Amendment II “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

[http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html]

It is unfortunate that the bad apples in the basket, give every other gun owner a bad name. It is a matter of interaction with an individual to teach them the proper use and respect of a firearm. Be it for sports or hunting.

I come from a rural community setting. The only time you hear about deaths by a gun are generally from the media, speaking of drive by shootings, etc., etc. The next you will hear, is of someone in such emotional despair over finances or a catastrophic illness, that has decided to end their own life. Usually, the gun is the last resort in a suicidal situation. They have most likely tried other ways first, but have failed or been found. So, they are more determined, to overcome the interruption of what they think, they truly want to do to themselves, by utilizing a firearm. They did it to themselves.

Now, also, coming from a rural setting, I have grown up around guns my entire life. The old saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”, is so very correct. Maybe it is because we are outside the big city limits and can look from abroad and see it. When I was a child, I was told “No” for a reason. So, if I was told not to touch a gun unless supervised by an adult, that’s what I did. Guns were used for hunting and sporting events. However, if it meant that the same gun was going to be needed for protection from a home invader, it would be used. The 2nd amendment rights were written for that very purpose. As for Chicago’s crime rate, they are no different than any other metropolitan crime rate. It all boils down to parents interacting with their children. Remaining an active influence on their lives. You have to be a parent for the 1st 18 years of their life, then you can become friends. Too many, try to be friends, rather than guide and teach valuable lessons on many things, including gun saftey and use.

Ms Fink, take a better look at the picture around you. You aren’t seeing the core problem of your need to quelch constitutional rights, that we, and you, were born to. And I have a few questions for you. In all my 50+ years, I have never seen a gun sit up and shoot itself off at someone or something. The only time I have ever seen a gun fire, is when there is another individual at the end of the trigger. Have you? So who are you really trying to control? The guns or the people who shoot people with guns? If you are trying to control the people who shoot people with guns, then the control begins at home with proper parenting and guidance. It doesn’t mean taking the right to own a gun away from the responsible individuals.

But that doesn’t fit their wish list or conform to their desires for the rest of us. We should just let them run everything right now and forevermore!

Richard Boone as “Paladin” quoting Erodius.

Yes, about 30,000 Americans die by gunfire every year.

Typically, at least half of those are suicides. All the reputable psychological stuff I've read says that folks determined to kill themselves will do it, no matter what.

Japan has hardly any civilian gun ownership, yet they manage to have a lot more suicides than the US does.

Okay, so 30K, minus about 15K suicides leaves about 15K.

That 15,000 includes all people who die from gunfire, period.

That includes criminals killed by other criminals (translate gangbangers involved in gang wars, drug trafficking, etc), criminals killed by police, criminals killed by civilians, civilians murdered by criminals, accidents, etc. etc.

That's in a country with 350 million people, and at the most conservative estimate, around 100 million guns.

Let's say that a separate gun is used to kill each and every person who dies from any type of gunfire, accident, crime, shot by police while committing a crime, etc.

Now that is far from the truth, but just for the sake of argument, let's use it as number, shall we?

That means every single year in the United States, .00008571 of the population dies from gunshots that come from .0003 of the guns in the country.

And I'm having to make a leap here, as neither the calculator on my computer, nor the calculator on my desk will let me put enough zeros in to use the numbers 350 million and 100 million.

I'm dividing 30,000 by 350 million for the number killed, and 30,000 by 100 million for the total number of guns used, which is a total stretch, but just to illustrate the point.