<p>How does the alarm system do for groundhogs and coyotes? :)</p>
<p>I am in the guns ick camp, but I guess I might carry one if I felt I needed it for self-defense. Carrying a loaded gun around ‘just in case’ seems a bit extreme to me given my surroundings and lifestyle. I’d probably be better off carrying an epi-pen. But yeah, to a 21 y/o male, the gun must seem much more ‘cool’ than the epi-pen.</p>
<p>Guns are a part of our world. Like everything else in our world, we can choose to know about them and how to use them, or we can choose to remain ignorant about them.</p>
<p>Not all gun owners are rednecks or thugs. That’s a very narrow view of the world. Milllions of people hunt, trap shoot or target practice. For some it’s a pleasant pastime and for others it’s a way of life handed down from generation to generation.</p>
<p>
I’ll bet ya a dollar to a donut that he already has his pistol picked out. </p>
<p>BTW, I am in the “gun as tool” camp. No joy in killing here.</p>
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Pg, I don’t think this view can be based on latitude. It’s more likely attitude. 
Plenty of guns in Montana, I’d think. And Alaska. AFAIK, they still hand them out at City Hall in Wasilla as part of the “Welcome to Wasilla Basket”. ;)</p>
<p>It was quite a surprise when I visited a town south of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and learned about the annual take of bears from the Berkshires. IIRC, they were using guns. ;)</p>
<p>I definitely do not like guns. But I do think citizens should have the right to carry them if desired. (When I was much younger, I even wrote a letter of recommendation for a friend to get back his permit back. Not sure if I’d do that today.) </p>
<p>I’m sure there will be disagreement on this point. But my thought is that pulling out a gun during a robbery is going to put you in MORE danger of getting hurt. There are definetely a few rare situations where it would help… but so rare I can’t see how it would justify the hassle/dangers of carrying one. </p>
<p>The fact that OP’s son has shared his plans with mom probably means he will be a responsible gun owner.</p>
<p>I had a sec so I did some looking. As I suspected, gun ownership per capita is predicted more easily by percentage of urban/suburban population within a state than latitude. It looks to me that the higher the urban/suburban population , the lower the gun ownership rate. I think if data was available by county it would be even more striking.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/interactives/guns/ownership.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/interactives/guns/ownership.html</a></p>
<p>Check out the relatively low numbers for Florida and Texas (both southern states but largely urban/suburban population) and the relatively high numbers for Vermont, Iowa, and Minnesota (northern but more rural).</p>
<p>IMO, I think the 2nd amendment should apply only to those guns that the writers could conceive of: hunting rifles, with caveats: one round per 3 minutes, explosions not unusual, hard to aim. :)</p>
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<p>I don’t think the Founders were so stupid as to think that technological advancement would not apply to muskets.</p>
<p>One should NEVER carry any weapon or item that they’re not prepared to use. More often than not, I have read weapons are turned & used on the VICTIMS rather than the aggressor, so please, please be careful & urged loved ones to be careful as well. I do NOT carry any weapons because I have strong doubts that I would be able or capable of using them, especially under duress (which is generally when they would be needed). Wasp/hornet spray is supposed to be quite effective as well & doesn’t require a permit or special course–don’t carry that either.</p>
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<p>I have found alarm systems to be disappointing with snakes as well.</p>
<p>I like fignewton’s solution!</p>
<p>The real question is - Why not?</p>
<p>your son is following the law… I fail to see what the “issues” are.</p>
<p>Do you also wonder why your son got a driver’s license? Do you know how many people in the U.S. die each year because of someone with a driver’s license?</p>
<p>It’s well-documented that guns are more likely to kill their owners and their owners’ family/friends than they are to thwart a bad guy. And gun owners are more likely to die from gunshots, intentional or unintentional, than non-gun owners are.</p>
<p>[NCJRS</a> Abstract - National Criminal Justice Reference Service](<a href=“Publications List | Office of Justice Programs”>HOW WELL DOES THE HANDGUN PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY TECHNICAL REPORT 2 | Office of Justice Programs)</p>
<p>[Guns</a> in the home: risky business. [LDI Issue Brief. 2003] - PubMed result](<a href=“Guns in the home: risky business - PubMed”>Guns in the home: risky business - PubMed)</p>
<p>[Carrying</a> a gun increases risk of getting shot and killed - science-in-society - 06 October 2009 - New Scientist](<a href=“http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17922-carrying-a-gun-increases-risk-of-getting-shot-and-killed.html]Carrying”>http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17922-carrying-a-gun-increases-risk-of-getting-shot-and-killed.html)</p>
<p>^
[Eugene</a> Volokh](<a href=“http://volokh.com/2009/10/05/guns-did-not-protect-those-who-possessed-them-from-being-shot-in-an-assault/]Eugene”>"Guns Did Not Protect Those Who Possessed Them from Being Shot in an Assault." - The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy), a law professor at UCLA, has several disagreements with the Branas et al. paper you cited.</p>
<p>One problem I have is that some categories weren’t balanced between the treatment and control groups. I need to read more, but I am under the impression that for this type of study, failure to balance among categories IS a problem that can’t be hand-waved by saying that confounds were “adjusted.”</p>
<p>And mind you, one of the unbalanced categories was working in HIGH-RISK occupations, where the treatment group was FAR MORE likely to work than the control group.</p>
<p>And the other two?</p>
<p>Well, a big issue to me is that I don’t want guns in my house. I don’t have an open house policy for gun totin’ folks, and that includes my kids. Exceptions would include occupations where the guns are required and truly unusual circumstances, but just wanting to be a dude packing heat isn’t going to cut it with me. Also storing a gun in my house? I have my preferences for the way I live my life. But this does cause some issues if you have a loved one that is more than welcome at home who wants come loaded (and I don’t mean with drink).</p>
<p>Do I have to comment on all three before you reply?</p>
<p>OP asked “WHY?” I read the entire thread thus far to be sure nobody had brought up this idea yet: suicide?</p>
<p>My H, who’s a clergy, is about to leave the house right now to conduct the funeral of a 21-year-old who committed suicide this past weekend, using a pistol inside his mouth. His father discovered him in their own home. This particular young adult faced one set of stressors, including physical disease, post-surgical addiction to pain-killing pharmaceutical drugs, and continuing pain. </p>
<p>A successful son who is high achieving and hard working could also be facing many stressors, at work or in his personal life, that you do not know. </p>
<p>Pistol inside the mouth is a sure way to succeed at suicide, and a smarter person with an engineering mind would only want to succeed. </p>
<p>Surely I’m reacting to the mood of my household this morning with the impending funeral. Still, go over it in your mind. If he’s in any way shown a proclivity to suicide ideation you don’t want to help him assemble the tools, which is the next step. </p>
<p>Gun rights discussion aside, he’s your 21-year-old. Do you, the parent who knows him best, think there’s any possibility here? Have you yet asked him a few questions that would open up conversation in that direction, concerning stress, dating relationships, changes at the workplace that he might imagine threaten his own job security. Ask him directly if he’s been depressed recently. Don’t assume he hasn’t been, just because he hasn’t shown this to you before. At 21 they’re breaking away and don’t always share as closely as before. </p>
<p>I hope, after doing due parental dilligence in THIS arena, you conclude, “suicide, no way.” I just want you to consider it before dismissing it.</p>