There are way to many pages on this topic so I'm not even going to try and read them all so sorry if I'm completely repeating somebody.
Any way, my motto for gun control is " If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns." Making guns illegal will not stop criminals from having guns, it'll only stop the people who defend themselves from criminals from having guns. I think that gun safety is very important and I believe that every one who buys a gun should have to go through a gun safety course. But I am totally against the banning of guns. Heck, if not for guns my dog and my dad would have been eaten by a black bear ( different occations.) And we wouldn't have moose and caribou every fall.

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Do criminals have a need to kill or injure you if they know no one has a gun?

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Yes, it's called eliminating witnesses, to name but one reason.

Do criminals have a need to kill or injure you if they know no one has a gun?

its called the ATF alcohol tobacco and firearms

I'm all for the right to bear arms, it's a right we should have; being able to protect ourselves and our families, and also being able to hunt for food to provide. I do think that all gun owners (+ their families??) should have some sort of saftey course [or psych evaluation] before they can own a gun, but how do you make criminals do that? And what about smuggling in weapons/ unregistered guns? Is there a weapons equivilent to the DEA??

{don't really know what i'm talking about}

In england guns are illegal. Out away from the citys, criminals time how long it takes for cops to respond to calls and drive out. How do you defend your self against somebody with a gun with a kitchen knife? I'd say much of you live a sheltered city life who are reponding with "gun control is good" or "ban all guns".

"Do you think criminals keep track of gun-ownership statistics?"

Yes...as a matter of fact being a part of a prison work reform program, I know first hand criminals know that you can not defend yourselves...that and I know how to break into your car in less then 30 seconds...alarm or not, it really is...easy...I never knew it was so easy.

Your first mistake is thinking most criminals are stupid thugs. Truth be known a real criminal will actually learn your routines and set you up one day on your way home from work...or break in your house while you are at work. Many of them are scarily smart...ever hear the term "Criminal Mastermind"...don't confuse crackhead with criminal.

more children die because they got hung by the strings on curtians then they do by guns.

Number of physicians in the US: 700,000.

Accidental deaths caused by physicians per year: 120,000.

Accidental deaths per physician.... 0.171 (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services)

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Number of gun owners in the US: 80,000,000.

Number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups) 1,500.

Accidental deaths per gun owner: 0.0000188

Therefore: . . . Statistically, doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

I think this has gone too far... What now? Are we going to start killing each other? Kill animals, kill our friends, our brothers and sisters? Is that what is happening now? I just dont understand. Why would there be violence? I am just so tired of all this.. Everywhere, i see violence... like in CNN, in local news, even in the streets... I think this is ENOUGH! Dont you people have any CARE at all? dont you have LOVE in your hearts? In my opinion the youth of today should not be praised. In fact they are the reason why there is premarital sex, gay issues, drugs and most of all... teens killing teens. To everyone reading this... please, dont you ever feel digusted by what is happening now? It seems people just take one look at all these issues and just stand there and do nothing or they just look and then walk away from it and not do anything at all.
I may be a teenager, someone part of this whole complicated word that is Youth. But i am not like most of you.. I totally care for this world and to everything that is happening because i dont want my children in the future to be like those people.
Now, i will ask you, do you want children and future children to follow all these evil things? What will become of us now? More importantly, what will become of this world?
All i can say is.... THIS IS ENOUGH!!!

Do you think criminals keep track of gun-ownership statistics?

Thanx to John I found this little ditty...

And to quote Joey:

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It's gun control that creates a high crime rate, making it easier for criminals to rob, rape and murder.

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The following chart reflects the numbers of firearm injuries as compared from before Chapter 180 of the Acts of 1998 and several years later. The figures regarding injuries were taken directly from the January 2003 Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Weapon Related Injury Surveillance System (WRISS). These numbers represent a complete failure of the promises made five years ago by the proponents of gun control.


1997-2001
Change

Number of Licensed Gun Owners
1,541,201
199,660
- 87%

Assault Related Knife Injuries
1353
1361
+ 0.6%

Assault Related Gun Injuries (Firearms)
270
335
+ 24.1%

Unintentional/Accidental Gun Injuries (Firearm)
56 *
20 *
- 64.4% *

Self-Inflicted Gun Injuries (Firearm)
22
23
+ 4.5%

Unkown Intent Gun Injuries (Firearm)
48
60
+ 25%

Total of Overall Gun Injuries (Firearm)
396
438
+ 10.6%

* It is important to note while viewing the chart that the reader keep in mind the 87% decrease in licensed gunowners.

Now...so what? Firstly notice the decrease in registered gun owners, then notice the increase in crime. Ahhh yes criminals are not dumb, they know you can't defend yourselves. No guns...more crime.

Well ok...but most of those crimes are done with guns! Sure...because criminals do not need 7 day wait periods, they don't need to go to gun stores...and best of all...their black market guns that come over from terrorist countries...aren't registered to anyone! A registered gun owner...who commits a crime...goes to jail!!! That is the point you people are all missing, by making it so difficult to register and get guns...your making it twice as easy for people to commit crimes with guns. Logistics from a fired bullet is as good as a finger print that can be traced right back to a gun and then right to the REGISTERED OWNER of said gun. I wish people in this country were more logical...

I dont like guns either...except when you need them out of self-defense. What are you supposed to do when an intruder breaks in? "Oh, let me go down to the kitchen and see if I can snatch a knife behind his back?"...You have to have a gun w/ you up in the bedroom...and you keep it there. If youre smart you'll keep it in a safe where children cant get it. I believe in having a gun in the house...just for self-defense though.

P.S. I had trouble pulling this one from my bookmarks so here ya go:Top court reaffirms right of felons to sell stories

Letter11x, I recommend you repeat all reading comprehension classes starting with the First grade on up. If you could read, you'd know that I know full-well that criminals lose their Second Amemdment rights when convicted of a felony. The problem is that they don't lose their First Amendment rights, and that is a double-standard. Putting it another way, the point I was trying to make is 1. We should take away their First Amendment rights too, for many related reasons (they profit from theirt crimes, and may teach specific or enourage others to commit crimes) and 2. The double-standard by which courts and gun control advocates with respect to felons and these two rights is stunning.

I am well-aware of the Brady Law and the law in most of the states. I am also aware that the CA Supreme Court struck down so-called "Son of Sam" laws that prohibit felons from profiting from their crimes by wiriting books or screenplays. The case was Keenan v. Superior Court, setting a precedent.

Now, do you care to substaniate any of your arguments?

NuShoes...because criminals' First Amendment rights are not taken away, that means their right to own a gun is also intact? How about instead of spouting out unsubstantiated arguments that struck you, you actually deal with reality. People cannot buy a gun without the seller first doing a background check. Looking for a criminal record. Did you really think felons right out of jail still had their Second Amendment rights?

Harsh sentencing and swift enforcement hve been proven to quell crime. Under Bormann and others, determined conservatives in one country virtually eliminated crime through such measures. Removing penalties on so called 'victimless crimes' is no different than making murder illegal; society has decided that NEITHER should be acceptale.

You will probably get more mileage going in the other direction - making sentencing harsh and virtually certain. Unfortunately, violence stemming from trafficking is only one of the ways in which drugs cause violence.

Or you could remove the violence of drug trafficing by making them legal and government-regulated...

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I'm extreamily against guns. The sole purpose of guns is to kill. Kill people, kill animals, kill any living being.

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Target shooting is a non-lethal use. So, actually, ar most defensive uses.

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I beleive that we should be focusing out energy and finance into GOOD things, like finding cures for desieses, helping the poor and homeless, saving the environment, ect., instead of ...

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We should be focusing our energy on useful violence-control measures rather than gun control. Most criminologists will say that gun control has no benefit in violence reduction. In fact, most of the evidence indicates it is counterproductive. If you want to reduce violence, get serious and crack down on drug use and trafficking, one of the primary root causes of violence. Crack down on media violence as well, a major caust/contributor of violence. Eliminating urban blight and cracking down on petty offenses (the "Giuliani Method") will also help greatly.