Obviously, guns are always going to be a big debate, but I'm going to add another 2 cents to the conversation here.

I know I trivialized being robbed at gunpoint, but here's a better account of it. I used to work at the local Subway restaurant, and I had been closing the store at 10 or 11 at night by myself for close to 6 months, just as other people had for 13 YEARS with no incedent. Two guys came in and pulled a gun on me, tied me up with some tape, and proceeded to take the $134 that was in the register. It only took about 1 minute, and they were gone. By this time, I was hyperventilating and pretty much just freaking out, but I managed to call 911. Now, over 2 months later I haven't even HEARD from the police in 6 weeks, and those 2 men are still on the loose. I could have been killed!

In any case though, what's the point of dwelling on it? Just because I was a victim of someone holding a gun doesn't mean that I think my grandfather should give up his gun collection, which incedentally, I have never touched or wanted to touch, for all that they have always been in easy reach. I myself have a rifle and a handgun that I only vaguely know how to use, and have no desire to use. I have grown up in a family where guns are always around, and several of my family members collect weapons.

My philosophy is that the way to stop violence is to punish the perpetrators. If you take away guns, what about all the other things people could use as weapons? Knives, forks, pencils, clubs, cars, sticks, rocks, bare hands? If people want to harm someone, they will use anything. The problem isn't that weapons are available, the problem is that they are available to the wrong people--people who are out on the streets when they should be behind bars.

Peace--Keli