Sensible: well thought out and considered.

For instance, I fully support the idea that ANYONE -- ANYONE -- who wants to own firearms should be thoroughly trained in not only their use and care, but the ramifications of owning them.

I would like to see the current hodge-podge of laws made uniform, so that if I were traveling from, say, Pennsylvania to Vermont I could legally carry my firarms through Massachusettes without getting a permit to do so.

Precisely because there are so many guns available I'd like to see a gun safety course taught in every school.

I'd like for Hollywood to give over the idea that a gun or an explosion is a solution for every problem, that a gun is a tool and not a solution in itself. (I'd just like them to realize that not every car accident ends in a flaming explosion, or that shooting a car doesn't automatically cause it blow up, even if you hit the gas tank.)

I'd like the media to report ALL news as news, not as yellow journalism or as a screaming tabloid. I'll settle for reporters who know something about what they're sent to cover.

I don't view the problem in isolation, Bill. Gun worship has been ingrained in our culture by movies and television. There really were not all that many gunfights in the Old West, but Hollywood would have you think otherwise.

I'm between "Ban 'em all" and "I'll give it up when you pry it from my cold, dead hands." And a rational approach is, I think, possible. Nothing will satisfy either fringe, of course.

And no, I'm not going to give you that "guns don't kill people" stuff. Literally it's true; but that's not what's meant.

As for wading around in blood, well, I exagerated and I apologize. I was trying to make the point that nearly all gun owners are decent, rational people.

It's also a problem facing a society moving from rural to urban. What is appropriate here in Idaho is not appropriate in Washington, DC. It's a problem with many facets, such as hopelessness among inner city youth; a feeling that some people are less than others; a disintegration of cultural mores, and lots more.

I'd like to see a holistic approach to it and other societal ills, not this piecemeal business. But I don't see it happening, because it would require those in power to think rather than simply respond.