The Handgun Problem
Considering our current Supreme Court, today's ruling on gun ownership wasn't surprising. Here is my favorite quote from the AP article:
"Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because 'it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.'"
I note that the handgun is the burglar's weapon of choice because it can be pointed at you with one hand while the other hand snatches the phone away from you.
I'm not an anti-gun activist in any sense, and I recognize how highly many people value their right to gun ownership. I passed the gun safety course and became licensed when I was 14 so that I could start bird hunting with my father. However, I do not think handguns should be legal in this country. Here is why:
On the average, if someone gets shot and killed, four out of five times it will be with a handgun. In 1997, for example, handguns were used in 79.4 percent of all firearm homicides.
From 1990 to 1997, handguns were used in a majority (55.6 percent) of all homicides; that is, they were used in murder more than all other weapons combined.
From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths-homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.
From 1990 to 1997 in the United States there were more than-
* 160,000 homicides
* 110,000 firearm homicides
* 89,000 handgun homicides
Handgun homicides hit record highs in the early 1990s, peaking in 1993. That year there were 13,258 such killings-out of a total of 16,120 firearm homicides. Source: VPC
To complement this post I tried to find a picture of James Madison pointing a musket at a burglar with one hand while the other wrote a letter for help post-haste, but for some reason Google Images failed me.
"Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans' preferred weapon of self-defense in part because 'it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.'"
I note that the handgun is the burglar's weapon of choice because it can be pointed at you with one hand while the other hand snatches the phone away from you.
I'm not an anti-gun activist in any sense, and I recognize how highly many people value their right to gun ownership. I passed the gun safety course and became licensed when I was 14 so that I could start bird hunting with my father. However, I do not think handguns should be legal in this country. Here is why:
On the average, if someone gets shot and killed, four out of five times it will be with a handgun. In 1997, for example, handguns were used in 79.4 percent of all firearm homicides.
From 1990 to 1997, handguns were used in a majority (55.6 percent) of all homicides; that is, they were used in murder more than all other weapons combined.
From 1990 to 1997, there were 293,781 firearm deaths-homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings.
From 1990 to 1997 in the United States there were more than-
* 160,000 homicides
* 110,000 firearm homicides
* 89,000 handgun homicides
Handgun homicides hit record highs in the early 1990s, peaking in 1993. That year there were 13,258 such killings-out of a total of 16,120 firearm homicides. Source: VPC
To complement this post I tried to find a picture of James Madison pointing a musket at a burglar with one hand while the other wrote a letter for help post-haste, but for some reason Google Images failed me.