Thanks for the act of courage, woodward, in writing the short but powerful post above. I know two other decent, honest, intelligent women who had similar experiences.

If things in my town ever got so bad that I honestly believed I needed a gun to protect my family, I would be more than happy to register it, to wait five days for a background check, or any other reasonable control. I would hate to think my choice had been written away from me back when I didn't need it.

This assumes there are times when you need one, at least in some places. Current history seems to bear this assumption out; it is very clear to me that psychosis in the individual reaches a point where words no longer penetrate. Your Mister Sterling obviously was not available for discussion.

Maybe you could argue that without their guns, such men would not commit their crimes. Maybe this is so. Any criminal who is already involved in law breaking could get one even in a highly regulated environment, though. So perhaps the nominal banishment of them would be something like Prohibition -- a well-intended act which then made hordes of people act like criminals.

A