I found this story

[blindndead]

Any comments?
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/12/28/a18a_Versteegcol_1228.html

 

[SSN Vet]

IF...Ralphie gets his Red Ryder.....

AND.... a responsible adult takes advantage of the opportunity to use Ralphie's excitement to capture his undivided attention for long enough to teach him the four rules...

THEN....Ralphie will most likely never have any of the bone headed gun accidents described in this article, which were perpetrated by individuals who were totally ignorant of guns.

KNOWLEDGE = POWER.....GET SOME!

 

[Glockfan.45]

Just another anti-gun fluff piece ran by the liberal media. If you look hard enough you can find a new one every day. Nothing new there, just the same rehashed garbage most big city papers print. Allow me to translate if you will.

Protection of self and others is a noble goal. The problem, as Ralphie's mother, teacher - and even Santa Claus - point out to Ralphie is that, "You'll shoot your eye out."

Guns are the power to prevent harm and the power to do harm, wrapped up in one package. While A Christmas Story was playing on countless TV sets on Christmas Eve, the dark side of Ralphie's wish was playing out at the Boynton Beach Mall.

There, in what police say probably was a gang-related encounter, Jesse Cesar got into a shoving match with Berno Charlemond. It escalated. There was shooting. Charlemond was killed. Then there was more shooting as police chased Cesar, who finally was cornered, arrested and charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder of a police officer.

The dead man, Charlemond, had been arrested a month ago for carrying a gun onto the mall property. Cesar, the alleged shooter, had been charged in August with attempted second-degree murder, but the charge was dropped. He also was arrested in 1999 on a burglary charge.

How do you keep people who don't have Ralphie's noble purpose from getting their hands on guns? At this point, with so many guns in circulation, you probably can't. Guns are everywhere. And even people who don't intend to do harm often end up doing so.

Last week, The Post ran a front-page story about two such cases. There was 19-year-old Amy Dargis of East Stuart who "found" a stolen pistol outside the apartment she shared with a felon and accidentally shot her 17-year-old sister in the neck, killing her.

Then there was 17-year-old Dustin Williams of Port St. Lucie, who allegedly stole a pistol from a Martin County sheriff's deputy and accidentally shot his 16-year-old best friend through the forehead, killing him.

You'd think that by this time everybody would know that "unloaded" guns often aren't. But apparently not. You'd think that gun owners would know to take extra steps to keep their firearms from being stolen. But apparently not.

There's almost no end to gun violence. People still kill each other in hunting accidents. Young children still find their daddy's guns and kill themselves or siblings. People still lose their temper and, in an act regretted as soon as it's done, settle the argument with a gun too readily at hand. And guns still make suicide a too easy choice for those in despair.

The Ralphies of the world, when they grow up, probably are wise enough to warn their own kid that he could shoot his eye out. They'd favor reasonable restrictions on gun sales and effective record-keeping to keep guns out of the hands of irresponsible hands.

But that reasonable approach has been trampled by the point of view that is, appropriately, identified with the leadership of the National Rifle Association.

So, in recent years, gun-rights groups have worked to prevent police from having access to sales records of pawned guns. They've tried to tell business owners they can't keep employees from bringing guns to work. They've worked to limit as much as possible background checks on gun buyers.

The extreme view on the other side - that guns should be banned - won't work. It only drives the Ralphies of the world into the NRA's arms. Because of ingrained attitudes, the NRA for a long time to come will find it easy to portray any restriction on gun sales or improvement in record-keeping as a government attempt to confiscate Ralphie's gun. But, over time, responsible proposals to improve law enforcement and gun safety can woo Ralphie away from the NRA. It can happen because America keeps shooting its eye out, and so much worse.

Translated into plain english

All people are stupid or criminals waiting for their time to stike. We need more reasonable gun control now so that when that fails to solve the problem we can whine about how we need even more reasonable gun control. Of course that little bit of gun control here and there piece by piece would never add up to a total ban, or confiscation. We in the media are appaled at the notion of personal responsibilty. Shame on the NRA for taking the stand point that perhaps the problem is the people and not the guns.

 

[up_onus]

with a little and some :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: and finally

 

[Wesson Smith]

Unfortunately, there are a whole bunch of lemmings out there who employ this same touchy-feely, flawed logic when it comes to the 2nd.

 

[DogBonz]

Yea... Riiiight...

Then there was 17-year-old Dustin Williams of Port St. Lucie, who allegedly stole a pistol from a Martin County sheriff's deputy and accidentally shot his 16-year-old best friend through the forehead, killing him.

This kid stolt a gun form a police officer! He is a criminal! There these morons go again... Blaming us for the actions of a criminal. Oh yea, and guns should only be in the hands of the police??? That couldn't have prevented this "Accident", now could it? And please, explain how anything that the NRA did or said could have prevented this one, or contributed to it?

Why is this even in this article?

Damn this guy is stupid!!!

 

[CountGlockula]

Here's the writer's email:
[email protected]

Let's share with him our opinion.

 

[blindndead]

Yea

D rop him a e-mail I am shure he can explain his lame views in full detail.