Again

[Chas]

Trap, skeet, sporting clays, target competition, biathlon. cowboy competion, etc.

A gun's sole function is to fire a bullet. The gun does not care what the target is, it is an inanimate object doing the only thing it is truly useful for doing. So when you compare it to an SUV running someone over you have gone off the deep end. The SUV is designed to provide transportation not death. People choke to death on fish bones, too. The fish bone is not a "weapon."

FFF says that he is a responsible gun owner and from his description it sounds as if he is. But how many of those people in your list of gun heroes had their weapons properly stored and locked away? It is hard to tell if any of them did. It seems unlikely.

Which is really the point, after all. In order for that gun to be of value it has to be ready for action at a moment's notice. Loaded and accessible. A home invader is not going to stand there while you get your gun out of the safe and load it. The problem with "responsible" gun owner as a concept is that they are all "responsible" until something happens. "Responsibility" is determined ex post facto.

So it is mere dumb luck that your pastor - (an armed pastor....think about that one for a moment!) - who pulled out his gun to confront the robber was a short step away from the guy in my list who blew his own balls off.

A gun that is at the ready is not unsafe if it is the control of the possessor. Safe storage is for guns that are not under one's control.

There are fast access safes and locks, as well.

The primary purpose of a bow is fire a projectile - shall we ban those as well?

Look, the discussion should center around practical approaches. All I hear in this thread is that guns are evil, let's demonize the owners and get rid of the guns.

There are 300,000,000 guns in civilian possession in the U.S. Those guns are not going away. That is your starting point. Offer up constructive approaches to what you think are the issues.

I have done so in another thread. I'm tired of the lack of ideas in this one.