I really don’t have much of an opinion about gun control. I can see both sides of the issue, and both sides have valid points to make. I keep up with developments in the news, watch legislation being debated, and read discussions online without participating. I do this with a lot of issues that I don’t consider myself to be an authority in; keep informed until I understand the issue well enough to develop an opinion.
I have to say, this week I’m leaning toward the “Ban all the damned guns” camp.
Or, possibly, the “Shoot all the stupid people” camp.
Last week, here in Tucson, a 13-year-old boy shot his best friend with a handgun he found in a park downtown. The gun was stolen from a bus station when its owner left it in an unattended backpack. It’s been floating around out there for three years.
Today, while walking my dogs, I spent some time picking up a box full of .22 bullets. The family that lives in the house I found them in front of has three kids, aged 8 to 15.
Owning guns is a responsibility. An enormous responsibility; simply by having one in your posession, you have the power of life and death over those around you. If you can’t handle that kind of responsibility, you shouldn’t own a gun.
And if you lose your gun, or your ammunition, and it gets found where kids can get at it, you should be shot in the ass with said weapon.
Anybody know how to dispose of some battered .22 ammo safely?
This just highlights why education for children on what to do upon discovering a gun is important. The Eddie Eagle program, sponsored by the NRA, is dedicated to that purpose.
I’m pro-firearms, but I really think some in-duh-viduals should have their Right To Keep And Bear Arms individually and specifically stripped. Gross negligence in the maintianace and control of their weapons and loaded ammunition seems like a valid reason to me. Gross negligence of the type from the OP makes the weapon’s owner a menace, And I don’t think menaces should be permitted firearms.
I think this is overstating the case just a little bit. Okay, maybe a lot. “The power of life and death”? It’s a hunk of metal designed to propel a projectile at high speed. It doesn’t profer god-like power on anyone. Besides, people kill in any number of ways that DON’T involve guns. So it could be said that anyone has “the power of life and death over those around them.” Guns just make that power easier to easier to utilize.
Isn’t it odd that guns are more restricted now than they have ever been, yet people are more afraid of crime than they have ever been? If you extrapolate backwards, at some point anyone could own a gun who could afford to buy one, and people didn’t worry about crime much. Isn’t that odd? I wonder what Sarah Brady would say about it.
Having said all the above, I agree that people should be more careful. These aren’t black-powder muzzle loaders we’re dealing with these days. Leaving ammunition laying about is gross negligence.