[Cerek the Barbaric]

Originally posted by wellard: Yes I agree with you Masklinn. the punishement has already been given. One that he has to live with for the rest of his life. The real culprit is the need in people to keep weapons of death in there homes... WHY?

Two reasons - Protection and Recreation.

When I was in college, I had come home for the weekend. We lived at the very end of a long dirt road and our driveway was built so that you couldn't see our house until you literally came around the last curve - then you were in our yard. One night, a truck came skidding to a stop in our driveway around 1am. I sat up in bed and looked out my window in time to see the driver climb out of the truck, look towards our house, reach behind his seat and pull out a rifle, and look back towards our house. Fortunately (for him and us both) he decided to run into the surrounding woods rather than towards the house. It was fortunate for us because we weren't actually confronted by this dangerous person. It was fortunate for him because my father would have shot him before he reached the front porch. So, the "protection" aspect IS a valid reason.

As for recreation....I just enjoy shooting guns. I love to target shoot, but sadly, I don't have much opportunity any more. [img]graemlins/verysad.gif[/img]

Personally, I have seriously debated the wisdom of keeping two loaded guns in my house. My oldest boy (6) knows I have the guns and he knows where they are kept. They are "out of reach" but I know that he could reach them if he really wanted to. If I take the bullets out of the gun, then I'm really defeating the purpose of having them in the house to begin with. While one is clip-fed...it would be next to impossible to retrieve the gun, take it out of it's case, find the clip, put it in the gun, and chamber the first round before any would be burglar/attacker got to me.

Still, the potential to lose one of my children in a terrible accident such as Masklinn mentioned far outweighs the risk I face of somebody "breaking in". Truth to tell, the incident at my parents house is the ONLY time in my life when I felt threatened enough in my own home to want a gun readily available. That's one incident in 39 years. The chances of one of my 3 boys having an accident with the gun are FAR greater. So the guns will be "disarmed".

{Besides, I also have a couple of knives in the top bureau draw - in case of emergency }

As for the punishment of the father....nothing could be done that is worse than what he has already suffered.