[buckhuntr]

Thank you, Tiffany, for speaking out on our behalf. I'm not going to pretend to have anything of value to add to the discussions already in this thread, but I will say that stronger enforcement of laws already on the books concerning crimes committed with a weapon, including stiffer sentencing of convicted individuals, would do far more to reduce violent crime than any new gun control laws.
Ask the hard questions: If guns are evil, why do the people who want them banned have armed security guards, or carry guns themselves? If President Obama's children deserve to have armed security at their school, why do our children not deserve that same protection? Inquiring minds want to know...

[PrimePorkchop]

If guns are the problem, take them away from everyone. If the person who has the gun isn't the issue, then police and military shouldn't have them either.

Just look what happened when Government had its fill at Kent State.

[rocshaman]

I'll tell you what folks, we've got a got a good one on our side here. Not only is she a lucid and creative writer, I read on the internet that she's from Texas, nuff said!

[downsouth]

In over a year of reading and posting on this site, I have never read a series of post with such good grammer, structure, and spelling. You guys brought your "A game" out for the lady. Congrats !!

[FullautoUSA]

Originally Posted by downsouth

In over a year of reading and posting on this site, I have never read a series of post with such good grammer, structure, and spelling. You guys brought your "A game" out for the lady. Congrats !!

I always improve my grammar for the ladies

[pnolans]

Hi Tiffany,

Thanks for asking... It seems more journalists just assume "we're nuts", and speak for us... negatively.

Personally, I came to a love of guns and archery late in life.. in my fifties. I started to simply want to hunt. Now, I simply enjoy shooting guns ... I belong to 2 gun clubs. So, my views have evolved.

I initially applied for a Concealed Carry Permit to allow me to hike in the backcountry without freaking out folks I would run into along the trail. Open Carry is legal of course, but to me... it's just courtesy. btw, I live in Colorado. I often hike by myself on very lonely trails. I would keep my holstered weapon under a jacket.

Once I get my permit, I will carry more often. Since the Aurora theater shooting, I will avoid businesses that prohibit Concealed Carry... within reason.

Yes, I would boycott businesses that advertise "gun free zones".

And yes, I think that a new form of discrimination is emerging.

Again,

Thanks for asking!

Patrick

[70cuda383]

there are a lot of good points already made here. I'll briefly express my views on the issue.

how many gun owners are there in the US? one source I read cites that approximately 50% of US Households own guns, and assuming that the majority of those housholds consist of a married woman and man, that's 2 gun owners per house. what's the current US population? 300 million?

Is it a safe assumption to say that there are 150 million gun owners in the US?

How many of those gun owners are criminals, or have used their gun in a crime?


Outside of a handful of mass shooters who ignore signs and laws and go into a gun free zone to kill unarmed people, the vast majority of gun violence is gang related. it takes place in the inner urban areas with lower income, lesser educated juvenile males.

How many people were killed by a gun in a year? looking around on the internet, it seems that it's about 6500 a year.

out of 200 million guns, 6500 people died. My math shows that means .00325% of guns kill people.

the people advocating for gun control want to take something away from every law abiding citizen, who's never committed a crime in their life, and has never hurt anyone with their guns, because of .03 percent!

I point out these statistics, because in my opinion, the push to disarm America is coming from the liberal left, and is a political issue, that they fuel with scarey language and emotional responses. The media propagates this by using incorrect terms and grouping all gun owners into the same group: gun toting thugs out looking to kill anyone and everyone.

If every person in America knew and understood firearms as well as we do, they would no longer be so afraid of them and they would understand the errors in the media. I can't stand it when I see the local evening news say "man gunned down with machine gun" and as they actually air the story, you learn that it was a semi-automatic "Uzi" pistol. This does nothing but hurt the pro 2nd Amendment argument, because now everyone who does not own a gun, knows nothing about a gun, thinks that we have "Machine Guns" on the streets, and by gosh, the government needs to do something about it because people shouldn't have machine guns!"

The terms "Assault Rifle" and "Sniper Rifle" used by the democrats and gun control advocates, as well as the media, is clearly just colorful, scarey language that they use to evoke an emotional response.

I challenge ANYONE to explain to me the difference between an "Assault Rifle" AR-15, and a "Coyote and Prairie Dog hunting rifle" AR-15. Can anyone explain to me the difference in a bolt action, single shot, high power rifle with a scope used as a "Sniper rifle" and a bolt action, single shot, high power rifle with a scope used as a "Deer hunting rifle"? They're the same thing, one is used by a rational, law abiding citizen to feed his family, the other is used by a crazed loon intent on committing murder.

How about instead of "gun control" and disarmament, we focus on teaching ALL Americans about firearms, what they are, how they work, the difference in single shot, semi-auto, and full auto. We need the media to stop being biased and to start telling the whole picture, to explain how many legal guns are out there, owned by law abiding citizens.

We also need to improve education. Previously I cited that the majority of gun crimes are committed by inner city, under-educated, lower income, juvenile males. How about we do something the Democrats claim is their party platform, and find a way to educate these young men and focus on proactive ways to curb gang activity vs being reactive and simply arresting them after they commit crimes. If we can curb gang violence then we will see a massive drop in the number of gun deaths a year.

And lastly, we need to overhaul the education system as a whole. why are educators so liberally biased? Is it because they have a union, and the unions give money to liberal candidates, and in turn, liberal politicians give back to the unions? Are they brainwashed into thinking so one sidedly? what happened to being open, neutral, unbiased, and teaching so the child can form their own opinions instead of simply brainwashing them to one side of the argument? We need to improve the common person's understanding of how this country was formed, and what the bill of rights are and what they mean. How many people truely understand what the founding fathers were focused on when they wrote the constitution and the bill of rights? how many of them understand that we were just involved in a bloody revolution against what was formerly OUR OWN GOVERNMENT? Had the revolution failed and we lost the war, our founding fathers would have been hung for treason. Instead we remember them as freedom fighters, visionaries. I think that many Americans forget this perspective as they go about their daily lives, enjoying their freedoms without much thought as to how those freedoms were won.

[70cuda383]

Originally Posted by downsouth

In over a year of reading and posting on this site, I have never read a series of post with such good grammer, structure, and spelling. You guys brought your "A game" out for the lady. Congrats !!

now, we wouldn't want to come off as a bunch of red neck, uneducated, gun toting nut jobs, would we?

AJ already did that for us on Piers Morgan's show

[vincent]

Originally Posted by downsouth

In over a year of reading and posting on this site, I have never read a series of post with such good grammer, structure, and spelling. You guys brought your "A game" out for the lady. Congrats !!

Me was think same thing...we rite good and smeel mainly...

[c3shooter]

I cannot figure it out- was the above supposed to be spell or smell?

Tiffany- if you are still following this outpouring of posts- yes, the folks here DID put on their "company" manners to respond to you. This forum is much like a large family of brothers and sisters spread out across the US- and several other countries as well. When it just us, we sometimes get a bit goofy. No, make that REAL goofy.

When you are not writing, feel free to drop in and sit a spell. We have several members that are ladies, and several from Texas. Glad to have another.

Best regards- C3