OK, I'm back. This post is going to be rather long, but there are several points I want to get to:
1. I recognize that there is another thread I started, specifically regarding gun magazines, which people are still posting in (presumably in response to some of my posts there.) I started that thread because this one was closed. I may return to it, but for the moment this thread is so overwhelming in terms of the responses that I simply can't do both. So I apologize, but I will be focusing on this thread for the time being.
2. My response to the post about Joshua was called "smug and thoughtless." I don't believe that it was. What would have been thoughtless (and downright rude) would for me to treat Joshua any differently due to his disability. I do admit to throwing in a little levity (my Jack Bauer comments)- sometimes I am prone to do that if I think the conversation might need it. But keep in mind I am not the one who brought up Jack Bauer in the first place.
3. I have made the point that it is not up to me to prove that a 30 round magazine is not a necessity for home defense- it is up to you to prove that it is. Not for legal purposes, but only for the purpose of this discussion. The assumption that these high caliber rounds are a necessity is one that most of you have made from the beginning of the discussion. I've asked you to back it up, and you really haven't done that- you've provided anecdotes, (like the one just provided about the woman who was anti-gun until faced with 3 intruders) but none of them, IMO, really apply to this specific issue. I have asked for an example in which someone who had a 10 round magazine ran out of bullets and was killed by a home invader. Someone called that a ludicrous request- to the contrary, I believe it is the ONLY type of example that would prove your point. Without it, I have to regard it as an unwarranted assumption.
4. There continues to be a few posters who accuse me of trying to disrupt this forum- spread disarray, etc. I have to say that if that were my intent, then I'm pretty much an abject failure, aren't I? Have I managed to sway a single person to ONE of my arguments here yet? On the other hand, I have been swayed a little to some of yours. I came in here to learn, to discuss, and to debate. I won't hide the fact that I enjoy good argument. I don't enjoy rudeness, either giving it out or receiving it. I know that some of what I write is going to make some of you emotional and even angry- that's because this issue is so important to so many people.
Now I will try to respond to some of the posts here. If I don't respond to yours directly, please don't think I am deliberately ignoring you. There's just so many. I will not respond further to any questioning about my motives. I told you what they are; you have the right to believe me or not.