I am in total agreement as to the necessity of enforcement of the laws regarding gun storage and safety.

As the owner of a rather extensive collection of old - primarily World War 2 era - firearms, and a formerly avid target shooter with several custom pistols, firearm safety - PARTICULARLY in regards to my daughters - is a prime consideration within my household.

The guns are in safes, the ammunition in yet another safe in my workshop, and the magazines for the clip fed weapons in yet another in my study. In addition the children are well versed in the proper procedures to follow when encountering a gun of any type.

Home security is handled by my dogs :-).

Jh, it's a shame that gun safety isn't taught to kids in school.

hugh,

As controversial as I'm sure that would prove to be I nevertheless agree.

Do you really think the teaching of gun safety needs to be added to the overburdened teachers??? I know Southern Guilford had a rifle team where I am sure this was taught..after school.

Carol, sorry you feel overburdened. IMO the entire publc school system needs a revolutionary overhaul back to the basics. The current educational administrative burden is detrimental to the cause.

That said, IMO, anyone who has a shred of the ability to homeschool their kids would be doing themsleves and their kids the biggest favor of their lives by doing so.

Again, Gun Safety training should be as common as swimming lessons and driver's Ed.

Carol,

The "Eddie Eagle" program administered by the (editorially accursed) NRA is available without presenting any extra burden whatsoever on the schools' teachers.

Sorry, but I really wouldn't want my children to have ANYTHING to do with ANY NRA sponsored program.

They mask their true purpose in lambs clothing. While trying to pretend to be for gun safety, they mock, and ridicule REAL gun safety at every turn.

How about tightening up the "gun show" rules for purchase? Wouldn't that be a great move toward safety? How about opposing civilian ownership of Barrett .50 caliber rifles? Oh, yes that's right---those darned Barretts are nothing but popguns. What was I thinking.

Actually, all the "conservatives" need now, is for the NRA to come out blaming liberals for Hastert's flaccid response to protecting the Pages from pedophiles--three years ago!

"they mock, and ridicule REAL gun safety at every turn."

Okay, so THAT'S why the National Firearms Training Center at Quantico uses only NRA certified instructors.

They want the FBI, ATF, Treasury, DEA and Border Security - to name a few - officers to be improperly trained spray and pray dangers to the public at large.

Thanks for the enlightenment.

Personally I dropped my NRA membership years ago, but, like many special interest groups on either end of the spectrum, they sometimes do good things in spite of themselves.

I think it is important to protect our young children from guns. However, going as far as prosecuting parents for not safe keeping the guns, I'm not sure I can agree with in all cases.

Yes, when children are young, they should be protected from accidentally shooting themselves or others.

However, in the case of older children (16, 17, 18), they should know better and I just can't support prosecuting the parents for not locking up their guns at all times in those cases.

Somewhere around the age of 9, I knew my father had 3 shotguns in the hall closet, a pistol in the night stand and another one under the bed. He also carried a small .22 caliber in his car after being robbed at gunpoint while traveling for work.

I knew where those guns were because my dad showed me where they were. He also taught me about gun safety (from cleaning, to making sure the gun was unloaded, to making sure the safety was on, etc). I had a healthy respect for guns and I also knew if I touched one of dad's without his knowledge, I'd have my butt kicked.

My bad, the NFTC is no longer at Quantico, but I am assured by an old friend that instructor requirements are the same as before.

Ah, DemonDeacon would rather see innocent children DIE than let the foremost gun-safety entity in the country prevent it because of his political bias.
How typically liberal.
You serve your party well, DD.

jcackbar,

Now you are doing what the oh-so-enlightened-Deacon usually does - not reading the post thouroughly, then railing against the poster for what he thinks the post says.

DD didn't say anything about innocent children. He only mentioned his own children. And I'm finally in agreement with something he says. I hope his children are ignorant of gun safety, too!

"I hope his children are ignorant of gun safety, too!"

What does THAT mean? If it means what I think it means, that is a new low.

My defination of gun control... squeezing the trigger slowly so as not to pull off target.

I'm surprised you don't like the NRA, DD.

Michael Moore is a lifetime member, as he said in Bowling for Columbine.

I was an NRA member at one point. I quit because they kept pissing me off. Always begging for money, and doing things that I found somewhat dubious. It seemed to me that they would take a stand against ANY perceived threat to gun rights, even ones that I viewed as intelligent appropriate legislation.

Hmm. Finding out how many of you are armed is not making me feel safer today than I felt yesterday. Is the world growing more dangerous or is it a matter of awareness?

Ignorance may well be bliss.

"How about tightening up the "gun show" rules for purchase? Wouldn't that be a great move toward safety? How about opposing civilian ownership of Barrett .50 caliber rifles? Oh, yes that's right---those darned Barretts are nothing but popguns. What was I thinking."

What exactly are the gun show rules that need tighening? Buying a gun from a show vendor requires the same process as buying one at Walmart or Gander Mountain. You have to fill out the form and they call it in to check if you're on the do not sell list. If you pass you get the gun.

Those Barrets are really in the news as the weapon of choice among today's crimminals. Easily concealable and cheap ammo. Readily available in every crack house in America........./sarcasm.

Come on out to the stadium this Saturday, as it is "Hard Liquor and Handgun Night"! Imagine that resonating from the speakers at First Horizon Park. I'm sure some here would love to attend that event, but not me.

Hugh,
How about a Barrett aimed at a chemical plant tank in say, like the one in Apex, from 100 yards to a half mile away? Do you once again want to enter into a dialogue that you cannot, without dismissing your emotional attachment to your weapons, possibly win?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/06/60minutes/main665257.shtml

http://www.vpc.org/snipercrime.htm

Let the links speak for themselves.

Ross your link accounts for 17 instances, nationwide of crimes being comitted with a 50 caliber. You are joking right? Seriously, 17 crimes and it's time to spend the money and legislative energy to ban this weapon?

Annually there's more crime committed in America with BB guns than years worth of 50 cal incidents.

How about we ban Gasoline? It's explosive and can cause fires.

How about under the sink cleansers? Those can be used to make explosives.

What about destroying all Saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal? Those are the components of gunpowder.

Or the fertilizer Ammonium Nitrate? That's what brought down the Murrow Federal building in OK.

How about propane cylinders? People have made bombs out of those before.

The ban 50 cal thing is just fearmongering at the extreme end of the spectrum.

Oh yeah, you never answered the "tightening up gun show rules" question. What rules are you referreing to?