RE: Guns'n stuff

Sean Draine (seandr@Exchange.Microsoft.com)
Mon, 03 May 1999 15:50:00 -0700

Jim says of Switzerland's armed citizenry:
"I think that's actually a safer system than the one we have in America. 
At least everyone is trained and aware of the responsibility and the
danger."

In the aftermath of Littleton, I've repeatedly heard gun-rights advocates
call for better gun training. I must admit, at first I had some difficulty
making any sense of this position, but having pondered the matter for a
while, I'm beginning to see the light. The argument, as I understand it,
rests on 3 core tenets:

1) Though the average American sees scores of people shot to death each year
in movies and on TV, and he learns of countless gun-inflicted deaths and
maiming in the news, and he can likely recite Dirty Harry's "Go ahead, make
my day" soliloquy by heart, incredibly, he somehow remains unaware of the
fact that guns are dangerous. 

2) Massacres like the one at Littleton might be avoided if would-be
perpetrators were formally trained in the care, handling, and aiming of
their weapons, as well as better educated about the kind of damage all of
the different weapons available to them are capable of inflicting. (I heard
that one of the Littleton assassins stored his gun with the safety off!)

3) Given that very young children are the most common victims of accidental
shootings, it's really never too early to get your child a gun and teach him
or her how to use it. When deciding on the size of the weapon, keep in mind
that toddlers grow fast!

Gun fans, please chime in if I've got it all wrong.

Sean