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I also voted no, and I am also one of those who does not own a gun, but I strongly believe in the rights of *RESPONSIBLE* citizens to own firearms for their personal protection, especially in their home, providing it is legal where you reside. I have also stared down the muzzle of a firearm on several occasions and it is not a pleasant experience. The problem here in the United States at least is that firearms are so prevelent be it purchased legally or illegally, and that if you disarm the law abiding citizens, only the military, police and criminals will have firearms. And criminals *WILL* always be able to find a way to aquire them. Since burglars here know that so many citizens own a firearm/firearms they are much more cautious about burglarizing homes and businesses because they know they may meet an armed response. If you take citizens firearms away from them, the criminals *WILL* risk becoming much more brazen in their efforts and robberies will increase.
I am very happy to see this discussion has remained so respectful this time around, as the last time it became rather heated. It would be nice if no one needed to own firearms for self defense, but this is not an ideal world and never will be. And I would certainly hope that no matter what our feelings on gun control are, that we would rather come home and find our spouse/family/children safe and alive and a would be burglar/rapist/murderer shot dead on our living room floor, than to come home and find our spouse/family/children brutally raped and or murdered because they had no way to defend themselves against a criminal with a gun. An attack dog/baseball bat/pipe/knife/sword/ectecta, will not save them from a potential gun wielding killer.
[ 05-20-2002, 02:11 PM: Message edited by: The.Relic ]
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