I think my dad was a little disappointed that I didn't want to hunt, but he was pretty good about it.
Why is it that most people miss the elephant in the room. Guns have been part of the US culture when the US started. If it was a gun problem the most dangerous place would be a gun store but it is probably the safest places. At one time in the US they took mentally ill people and put them in the hospital and kept them there. Now they have shut down a lot of these hospitals because the medical system says they can treat it with drugs all these mentally ill people are now walking the streets. A person who commits suicide is a person calling for help in his mental condition. Most all these mass shooter are all on prescription drug and have a therapist. The medical system made laws that the persons medical records are out of bonds for anyone to see hiding these potential murders. Guns have never been the problem but mental health is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_gun_use When I looked up DGU (defensive gun use) I came across the same figures as @Frank Sanoica did in one report then went to what I was looking for which is a report concerning people who use their weapons defensively. Certainly, somewhere there is a mistake in the math. The figures range from a low end of about 116K to 1 million DGU’s per year but yet no matter the high nor the low the figures are still way higher than the number of injuries and deaths that occur each year. No matter which articles I read, the number of DGU’s far exceeds the reports of gun violence, deaths and injuries in any one year. The link I provided is a pretty good piece of research which is why I chose it to add to my own confusion.....
Then here's a happy bedtime story you may like:https://www.foxnews.com/us/alabama-mcdonalds-gunman-killed-by-armed-dad-who-is-injured-in-shootout
Yeah, I read it in the news also. Here in Alabama, it is nearly suicide for someone to try to commit armed robbery because folks do pack so in my somewhat limited opinion, the guy was nuts. If one were to listen closely, the first words out of a baby’s mouth in Alabama is 9mm or AR15.
Yep...if only there was similar laws throughout the country, gangs and violent criminals would eventually have to be put on the Endangered Species List, and prisons would become a lot less overcrowded.
Watching from here in Britain I can see why you are worried but as I have posted before, the wheel has been invented. Your country is awash with weapons and you have killings but as stated, inadequate funding for mental health must be a contributor. Gang warfare is another factor fuelled by illegal drugs. We have the strictest gun laws in the world but knife crime is frightening. The choice seems to be, a quick bullet or a lingering death by stabbing. Ploughing people down with lorries is the latest. Even our police are not armed here and many have lost their lives. There is no simple answer and waffling politicians make things worse.
Actually my wife's family was somewhat shocked when she showed interest in firearms and target shooting. However, her mom owned a rifle and shot a nice buck white-tail deer, with a beautiful rack, in Michigan when my wife was young. Our very first firearm was a Ruger 10-22 rifle that we bought for her. Now she has two handguns also, one being a S&W 9mm w/a laser light. Absolutely loves going to the range and helps me reload. As for me, my dad, on the farm, had a pellet gun and an over/under shotgun-22. For my 17th birthday, I got a Daisy Pump BB Rifle that I shoot sparrows with. My dad gave me permission to kill all the sparrows I could see, in the barn roof rafters as well as outside. Sparrows would crap all over our farm equipment and he hated them. Funny, like where Ken lives, people in some parts of Colorado and most of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and some other states around them, carry a fully loaded rifle in a gun rack in their truck...…...to kill varmints with that could kill their livestock.