryder

I used to be a gun club fanatic and regularly reloaded about 10 different calibers of pistol and rifle. For the wife and I it was a hobby and entertainment. I haven't done it for 10 years, but I do have a 10 meter range set up in my basement to maintain our perfection. It's actually a lot of fun. We use a Brit Arms .22 and a Baikal pellet for that purpose, and it's very economical. Most of my guns are stached all the time, except for a PPK and an auto sered, laser sigted Uzzi 9mm I keep hanging from our bed post.
I don't anticipate or hope to ever have to use it. But, it's available and we know how to use it.
To each their own.

Warren J. Dew

[QUOTE=vtec9,Jul 2 2008, 10:33 AM]31,000 gun deaths in 2005.

RC - Ryder

Google suicides around the world and find out where the highest rates are located like Japan and Sweden, etc.- and it ain't with guns.

cordycord

To bring the decision into focus, I heard that shop owners and home owners during Katrina had their guns forcibly taken from them by the police. The obvious happened, and roving bands of thugs (armed) robbed the unarmed store and homeowners.

The 2nd Amendment isn't some ancient article with no bearing on current society--it has real value in the present.

Warren J. Dew

That's interesting information, and a valid point. For those who want a quick link, the following page shows that Sweden is higher than the U.S., and Japan is about double the U.S.

http://www.who.int/mental_health/preventio...uiciderates/en/

Perhaps the ones who really mean it are the ones who go to the trouble of getting a gun to do it in the U.S. - but still follow through with a knife in Japan.

mikegarrison

Suicide is the last statement a person gets to make to the world. People do some strange things. For instance, people will drive right over the Bay Bridge in order to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

The fact that guns are used for suicide a lot in the US has more to do with the idea of the gun in US culture than anything else, I think. I don't think the gun itself creates the suicide, or that the suicide would not have happened if the gun were not around.

IMO, the main issue here is the chance of an accidental death or injury v. the gun protecting you from some death or injury. The way I have it figured, for me anyway, I think a gun would introduce more danger into my home than it would help counter. And I don't even have any kids. Those with kids are asking for even more trouble.

Yes, I grew up with guns -- my dad was a hunter and he taught me to be a hunter. He taught me all the gun safety rules, etc. And yet, knowing gun safety rules is not as accident-free as not having a gun at all.

I had a 99 Savage. Anybody who has ever had one will know that it has an internal magazine, not a clip. You unload it by jacking the cartridges out of the magazine using the lever. But the lever is very close to the trigger. And the safety can not be engaged when working the lever. One time while I was unloading it, I accidently hit the trigger. Boom! I had been following all the safety rules and had the gun pointed out away from anything. But still, that bullet went somewhere. Accidents do happen.

dlq04

I totally agree and that has always been my belief as well.