Practical gun control

I thought I was holding that post in draft mode but apparently not. I wanted to lead off with Professor John Lott's excellent statistical research that became a book titled "More Guns, Less Crime" where Professor Lott compiled 29 years of FBI crimse data from all 3,054 counties in the United States. That should be enough to satisfy even the most hard core statistics junkie. ;)

Generally I feel open carry of firearms is a bad idea. It's better to keep your firearm concealed for your safety primarily.

If you have your gun showing during a robbery or similiar situation it tends to increase your likelihood of being targeted by the bad guys whereas if it's concealed your just one of the crowd to them.

I have a 4 point self defense plan I always try to follow.

1. Don't be there. This works best.
2. RUN! Or otherwise try to leave where the dangerous situation is occuring.
3. Try to talk your way out of danger if possible.
4. Use whatever force you feel is necessary to protect your life and safety from an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury.

Kristin,

The term "assault weapon" is a politically correct, made up term. Exactly what is an "assault weapon"? Yep, most others can't define one either.

I have a Ruger 'Mini 14' rifle in .223 caliber. Not a scary looking "assault rifle and fun to shoot. It's .223 caliber, basically .22 which means the bullet is about the size of a pencil eraser. .22s are the rifle I learned to shoot as a kid and the one I used to plink tin cans out in my back yard. We lived out in the country and it was over a mile to the nearest house from our farm.

It fires one shot each time you pull the trigger and there is ammunition in the magazine. That's the classis definition of how semi automatic rifles and pistols work. One trigger pull, one shot.

Now if you take my little Mini 14 and trick it out with a new stock (that's the wood part that goes against your shoulder) with a folding, plastic stock, extended hand grips, and a telescopic sight it becomes a vastly different appearing gun.

Both are the exact same gun with different window dressing. I can make mine look just like the one below in about 5 minutes. And BTW, this is still semi automatic, one trigger pull, one shot.

I think the current state of our gun laws have already demonstrated that they don't work. Chicago, New York, and Washingdon D.C. have the toughest gun laws in the nation and yet the highers murder rates. Why do you think that is? 

In New Hampshire, where I live we have the nation's highest ownership rate of legal machine guns per capita. That was a surprising fact to me but yet our streets are not littered with bodies. Why do you think that is?

We're in total agreement with two of your ponts:

"The problem is that if everyone gives up their guns, the crooks will still have them and then homeowners will be defenseless when they break in and hold them up."

"I do not think taking guns away will solve the problem. Most crimes are committed with hand guns and not the assault weapons......................"

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution means exactly what it says as do the rest of the Bill of Right and the rest of the Constitution.

We need to keep guns of any kind out of the hands of mentally ill people and we need to continue the background checks just like we're doing now. I bought a new gun a couple of weeks ago and had to positively identify myself and affirm under penalty of law several things, e.g. I was not a felon, had not been dishonorably discharged from the military and a 2 page list of other things.

If you're interested here's a link to the form you have to fill out to buy a gun these days.

The gun dealer then transmits this information to the FBI for an instant background check and if you don't pass it you don't get to buy the gun.

Another thing that bothers the bureaucrats and politicians is that this form stays with the gun dealer and doesn't get sent to a central firearms registry. The people in Washington have no idea how many legal gun owners there are in the US or where they live which is as it should be. Registration and national date base is the next step down the road to confiscation of guns.

If a gun is used in a crime and the police recover it they contact the manufacturer who tells them which dealer bought it and then that dealer tells them who he sold it to. That dealer in trun tells the police who he sold it to and they go have a talk with him or her.

No, we don't need any types of guns taken away by anyone.