Jacko.....
Please read what Mike Jenvy has to say....a man after my own heart though we disagree. What we do agree on is how to engage in argument. I will look forward to his posts from now on...
Mike,
Your statistics tended to confirm my source as well.....child deaths by firearm have to include both sources of death....accidental and willful. My reading of the stats....both yours and mine.....beg the question why so many are being killed by means of homicide in particularly in homicides by parents or designated caregivers. The point of my post was to note the difference between the real numbers of children being killed, the statistics that relate to those issues, and point out the incorrect numbers being used by the media and other ban the gun groups to sensationalize the issue.
One death is too many.....and the USA has problems with gun violence.
I use the following statement...."Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than all of my guns!" That is a true statement. Ted Kennedy would happily see my guns confiscated but has never admitted any wrongdoing in the death of the young woman that drown in the backseat of his car.
I have owned guns legally for the past 45 years....have hunted...practiced target shooting....carried a gun as a police officer both on and off duty...carried a firearm concealed with a proper concealed weapons authorization...and yet have to break a law of any kind as a result. I work at a place where I fly people around that carry guns....the aircraft is armed but I cannot take my private weapon on the worksite because of the rules.
I politely submit....our angst is with the criminal. The violent person who commits a crime. Those who have no value on other people's life and welfare. We should have real problems with criminal justice systems that deprive the honest, hard working, law abiding citizen of the protection of law and the ability to protect oneself while not dishing out severe punishment to those who prey upon others particularly in crimes using violence or threat of violence. It is not for the good decent person to surrender to the evil sorts....I can assure you if my home is burglared while I am present...the Police, when they finally arrive...will not have to ask for descriptions of the perpetrators. They will merely have to photograph, fingerprint, and search the pockets of the bodies laying in my parlor.
I completely endorse the use of citizen's carrying concealed weapons...properly trained, properly certified, properly controlled by the police and laws of the community they live in. First hand experience proves the validity of that. While driving through the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona years ago...stopped to pour fuel from a Jerry Can into the truck...two Indian men stopped and asked for petrol. I gave them a five gallon can....asked for the can back....they returned the can....asked for some food....gave them some canned softies and some snacks....they then asked for money....told them I was not a one white man relief agency and one of them pulled a knife and suggested a toll payment was in order. I pulled out my revolver and suggested we could start playing Cowboy and Indians if they really wanted to. They left....I left.
As to pistol hunting....a growing number of hunters are using handguns....seems silly to me....but then some of these pistols are pretty exotic. Shooting sticks....telescopic sights....large calibers with large powder charges....pain on both ends when the things are fired. But....in this country...as long as you comply with the law...it is legal...and one's right to do so.