THE WISDOM OF ARMING IN SELF DEFENSE

That 's the same as saying that thay have no right to exist
if predators attack them. Polly Klass had no right to fight back
against Richard Davis with his knife,
because Rocky insulted her intelligence.

When I was a kid,
I thought I had a right to exist
and I took measures to exercise that right
( whether Rocky thought I was an idiot, or not ).
I have not changed my mind about that.





David

i don't think i've ever called you names, have i dave?

if i have, i apologize...

As a matter of fact, as I think of it,
guns were present in great abundance
and MOST kids -- almost all of them -- were well armed.

In the 5 years that I lived there, no one had any trouble.





David

I am an ex-kid.
I began my gun collection at the age of 8,
which I acquired from another kid
in a neighborhood with many well armed kids
none of whom caused any trouble.





David

were you a trial attorney?

kinda curious, don't answer if you don't wanna.

I'll likely not reciprocate much...

That ' s OK; people hurl personal insults at me all the time
when thay don 't like my comments and can t disprove them.





David

you don't gotta go back to phonics, i like you better without.

(and no red)

Yes.

so you are more reminiscing here than presenting a valid argument, yes?

The red can be handy for short answers,
instead of going the long way around.

it's over the top.

like too much cleavage in a little black dress.

(i think i'm channeling spendi)

anyways.

you are bigger than flashy red type.

I know it.

But who are you accusing of doing this pretending?



It's a useful comparison. The additional danger you cite is much smaller than things you are probably willing to do every day (like not drive perfectly). If you portray gun ownership as irrational because of those statistics then engaging in much more dangerous behavior must mean one is positively mad, right?



Why then do you use the "very different prospect", overwhelmingly skewed towards familial tragedy, to argue that specific single guys endanger themselves through gun ownership and "pretend" that it doesn't? It seems, to me at least, like you are acknowledging that it's an application of apples to oranges without letting go of the resulting conclusion.

No. I was defending the children of America from your
denunciation that kids and guns don't mix.



Gun control slaughters kids:
" How Feel-Good Gun Control Laws Kill Kids
Jessica Lynne Carpenter is 14 years old.
She knows how to shoot and there were adequate firearms
to deal with the crisis that arose in the Carpenter home in Merced, Calif. --
a San Joaquin Valley farming community 130 miles
southeast of San Francisco -- when 27-year-old Jonathon David Bruce
came calling on Wednesday morning, Aug. 23, 2OOO.

There was just one problem. Under the new "safe storage" laws
being enacted in California and elsewhere, parents can be held
criminally liable unless they lock up their guns when their children are home alone ...
so that's just what law-abiding parents John and Tephanie Carpenter had done.

Some of Jessica's siblings - Anna, 13; Vanessa, 11; Ashley, 9; and John William, 7
-- were still in their bedrooms when Bruce broke into the farmhouse shortly after 9 a.m.
Bruce, who was armed with a pitchfork -- but to whom police remain unable to attribute any motive --
had apparently cut the phone lines.

So when he forced his way into the house and began stabbing
the younger children in their beds, Jessica's attempts to dial 9-1-1
didn't do much good. Next, the sensible girl ran for where the
family guns were stored, but they were locked up tight.

"When the 14-year-old girl ran to a nearby house to escape
the pitchfork-wielding man attacking her siblings," writes Kimi Yoshino
of the Fresno Bee, "she didn't ask her neighbor to call 9-1-1.
She begged him to grab his rifle and 'take care of this guy.' "
He didn't. Jessica ended up on the phone. By the time Merced County
sheriff's deputies arrived at the home, 7-year-old John William
and 9-year-old Ashley Danielle were dead. Ashley had apparently
hung onto her assailant's leg long enough for her older sisters
to escape. Thirteen-year-old Anna was wounded but survived.

Once the deputies arrived, Bruce rushed them with his bloody pitchfork.
So they shot him They shot him more than a dozen times.
With their guns.
Get it? The following Friday, the children's great-uncle, the
Rev. John Hilton, told reporters: "If only (Jessica) had a gun
available to her, she could have stopped the whole thing.
If she had been properly armed, she could have stopped him in his tracks."

Maybe John William and Ashley would still be alive, Jessica's uncle said.

- Columnist Vin Suprynowicz, Las Vegas Review Journal, 9/24/00

"He who spares the guilty punishes the innocent."





David

My laziness is exceeded only by my lethargy.
I used red type to set apart my comments
to someone else 's statements.
I was too tired to go the long way around.

all the more reason that i'd rather you not take the flag as spokesperson.

(although you do sorta remind me of the late mr hesston)

no offense meant, of course.

I kinda should be asleep right now, we'll talk more later, i'm certain.

Because I might fall asleep in the middle of my speech ?

Good nite, Rocky.

nite dave.

Night, Rock. Night Dave.

nite rat.

(where the hell is johnboy)

Virginia? His topics are sports and economics. I defer to him in the latter, and have no slightest interest in the former.