Hello Kevin,
I've been following this thread and would like to about 2
cents worth...
I agree that this is a subject with widely varying attitudes
based on region.  Where I live, there is very little violence,
no gang activity and gun ownership is perceived as about as
threatening as owning a hammer.  I can imagine that firearms
would take on a totally different perspective if I were to
live in a metro area where a gun has become an "equalizer" of
sorts.
I'm a middle of the road, vote over party lines, average sort
of character.  I happen to be a competitive shooter.  Many of
my best friends from years ago have been active at a national
level and it seems absolutely natural to me to be around
firearms.  I own about a dozen, each with a specific purpose
or competition class.  To an anti-gunner, I could be portrayed
as an inbred, back-woods extremist with an "arsenal".  If I
lived in an inner-city, dangerous zone, I'd be thought of as a
menace to humanity.  Where I do live, I'm just another person
who shoots for sport.
I enjoy nothing more than to ask an anti-gun "expert" who is
espousing their philosophies, "Have you ever fired a gun?".
You can imagine that the answer is almost universally "no".
Where I've been able to convince some of these same people to
accompany me on a visit to our cabin (where's there's a safe
shooting range), almost to a person they've had a good time
and changed their rigid perspective.  One fellow, who teaches
at the local college, actually has become an active competitor
and was one of the most outspoken anti-gun people I've ever
crossed paths with.  I readily admit that I would have a
different attitude if guns meant a threat to my personal,
daily safety. I also believe that we need to maintain a
tolerance for others' perspectives in this issue.
Regards,
-=Craig=-
Give a man a fish and feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he'll sit in a
$20,000 boat and drink beer all day.
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 þ wsOMR 1.20b þ Question authority! (But raise your hand first.
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