Gun Control & RKBA

First, a general sort of opinion/aside on the GC topic: IMHO, GC, in some respects, is in its infancy. The mostly depression era beginnings were anemic by today's standards. Progress and political evolution isn't a painless process. My fellow DU members have enlightened me in many ways and continue daily to teach me. I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks to you and to any one reading who has written on the site.

Most states have a number of requirements facing folks seeking a CC license.

Virtually nothing is "safe". We traffic accidents and stairway falls and we have shootings at schools and churches to underscore that. I live in a Philly suburb. It's probably an hour or more away to an area where hunting would be appropriate. (I don't hunt not do I discuss it very much) I think most hunters make an effort to be safe. I expect that some hunters (like many drivers I see weaving through traffic at 10-20 mph faster than the surrounding cars) just aren't good at it.

It is a rather limited to what you do in your own home. Carrying in public (in most states) requires a bunch of costs, time, effort and BG screening. I'm okay with that. Some states have scaled that back to you need to pass the NICS to buy the gun and you need ID and a pulse. I'm not exactly on board with that. As I said, I'm not viewing myself as a viable candidate for carrying. That's due to many reasons but basically two very key issues. One being I just don't enjoy shooting handguns so I don't see myself making the degree of practice required a priority. Second thing, I was never even marginally good. IMO it would take more time and money than I have to become proficient in low stress situation like a range. My vision is poor and I sleep without my glasses so even at home, I'm not going to be fit to respond to that kind of emergency. I'm rather sure if you take a reputable handgun self-defense course, these aspects will be covered.

Probably because there isn't a law requiring that.I'm not sure about that.

I would think that's wrong. In 2016 there were 14,415 firearm homicides and about 23,000 firearm suicides. (Also, 500+ fatal shootings by law enforcement.) Doing crude math and making a few reasonable estimates (based on the numbers from 2015) the average person lifetime lost due to firearm murders is about 24 days.

All I can say about that is that persecution is the kind of problem that won't abate simply by removing a gun from the person. The "stepping on their rights" folks have sort of a 57 varieties. The ones that need to walk around the shopping center in tactical gear carrying an AR are mostly just looking to start with a cop and collect a settlement. The "mistrust of government" folks would include many of the country's founders. I'm not worried about most of that group, today.

I do get what you're saying. I realize that for some folks in some instances there is truth in the saying, "If all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail." I just want to point out that at least 2 out of 7 people in the US owns a gun and far less than 1% ever uses their "hammer" for self-defense in public. I conclude that those folks do have a lot of self-control.

On the political pro-"control" side I also see the same "hammer" issue and I find more of a fair share of legislators using their own hammers trying to figuratively nail jello to the wall. Certainly some laws need changing or updating. IMHO most of the progress to be made won't be achieved through penalties and restrictions.

Have a great weekend.