[wig]

I can't see what the legality of personal rights is bought up as such an important issue when America has thousands of kids and 10's of thousands of people being killed by guns each year.

First, what Sare said! Second, yes it is tragic that anyone dies before their time. However, instead of having a knee jerk reaction, perhaps we should think about whether banning guns, knives, bats, swimming pools or automobiles is the right, long-term approach.

Surely the people that really believe it is a right and responsibilty to own a gun should be the ones working hardest to enact gun control laws that at least start to reduce the killing whilst allowing reasonable ownership rights.

Opti, do you realize that there are 20,000 gun laws already on the books in the US? Yes, I would say that an overwhelming majority of gun owners are for reasonable laws. In fact, we already have them.

I doubt very many pro gun rights people want no restrictions.. the argument should be about where the lines are drawn.. you have already agreed to give up your unrestricted rights to gun ownership if you accept that assault weapons should be banned imho.

Assault weapons are not banned where I live (as long as they are not fully automatic). RPG's, grenade launchers, C-4, machine guns, etc. all are regulated by the ATF. You have to have a class 3 license to deal in this type of stuff, which means you are registered with the ATF and have passed an FBI background check. There are many laws. I would imagine that most current laws are acceptable to the people.

For instance, I did not have a problem following the law, taking a class, getting fingerprinted and passing a background check to get my carry permit. I accept the laws about where I can and cannot carry a gun concealed.

The problem that I have is that it is a slippery slope at this point. The fact that prohibition does not work does not register with many people and policy makers. It is clear by some of their statements and the statements of groups like Hand Gun Control Inc and the Brady Group that an all out ban is acceptable to them. They are incrementally moving this direction.

If it persists, only criminals will have guns. And it will persist unless we stop it because each incremental step will get us no where closer to solving the problem resulting in further reaching laws.

Now, I understand it is hard to relate to the US and our gun heritage. But putting the 2nd Amendment aside, the fact is there are 300 million guns in the US and you will never get rid of them all. The choice is do you want them to be only in the criminals hands or not.