Originally Posted by
littlewaywelt
well...I'll add this. kids don't find guns in the houses of families that choose not to own them.
My guns (4 rifles and a handgun) are all locked away, far out of reach...impracticably so if there was ever someone in the house. Then again, I have no problem with that bc a criminal in the house is far less likely than a kid finding a gun. As I recall there are far fewer uses of guns in justifiable self defense in the home than there are kids who shoot themselves accidentally, and those that get used in domestic violence, etc.
Gun ownership requires rationalizations based on statistical likelihoods that are often ridiculous. Myself included.
The best weapon for commuting is the grey matter between the ears and the ability to sprint.
Your assertion re: the numbers are wrong. According to the studies done by Professor Gary Kleck at Florida State University, armed citizens use firearms to defend themselves/prevent crime TWO MILLION TIMES A YEAR.
I think you're confusing your statistics. The statistics for "kids killed with firearms" include people up to age 19---including gang members and criminals killed in street crime.
Your child has a greater chance of dying in your swimming pool than of "accidentally shooting himself". I grew up in a law enforcement household. Dad kept his rifles in a glass-fronted gun cabinet, to which I knew the key. He had a loaded pistol in his nightstand, and his duty weapon in his gunbelt hung on a hook in his closet. I never shot myself or anyone else. Why? Because he educated me about firearms and TOOK THE MYSTERY AWAY. They were "just guns". I knew he would take me shooting anytime I wanted, and I felt no great lust for them. The kids whose parents hide guns from them and treat them as some taboo objects are the ones whose kids play with them and get in trouble, IMHO. If a kid is totally ignorant about firearms and firearms safety, he's more likely to do something stupid when he finds a firearm, simply because he doesn't know right from wrong.