My blog has focused on cancer the past month, and will continue to do so for awhile, whether I want it to or not. That's just the way cancer is. But I would like a break every now and then. Since I don't have the energy to think of other topics to write about at the moment, I'm asking you dear readers to make this blog interesting for me once a week.
Tuesdays will be "Tuesday's Topic". I will post a question and would love you all to share your opinions in the comment section. Debate away, if you so choose...anything goes as long as you are respectful of each other. If a topic holds a real interest to me I will even join in or write a post about my opinion later. Basically, Tuesday posts will be a distraction for me. Won't you join in?
Today's Topic: With shootings becoming more and more common, what is your opinion on stricter gun laws? What are your views on gun ownership?
Elizabeth, I've been staying up on Jacob's progress, but just could not figure out what to say (despite having just had cancer myself!) Simply saying, 'I'm sorry' just feels so impersonal to me. My heart is breaking for you, and for Jacob. I hope and pray to read about positive progression.
ReplyDeleteon gun control, I'm back and forth. I feel like (pardon my french) any idiot can get a gun from a family member/friend/or just steal one to kill a person/people, and never have had a gun permit in their life. I thinks it's a scary world that's full of crazy people. And it's so sad!!!
I think stricter gun laws would only make the problem worse. When people go into a school with a gun, nobody there has a gun to fight back. So the criminal can take as many lives as he chooses. If people of authority had a gun for protection, the gunman could be stopped.
ReplyDeleteI think people who want to harm others will find a way whether it's via a gun or not. I do not believe that gun control laws make us any safer.
ReplyDeleteWhat Sheila said. &: ) Hubby and I are both know how to handle, shoot, care for, and properly store a firearm. Our kids will learn the same skills when they are old enough.
ReplyDeleteStarting at the age of four, our kids attend a summer program in our community called Safetyville. Part of Safetyville's curriculum is gun safety. Eddie the Eagle (from the NRA) teaches the kids that if they see a gun, they should STOP. DON'T TOUCH. LEAVE THE AREA. TELL AN ADULT.
I once thought we needed stricter gun laws, but realized we (the person without a weapon) would be the ones without the gun to shoot the person with the gun. I am all for carrying a gun where/when I go anywhere. I have only shot a gun once in my 56 years, but I am willing to defend my family and property. I cry at the thought of these idiots taking someone's life and they don't even know who they are killing. I wonder if the crazy person even knows they killed someone’s baby - everyone is someone’s baby, young or old! So, I am somewhere between England and the US on gun control. Nobody in England has a gun, but 1/2 the population in the US has a gun. Where would I draw the line if I had to make a decision right now? I would go with NOBODY has a gun, but that isn't realistic and just my dream!
ReplyDeleteI live in Australia and it is abhorrent to us to think of anyone being able to have a gun. I think so much of the acceptance of this is a cultural one. Some people here have guns, farmers mainly in order to cull the kangaroos, wild bore etc. Very strict controls are in place. Of course there are some elements that still will use knives, stolen weapons, fists etc. but we never seem to get the crazed, angry person that just picks up a gun and shoots.
ReplyDeleteI lived in the USA for many years so I do understand. But I am grateful to live in a place where, in the majority, NO ONE has a gun.
In Australia, they have extremely strict laws and extremely high crime. Having gun laws does NOT mean that violence stops.
ReplyDeleteI am against any gun restrictions. If someone wants to commit a crime, they will get a hold of a weapon. There should be no regulations that keep me from protecting my family, or possibly providing meat for my family if the economy continues going like it is. It is our constitutional right to bear arms.
Ooooo...good question! And I agree with you on cancer - I HATE it too. As a Paramedic I have watched it destroy lives. It is an evil disease and your family is in my prayers as you fight it.
ReplyDeleteBut back to the question. I don't care how strict our gun laws are - the bad guys will always get guns. And, they will continue to terrorize us until we begin to shoot back. I was a responder on the shooting at Va Tech on April 16, 2007. 32 innocent people died that day because they were unarmed. It is against the law for people to carry guns on the Va Tech campus and thus the victims were sitting ducks.
I began carrying a concealed weapon about a year before the massacre at Va Tech and that event cemented my resolve to always have a way to defend myself. I find it hard to watch people use that event as a political tool for tighter gun laws when the death toll could have been lower had just one of the people in Norris Hall been able to shoot back. Why hasn't someone sued the school for not being allowed to defend themselves?
In the end, the reason our culture has become so violent is not because we have access to guns but because we no longer have any respect for human life. No amount of gun control will ever fix that issue.
Interesting question! I'm a pacifist, so I don't believe in having a gun. That having been said, I live with my parents and they have a gun in the house. I know how to handle it properly and have been taught how to shoot it. Even though I personally don't believe in defending myself, I think it's irresponsible to live in the same house as a loaded weapon and not know how to use it. For me, however, the bottom line is the old expression, "guns don't kill people. People kill people." It's very true... people make the decision to pull the trigger. The gun doesn't.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first, I'm totally with you on the cancer hate. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I read something interesting about guns and insurance. Someone (I cannot remember who) suggested insurance on the guns; that you couldn't buy a gun without insurance. For instance if someone had a hunting rifle, their premium would be much lower than someone with a handgun.
I think that seems to be a good idea...until you realize that most people who use guns to do bad things don't normally follow the rules. So you've got that.
I grew up in a home with no guns. My mom hates everything about guns. They terrify her. But now I have been married nearly 16 yrs. and my husband has guns. I actually have my own gun now. All four of my girls have guns from 15 down to 8 yrs. We live in a very rural area of NW Iowa. Our nearest neighbor is over a mile away and town is 7 miles away. My husband has guns for hunting and they do put meat in our freezer. Our oldest two girls have a hunting rifle and are learning to hunt with their dad. All of the girls have a pink BB gun to practice hitting targets. I had to learn to shoot when our neighborhood was bothered by a pack of wild dogs several years ago. I do not care to shoot anything but have and will again to protect our animals and our children. In the last eight years, I have no qualms with the gun case sitting only two feet from my bed. We have had our outbuildings broken into, our van stolen from our farm, a drugdealer move a mile north of us and have his customers mistake our home for his, and now he is back from jail (went in for murder) because he ratted on someone else. We live a peaceful life and we need to be allowed to defend ourselves, our children, our animals, and our property from those that will always have a gun if they want to no matter what the laws are going to be.
ReplyDeleteas Tee said "guns don't kill people. People kill people." This is very true. I believe that stricter gun laws will not be of any help. Its the people, we need to be doing more for helping people in this country!
ReplyDeleteIf there is someone who wants to shoot someone they will, whether there is a strict law in place or not.
We need more genuine programs to help people!
Stricter guns laws will not correct the issue. It will just mean that those of us who abide by the laws of our area will be less likely to protect ourselves for the criminals that have guns (both hand and rifle as well assault) readily available. What needs to happen is education and a uniform regulation of gun laws. We have some areas were a gun is legal to be carried on the person as long as it is visable and others were in order to own a gun you have to have a license. The sayin that "guns don't kill people, people do" is so true. If you look at the history of the shootings that have occured with children involved it is because these children knew that the guns were in the house yet were not taught how to respect a firearem and how to properly handle them. There are so many parents that own firearms yet do nto want their children to know about them. My kids have been taught from the time they were old enough to pick one up how to respect and use a firearm.
ReplyDeletePeople say it is different in the city versus the country. No it is not, either way if you are going to own a firearm you need to respect it and what you are capable of doing with that firearm. We use ours for protection and to provide food for our table, my sister uses hers in the city for protection, either way it is the same.