Another person shot by an infant with a gun.

[festive1]

I agree, LP. This is an example of what we keep in our room for emergencies:

It's well weighted and could do some serious damage. With the kids in the house, it's about the only thing I'm comfortable with.

[Tonus]

Does Gandalf know that you stole his pipe?

[LastPoet]

I agree, LP. This is an example of what we keep in our room for emergencies:

It's well weighted and could do some serious damage. With the kids in the house, it's about the only thing I'm comfortable with.

And in a tactic sense, better, just aim above the max height of the kids. If it was just the husband taking a late night piss, surely it would be better than to be shot.

[Minimalist]

A bullet to the knee will stop someone much faster than beaten them over the head with a nightstand.

Yes.... if you happen to have a loaded gun in your night table where you can get it in case of emergency. Locked up in a safe, unloaded, means that the nightstand is the more handy option.

Of course, if you keep a loaded gun in your night table then that "responsible gun owner" shit goes right out the window.

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Also muzzle-loaders are pretty damn cool. If only they weren't so damn inaccurate I'd try shooting targets with them more.

Oh, yeah... when I was in practice I (and making up paper cartridges) I could get off 3 shots per minute and reliably hit the berm behind the target at 50 yards. Accuracy was not a prime concern....the Bess does not even have sights.

[Zen Badger]

But that is the thing isn't it.
The difference between a truly responsible owner well aware of the dangers inherent in weapons and the average redneck Clint Eastwood wannabe.
I am against the banning of guns but I am all for the regulation of weapons so that they stay out of the hands of idiots.

[Garuda]

How did the baby get the gun again?

[Minimalist]

The "trained" guy left it laying around.

[Violet]

Poor kid. Could you imagine the guilt you'd feel growing up knowing you killed your aunt, even if it was an accident?

Sure could: never met her, so why should I care?

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Of course, if you keep a loaded gun in your night table then that "responsible gun owner" shit goes right out the window.

If I owned a gun (and were a paranoid fuck), then I'd find it quite irresponsible to leave it unloaded at the time when I might need it most.

Which is why we have turrets to indiscriminately shoot every motherfucker trying to cheese their way into my house. Man, woman, child, goose: it's either dead, or it isn't coming back. Mission accomplished.

[The Grand Nudger]

I have a collection of muzzle-loading replicas. The guns are kept, unloaded, in the house. The powder and shot is kept in a cabinet in the garage. I have no illusion of using any of them for "defense," although I do have a bayonet for my Brown Bess.

-responsible gun owner.

I have a similar scheme. I keep my rifles in the attic crawlspace above my closet - dis-assembled and packed in locked hardcases. The rounds, shot, and powder (and points- I keep my bow on the wall and the arrows in the sidemounted quiver, sans-points) are in a fireproof safe in my garage.

Black powder aint for accuracy - it's to give the game a sporting chance. I'd say 50 yards is 40 too far..lol. (3 rounds a minute with a pan or blasting caps? Impressive either way. I get off a heady max of 2 rounds a year with mine..lol)

[A_Nony_Mouse]

Four year old shoots wife of Tenn. sheriff

First the dark humor: That kid must've really hated that woman.

She tried to abort him. Revenge from beyond the womb. Take that fuckamutha!

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Please note I am not making any nebulous but impassioned plea to the constitution, government tyranny, minutemen, or future British tyranny. I am talking about things that are more or less correct within argument error. In the interest of full disclosure I was once offered a job with the NRA but was unable to accept.

Seriously folks your personal opinions on guns are your business. But IF you want to save lives THEN at least have the common courtesy to prioritize what you are for or against by number of deaths.

The Newtown thing killed a lot of kids but if you want to save the lives of kids ban cabinets under sinks as a hugely greater number die from eating and drinking things stored under the sink.

I am not talking about the fallacious argument about saving lives by banning necessary cars. No one needs to store anything under sinks, period. Clearly storing the most lethal things in the kitchen under sinks is a hugely dangerous thing for children. And no parent is ever charged with even deprave indifference to human life. They get sympathy instead.

There is no constitutional issue about under sink cabinets. There is no one defending the right to have them. There is no legitimate reason to store lethal materials under sinks.

So why not prioritize ones efforts?
the top ten causes of accidental death in America

7. Firearms
Deaths per year: 1,500

3. Poisoning by solids and liquids
Deaths per year: 8,600

Those are meant to be typical google results NOT something I am going to argue without contrary evidence.

I will point out that the total murder rate in the US has gone up and down over the last century. Also guns became the majority murder weapon in the late 50s. BUT the gun usage rate shows no connection to the murder rate. If guns facilitate murder then we would expect the murder rate to increase with gun usage. It does not.

To take it a bit further gun ownership is now per capita lower than it has ever been in American history. As above per capita killing have gone up and down without any connection to per capita guns.

We also know that strict gun laws are passed in response to crime increase but have never affected the crime rate. Chicago and New York have comparably strict gun laws. Crime in NYC was reduced by a a major change in law enforcement and police activity with no change in gun laws. Yet the NYC rhetoric on gun laws has not changed even though they know gun crime reduction had nothing to do with gun laws.

Going back to Newtown, what proposed gun law that has a chance in hell of being passed would have prevented it? And please, do you really support passing laws based upon emotional appeals? It won't be just guns forever. Just wait until an atheist commits some atrocious crime. OK, that was emotional but you get the idea. After the JFK assassination it took two years to come up with reasonable changes in the law that were directly related to the assassination. Not that it helped Reagan or Carter much but still if there is a chance to prevent another Newtown i would rather spend or year or two working out things that would prevent another than rush to old ideas that have never worked.

Please note I have not made any nebulous but impassioned plea to the constitution, government tyranny, minutemen, or future British tyranny. I am talking about things that are more or less correct within argument error. In the interest of full disclosure I was once offered a job with the NRA but was unable to accept.

Yes, I know I just invented argument error. Everyone in public debate should know what that means.

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I agree, LP. This is an example of what we keep in our room for emergencies:

It's well weighted and could do some serious damage. With the kids in the house, it's about the only thing I'm comfortable with.

A bullet has a much greater reach than a club. On Amazon you can find sharpened sheet metal called a sword with greater reach than that. Thrusting a sharp metal object into a body is a hell of a lot easier and more effective than getting a good swing on that kind of club (also available on Amazon.)

Yes you are a woman and yes there will be more blood to clean up with a sword rather than a club. But if you really care about defense drop $20 on a sharpened piece of sheet metal. Even if you are stuck with swinging instead of thrusting the edge of a sword will get more attention than a club unless you can guarantee a head hit. As to a head hit, how often do you practice? Have you ever practiced?