I tend to be on the side of the opponents of "gun control" in these perpetual debates. But I don't really oppose gun control at all. I would like to see guns taken away from people who are emotionally unstable, ignorant of their proper use, just plain evil, or just plain stupid.

The problem is, that the conventional approach to "gun control" is "If we take guns away from everyone, then we'll take them away from all those people who shouldn't have them, in the process." Only it doesn't work that way. The ones who shouldn't have the guns are the ones who will ignore the gun laws and get them on the black market. Then the ones who should have them to defend themselves against the ones who shouldn't, don't have them. You see that in Great Britain now.

(I assure you that I am more careful in my use of guns than I am in my syntax.)

To paraphrase Edward Abbey, the slogan, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns," is not quite correct. It should be, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws and the government will have guns."

That's worse.

Peter.