Yes, Ed, people kill. A gun that is locked safely away kills no one. A gun that is used responsibly on a firing range kills no one. A gun that is used sensibly and responsibly to hunt ducks will kill some ducks, but it won't kill people if the gun owner handles it properly. A gun in the hands of a responsible person who handles it sensibly and without harmful intent kills no one.

That does not, however, equate to a blanket statement from me that I want everyone to have a gun! ;-) I don't. Not everyone is responsible or trustworthy with a gun, are they?

But the essential problem in life is not guns, hammers, knives, or specific words...the essential problem in life is people who use any of those things to do harm to someone. The main reason people worry so much more about guns, as opposed to hammers, is that they kill much more efficiently than a hammer, they were originally designed to kill, and they can kill at a considerable distance!

The same is true of explosives, military bombs, flamethrowers, poison gas, and atomic bombs...and that's why you can't just go and buy any of them at the local corner store. It's a matter of common sense to figure these things out, not a political principle.

It's also a matter of common sense to see that the use of the word "nigger" in the context of a Mark Twain book is not, and was never a racial attack on Black people. It was simply an honest depiction of the time and culture that Twain was writing about.