Miss D:
SCRAPE, SCRAPE (Sound of soapbox being dragged out.)
I have been following this thread without post (until now) because there was little I could add. Most here know me as the shy, quiet type (senior member in 2 days!
) but I feel that I have something to add at this point: Re: safes and trigger locks - I have 3 children, and though they don't live with me, when they come to visit in August my pistols will be left out (though unloaded) and available. And, though my kids have never even seen a real gun, I haven't any worries, I raised them properly and they will be told NOT to touch them without instruction from me. Does your little one play with knives? Matches? Cleaners? The Stove? Drugs? I would hazard not. Why? Because you taught her that it's wrong and could hurt her. You showed her the danger of these items. I would venture that every parent here (and we ARE representative of gun owners in general) have taught their children that guns ARE dangerous. DO NOT TOUCH WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!!! And whilst knives, matches, et al., are required in a home, truly, guns are not. That we *choose* to have them is tacit acceptance that we are going to be responsible for them- i.e. we are going to make sure that anyone in our homes will be made aware that the gun is off limits. In my experience, once that fact is made clear, I find it's the adults that want to touch them more than the youngsters. To most kids an overly emphatic NO is final.
More than anything else, it seems to me that most Americans are ready to accept a panacea: That we will trust our government to take care of us; we will trust our police to protect us; That more laws means more security. I get the feeling that the people around this joint are more geared to taking care of their own. There children are raised with morals and mores (Damn! Where's the accent agout when you need it?); their lives are to be conducted with decency and responsibility. They will teach their children right from wrong, and the children will listen and learn. Having come from New York City, another anti-gun haven, all I can say is this is the kind of people I want to associate with, either on line with these folks here, or out shooting with friends.
(soap box put away.)
PS: Don't get me wrong, most of them are nuts, but responsible nuts. (I was getting WAY too serious there!)
[This message has been edited by joegerardi (edited June 25, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by joegerardi (edited June 25, 1999).]