JeffTilley That way almost everyone will be happy...........
I'm pretty sure that almost everyone will never be happy. 
Dumbest Thing I've read today, via the internet......
Par4QC The required class to acquire the CC/OC license in TX is almost exclusively about the decision you're making to draw your gun. Regardless of intent, you are responsible for every round. They did a great job educating me/the group about the responsibility you have when you are carrying a firearm.
If you're not incredibly sure that what you're about to do is the right thing, don't do it. That means being very sure you can hit your target, and very sure your target warrants hitting. Things are not always what they appear.
If I was being shot at from a ten story balcony, I'm out of luck. I'd never be able to hit target with a pistol in those conditions. More likely to hurt someone than save someone.
- Edited
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check/
Might be helpful to check before talking thru your ass.
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger.
Myth #6: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer.
Fact-check: In 2014, according to FBI data, nearly eight times more people were shot and killed in arguments than by civilians trying to stop a crime.
• In one survey, nearly 1 percent of Americans reported using guns to defend themselves or their property. However, a closer look at these claims found that more than half involved using guns in an aggressive manner, such as escalating an argument.
• A study in Philadelphia found that the odds of an assault victim being shot were 4.5 times greater if he carried a gun. His odds of being killed were 4.2 times greater.
Myth #2: Guns don’t kill people—people kill people.
Fact-check: People with access to more guns tend to kill more people—with guns. States with higher gun ownership rates have higher gun murder rates—as much as 114 percent higher than states with lower gun ownership rates.
• A recent study looking at 30 years of homicide data found that for every one percent increase in a state’s gun ownership rate, there is a nearly one percent increase in its firearm homicide rate.
• Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as safe-storage requirements or assault-weapons bans.
Just shows the whole bullshit argument that gun nuts propagate is just that, bullshit. Still, with the facts on gun safety advocates side, BULLSHIT wins the day. We may be the most powerful nation, but power doesn't equate to intelligence.
Idiocy is winning the day regarding our countries fetish with guns.
Weak assed disingenuous reply.
May be helpful if you quit pulling liberal sources outta your ass......
My apologies to anyone I may have offended in this thread. Too much political overload. Please lock this thread before shit gets really ugly.......
I don't know what qualifies as a "liberal source," so I don't know if you would mistrust this source just as much as you mistrust Mother Jones, but The Washington Post reported in 2008 that 83% of gun fatalities in the home were from suicide. Guns were mainly purchased for protection.
JeffTilley
Not offended in the least. I'm with ya.
Well, the WP definitely ain't conservative. On a scale from 1to 10 with 1 being liberal loons and 10 being common sense conservative, I'd say they rate a solid 2.3/10.
rsvman in 2008 that 83% of gun fatalities in the home were from suicide. Guns were mainly purchased for protection.
Jus imagine, if guns were out of the picture, then this would likely read:
in 2008 that 83% of rope fatalities in the home were from suicide. Ropes were mainly purchased for securing objects.
In a court of law, that statement would be disallowed. Pure speculation, at best.
Pills
Gas ovens
Slit wrists
carbon monoxide
etc.
Many ways to off oneself without a gun. A gun leaves you no chance to change your mind, or give you a second chance.
I once read about a man in Indiana that committed suicide with a claw hammer. At first, the police suspected murder, as he had been hit in the head 21 times!! Coroner confirmed suicide.
Which statement?
Par4QC , or give you a second chance.
Not all suicides attempted with guns are successful. Occasionally, there are folks that can't even get that right and end up missing and leave themselves as a vegetable or barely wounded. Stranger things have happened.
It’s really hard to find non-biased fact finding any more. I have my opinions on why that is, but it’s only an opinion, and we all know what they say about opinions.......
FYI with private discussions, you can create a post with a few members and carry on the debate there. Since it seems only a few of you are going back and forth here. 
- Edited
Just for comparison to a couple of other 'civilized' countries. Americans are 96 times more likely to die by gun than is someone from Japan. And 32 times more likely than Germany. These numbers exclude suicides, accidents and armed conflict.
El Salvador has the highest gun deaths per 100,000 at 40.29. Singapore has the lowest at 0.03 per 100,000. The United States has the 31st highest rate in the world at 3.85 per 100,000.
Source. University of Washington Institute for Health, Metrics and Evaluation. 2016 numbers.
Sneakylong Do you think it's a sense of "control" over our own lives? For example, while I'm statistically more likely to die in a car than a plane, I still feel safer in a car. I feel like if something bad happens, I will have a chance to prevent or reduce the loss of life. I can try to mitigate the accident.
Likewise, I feel like with a pistol at home I have a chance in the event of a violent home invasion. I feel that the guys invading my home don't care about gun laws (since they're happy to break the law regarding unlawful entry.)
I believe that non-career-criminals would kill less if guns were less available. Crimes of passion, for example, could be diminished. But the guys who go out planning to commit violent crimes? I feel like they're going to be armed regardless. If I'm armed too it's still going to be bad, but I've got a chance, right?
Except for the fact that statistically having a gun in your home makes you or someone around you more unsafe.
Myth #5: Keeping a gun at home makes you safer.
Fact-check: Owning a gun has been linked to higher risks of homicide, suicide, and accidental death by gun.
• For every time a gun is used in self-defense in the home, there are 7 assaults or murders, 11 suicide attempts, and 4 accidents involving guns in or around a home.
• 43 percent of homes with guns and kids have at least one unlocked firearm.
• In one experiment, one third of 8-to-12-year-old boys who found a handgun pulled the trigger
- Edited
Just saw where there's a bipartisan bill in congress to ban these rapid fire bump stocks. You'd think that would be a common sense thing to do.
But as we know common sense takes a backseat when it comes to gun safety laws. It'll be interesting to see if the gun manufacturing lobby (NRA) is willing to go along with this.
Sneakylong I believe you. That's why I used the car/plane analogy. I feel safer in the car even though I'm in, statistically, greater danger.
So the belief has to be that I'm smarter than the statistics. I have no kids, and we rarely have visitors but when we do the gun is locked up. I guess if I was inclined to kill someone else or myself the gun would make it easier.
In a home invasion situation, am I more or less safe with my gun? Knowing that the invaders are most likely armed, would I be better off not having a gun?
I would rather live in a world without guns. I would support effective gun control, but I haven't seen any good ideas about keeping guns away from the worst people. I sure don't want the bad guys to be the only ones who have them.