Why Gun Rights Advocates Scare Me

I don't have a problem with guns and gun owners as long as the guns are reasonable (no assault rifles) and the gun owners are rational and use their weapons reasonably.

But, I know that the above is not true. Why?

• Some of the guns that owners want to possess and carry are assault rifles. I see absolutely no justification for owning an assault rifle or any automatic weapon. Such weapons are not needed for hunting or personal protection. Anybody that feels that an automatic or assault weapon is needed for their protection is, in my opinion, not rational and shouldn't own a firearm of any type.
• Many demonstrators showed up at townhall meetings with a weapon and at least one of them was an assault rifle. These people brought a open carry firearm into a large crowd which was already angry and demonstrative. This was an exceptionally irresponsible act. This is the act of a person whom I do not want to own a firearm.
• While flying on business a few neatly dressed men in business suits and cowboy hats boarded the plane and one of them sat next to me. He was in his mid-fifties. He told me that he would prefer to be carrying his .45. He then added, "I would feel safer if everybody on this plane was carrying." I assure you that I felt much safer "knowing" that he was not carrying a firearm. If the gun advocates could have their way, they would carry all the time and every place. There is nothing about this man's attitude that is, in my opinion, mature and rational. I don't want anybody with such an attitude to own any firearm.

I'm not opposed to firearms because I think they kill people. Rather, I think people kill people. Firearms in the hands of a responsible person who uses the firearm reasonably is not an issue for me. However, I think that the people who are most interested in protecting their gun rights and who will not tolerate any regulations on gun sales and type of gun are neither adequately mature nor responsible enough to own a firearm.

The United States does not own more firearms per capita than all other developed countries but the percentage of our population that is killed each year with firearms is much higher than in any other developed country. It isn't because we own firearms, it is because of the people who own the firearms. As long as immature and irresponsible people can possess a firearm then I am in favor of enacting strict regulations on the type of firearms that may be owned, how it is sold, who may own it and for what purpose.

Let's grow up. We no longer need guns to defend ourselves from the British, French, Spanish or Mexican invaders or marauding American Indians. Even Wyatt Earp knew that if you let everybody carry a gun in Dodge City some of them will be killing each other for no good reason. In my opinion, anybody that still needs to bear arms for the purpose that our Founding Fathers intended is least qualified to own one.