Quote: Originally Posted by Sal
Okay when put like that, then yes I can see owning a gun. Sorry, American forum influence and am used to being about the sole person except for the extremem lefties there, advocating that having a hand gun stored beside your bed is more likely to result in the death of a family member than an attacker.
This is statisically true. But in somecases the eminant threat can out weight the consequences. And in some cases it has been proven to deter illegal activity.
I read an article sometime ago on a small town in the US, that had a weapon posession law, you must own a weapon. The article contained stats on crime that would hilite the positive influence of said law.
Now, without knowing the size of the community, the demographics and the crime rate prior to the law being passed, it is difficult to assess whether or not the law was the significant factor.
But it does make for a good anecdotal arguemnet, lol...
Quote: I know this is long guns... but I guess the shadow is there. 
As it should be. Posessing a weapon is not and should not be, an unchecked right.
There must be safeguards in place to restrict the seemingly incapable and malicious from posessing the simplest of weaponry.
Take Crossbows.
I can walk into the local Sporting Goods store and purchase a Crossbow, that could in effect kill several people in one shot. They are making them that powerful now.
A skilled Archer, could in fact kill several people, before his perch is located and he/she is subdued.
A shadow is sometimes, a healthy thing. Licensing to posess weapons, should be a must on all weapons.
Quote: As a matter of appreciation and as a tool for hunting, then yes. For protection I pretty much wouldn't trust most people to use it properly.
And I would agree. Especially when done so with a 'kneejerk' reaction to being violated, or the threat thereof.
But it can be said, that with the right and right amount of perpetual training, one can effectively protect themselves with a sidearm. The key point being the training. That is the fundamental flaw with the American system. There is but background checks. Training and severe training at that should be required, repetatively...adnuaseum.
Quote: Thanks for the different perspective...
Not a problem, anytime.
Quote: my response was a tad sexist eh?
Not at all. A case for that being a fair assesment could easily be made. Besides, my wife has oft commented on the size of the Bow I choose to use (I prefer my old Fred Bear, Whitetail II at nearly 45 inches, as apposed to the new, smaller hunting bows at around 33 inches), in relation to my endowment. She's a cruel, cruel women, but I love her, lol...
(this studious little asshole is really starting to bother me now!!!)
They likely bested me that time with that one. It actually does make a kind of convoluted sense.