Well, I hate to think of myself as an extremist but in reading my post again I do sound a little...excitable. I stand by the vehement disagreement part though. I just have yet to hear of a justification for gun ownership that can compete with the right for us all to have a safe society.

There are enough guns in the U.S. for every adult and every other child. Is that not crazy? Is it so surprising then that our violent crime rate is among the highest in the world?

I live in a major city, and have lived by myself at various times. Friends of mine have been attacked in my neighborhood, and I have been robbed several times, as well as having had a serial voyeur plague me. For years I routinely got off work and came home well after midnight, in waitress gear, establishing those patterns all of us savvy street smart women are judiciously taught to avoid. I know about being afraid, so afraid that you worry you won't have breath to scream if you need to, and I wouldn't hesitate to kick and scratch and bite to defend myself or my family.

But I would never own a gun. Never, never ever. That is not what I want to bring as part of my contribution to the place I choose to live. THe possible good (of defending myself) is far outweighed by the possible bad (of accidentally shooting someone, of accidentally being shot, of having the weapon fall into the wrong hands). I wouldn't necessarily want to take single shot rifles out of the hands of responsible sportsmen, but I would not be sad to see that happen, if necessary, as one facet of public disarmament.

Cara, calmer but firm.