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<p>You can’t protect your life against criminals using a kitten, can you?</p>
<p>[Gun</a> Control - Just Facts](<a href=“http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp]Gun”>Gun Control – Just Facts)</p>
<p>The government does not make it harder to own a kitten. The private cat resue organizations make it hard.</p>
<p>Quote from Cartera45-Just heard the mother of one of the murdered children in Newtown say that she discovered, in an effort to adopt a kitten, that it is easier to get a gun than it is to get a kitten. </p>
<p>I’ll go ahead and beat some people to the stupid response I anticipate - owning a kitten is not a Constitutional right.</p>
<p>Best reason not to believe everything you read. That ladies statement is laughable at best.</p>
<p>“Roughly 16,272 murders were committed in the United States during 2008. Of these, about 10,886 or 67% were committed with firearms.”</p>
<p>“Based on survey data from a 2000 study published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, U.S. civilians use guns to defend themselves and others from crime at least 989,883 times per year.”</p>
<p>Is it just me or is 989,883 much more than 10,886?</p>
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<p>“That lady” is the mother of a child who was murdered in her school. Have some common decency.</p>
<p>Most stats that include the total homicide rate include the number of suicides as well. When Pierce Morgan stated that 12-13 thousand people died from guns, after you took suicides out the number was around 7-8 thousand. </p>
<p>I’m not dismissing the fact that the number is still very large and needs to come down, just trying to be accurate.</p>
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Dozens of children are killed every year in “gun accidents” [Violent</a> Death Among Children Linked to Household Firearms - February 19, 2002 -2002 Releases - Press Release Archives - Press Releases - Harvard School of Public Health](<a href=“Archive-It - Center for the History of Medicine”>Archive-It - Center for the History of Medicine)</p>
<p>About 20,000 people each year commit suicide with guns. Almost a thousand of them are children and teenagers. A significant number of those people would not attempt suicide if they didn’t have a gun; of those who try to commit suicide without a gun a significant number fail and do not try again; suicide by gun has a high success rate. [FASTSTATS</a> - Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injury](<a href=“NCHS - 404 Error - Resource Not Available”>FastStats - Suicide and Self-Inflicted Injury)</p>
<p>There has to be a gun available for those deaths to occur. The overwhelming number of them involved a gun bought and brought into the house by an adult family member. So where are your thousands of lives saved through heroic good guys and their guns? Because I see good guys’ guns being used to kill good guys’ kids every day.</p>
<p>I have the utmost sympathy for that lady, her family, and her deceased child. What she said was false, and misleading, and has nothing to do with common decency.</p>
<p>So which is it, kluge? I still don’t understand your position. Do you object to people defending their homes with a gun or not?</p>
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<p>State laws may allow you to defend yourself and defend others, so yes in that case you can shoot the bad guy, but you better be right and be able to prove it.</p>
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<p>Dozens you say? How does that compare against the 989,883 lives that were protected by guns each year? An average of 54 people are killed by being struck by lightning every year. Should I not be allowed to go outside now?</p>
<p>Animal rights groups have made it harder and harder to find and adopt kittens. They are closing down pet shops, requiring people to fill out applications, conducting interviews and even inspecting homes prior to placing the kittens. It is still not harder than buying a gun in CA, but I can’t speak for the rest of the country.</p>
<p>"The private cat resue organizations make it hard. "</p>
<p>Duh - does no one here watch Modern Family?</p>
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<p>Bay, I am sorry if you feel that way. But remember that we are on a website devoted to college-related issues. It seems reasonable to assume that people who follow and post on this site are interested in education.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people without degrees–some are among the smartest individuals I know. But the wild conspiracy theories being promulgated by some of the pro-gun people–who, unfortunately, often seem to share other radical views (on our president, on science, on religion, on how women get pregnant)–doesn’t instill a lot of faith in their ability to think clearly on this one subject. And speaking of thinking, let’s not forget that Texas is trying to remove the concept of critical thinking from its schools because free-thinking kids might then ignore their parents’ “fixed” beliefs. I don’t know how anyone who values education can support such a view, or any of the other crazy notions that come along with it.</p>
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<p>I’ll repeat myself again (although it probably futile): I don’t think you are going to defend your home with your gun. Not in real life. If I did, your question would be relevant. But in fact, I think you’re flattering yourself with the belief that you will defend your home with your gun. Statistically, it’s highly unlikely. Statistically, it’s far more likely that your gun will be used by a member of your family to shoot themself or somebody else you know than that it will ever be used against a “bad guy.” </p>
<p>Now, I don’t know you IRL. Maybe you are exceptional. Maybe you never make mistakes. Maybe you never drink, get depressed, or get angry. And no member of your household does, either. Maybe you’d be able to tell the difference between a burglar and your kid’s friend sneaking in to surprise him/her - 100% of the time. Maybe you’d never get mad at a real burglar who is trying to flee, and shoot his tires out and start shooting at him in his car - until he shoots back. And maybe you’ll be one of the handful of people who really defends his castle against bad guys with your gun.</p>
<p>But it’s not probable that those things are true. Your articulation of the gunner’s fantasy as a justification for gun ownership, and less-than-intellectually-honest argumentation, in fact, tends to make me doubt your exceptionalism even more. My guess is you’re more average than not, and your gun is more likely to be used in a way that has a bad outcome than not.</p>
<p>I hope none of those things happen, though, and you’ll just have spent a lot of money on something you never use, which is most likely of all.</p>
<p>I’m so sick and tired of people on this thread bringing up “wild conspiracy theorists” as though they are here on this thread arguing. Is arguing against a position that is not even supported here the best you can do?</p>
<p>bl4ke360, you really need to substantiate that giant number. I can’t find any credible source to support it.</p>
<p>So kluge, are you saying that no one should be able to own a gun to defend their home?</p>
<p>No, Bay, many of us have put forth many sensible arguments and suggestions on how to make our country safer while protecting people’s constitutional rights. If you’re sick of the discussion, leave.</p>