Hello Allen'

> On 06/12/16, Jeff Smith said the following...

>> Yes Ian, but Canada also has about one tenth the population of the US. I
>> don't think it is so much Gun Control as it is the mindset of the
>> people. Gun control isn't going to keep a gun out of the hands of those
>> that want to use a gun.

> It should be noted that we don't just have more gun crime, we have more 
> crime PERIOD.  I've been to Canada and I feel much safer on Canadian cities 
> than in American cities.

I can believe that even though I can't speak from first hand experience as
I haven't been to Canada. But I have had plenty of experience with other US
folks. 

> The culture there is way different, people carry themselves differently.  You
> don't have cars driving by with loud bass booming obscenities like you do
> here in America.  And your youth have much more manners than ours.

I agree. Today's American kids are a world apart from the kids of my youth.
Today's kids are too wrapped up in themselves and their gadgets to concern
themselves with trivial things like manners and respect. That isn't true of
 all kids here but it is becoming too much of the norm.

> I blame America's crime problem on the fact that America has stopped
> parenting our kids.  That's the first thing I notice when I travel is how
> much better kids behave in foreign countries.  There is a very big
> difference!

Children are this worlds future. We as adults teach our kids in many ways
that we are not even aware of. Kids learn what they think is right by what
they see around them. I learned not to treat others in a way that I
wouldn't want to be treated. I tried to teach that concept to my kids.
Except for one rather stubborn and opinionated daughter I would like to
think that I succeeded. 

The situation/problem that arises is when guns are added to the equation.
The conflict that exists is the availability of guns versus the
deteriorating  mindset of today's youth. The best solution on several
levels would be to improve the attitude of our kids. I still believe that
gun are simply a  tool, a thing. It takes the actions and desires of a
person to determine what that thing/toll does. Change the attitude of the
person and the existence of the thing is irrelevant. Do we as a society
NEED guns? Many choose to think so. Do I as a individual need guns? I have
personally gotten rid of most the guns I had owned as I can no longer use
them for the purpose that I had intended. I enjoy hunting but can no longer
see well enough to hunt or am  mobile enough to walk the woods and fields
effectively. I think that gun laws ARE important. But they should not be
used to deprive people of the rights that they have. Many blame guns for
violent crime. I again submit that guns are simply a tool. How a person
uses that tool determines what that tool does.





Jeff 

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Dada-2