<< Doctors are the cause of like 800,000 &quot;accidental&quot; deaths a year, can't remember the exact figures but can dig them up.

Loaded guns cause around 1200 accidental deaths a year. You are safer being around a loaded gun than you are going to your family doctor. Scarry thought.
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Neither of those statistics are true.
Neither is the &quot;statistic&quot; that was being used that 2 million crimes are prevented each year by gun-owners. Statistics only prove themselves and are a major logical fallacy.

I'm realistic here.

As previously posted, I am a gun owner.

I also know many people die from them each year, too many. I also worked in a operating room at a major hospital for three years and have seen what guns can do. Now, during those three years, and the thousands of patients I have seen go through, there were only 8 people that had been shot, and of those, 4 had been shot by police, 2 others were suicide attempts, 2 were attempted murders. Now grant you, I was in Newport Beach and not a major crime area. So, for Orange County and a well-armed area, very few gun shot wounds.

Most of the accidental deaths due to guns are pure negligence on the owner's part. Injured while cleaning them, left loaded in an area easily accessible, etc.

When I was growing up, we knew where the guns were, they were loaded and unlocked, and we knew they weren't toys and we didn't mess with them. My dad taught a lot of responsibility to us.

I don't need a gun for home protection. I have a German Shepard that bites, and a Rottweiller that will chew you in half in a heart beat. If you get past them, my wife has been known to have an attitude.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

My pistols are a last resort for defense in desolate areas. I won't hesitate to use them. I'm glad I've never had to.

Target practice is also a lot of fun. Seeing how much better I get at it. Learned to control the kick of the .44mag (that long barrel helps hold it down!)

I gotta get that book YZGuy was talking about.

 

If you put a gun to your head Loaded or Not and pull the trigger, We as a society haven't lost anything.

The rest of the ones the PARENTS should be charged. I didn't shoot until the Marine Corp. But I own guns now and won't give them up. I take kids out to shoot and teach them when we go. Guns are not toys, but are treated like one my a few. It's the parents responsibility to teach their children safety.

Satisitcs can be manipulated to show what ever you are looking for. A hundred years ago when guns where in every household and part of daily life, how many accidental deaths where there? You learned to shoot or went hungrey.

Just my thoughts.

Smitty

 

My S&amp;W is locked in a case under my bed. My Taurus is in the nightstand, unloaded. Speed loader is hidden on shelf on the wall. My boy just turned 2 and my daughter is 3 1/2 and they have never seen either gun.

 

Dumb question, but why is it:

If a child is shot - ban the gun
If a child is mauled by a dog - the owner of the dog should have been more responsible. (why is it a gun can fire by itself, but a dog is controlled by someone 'irresponsible')

If a child is shot - ban the guns
If a child drowns in a 5-gallon bucket - the parents or whoever was watching the child (or whoever left the bucket there) needed to be more 'responsible'
(More children under 3 drown in a 5-gallon bucket than die from gunshot wounds - saw the actual #s of deaths, but can't remember from where)

If a child is shot - ban the guns
If a child dies because it wasn't strapped in a car safety seat - the parents needed to be more 'responsible'

Point I am trying to make - guns aren't the cause of harm any more than anything else out there. It is a TOOL, and like any tool, can be used for good or harm. If you really wanted to, how many kids could be run over in a playground by a Cadillac? Answer, 23, with (I think) 8 deaths. This has actually happened (more kids in shcools are killed by viecles than guns every year, as well). Maybe we should have a 'viechle free zone' 100 yards around all school property?

As for the 'your gun is more likely to be used against you, a member of your family, or someone you know than a criminal' is TECHNICALLY true, it is a bunch of baloney. For example: Creepy guy is harassing your 15 year old daughter. You call the police. They arrest him. Charges are filed. He gets 6 months in prison, vowing to 'get you'. 6 months and 3 days later, you shoot creepy guy as he attempts to rape your daughter. Guess what, by certain &quot;statistics&quot; you shot someone you 'know' because you learned his name during the court proceedings.
Don't believe statistics. Mark Twain once said there are 3 levels of liars

There are lies
Da** lies
and stastics

Just my opinion.

Farmr

PS sometimes I am armed when riding my ATV, sometimes not. You will never know, unless it is my rifle in a gun boot.
I have owned guns all my life, and almost everyone I know also either owns one or has one in their household. I know NO ONE personally who has ever been harmed by one. However, I can name several people in the cemetary due to cars. So which one is more dangerous???