Some observations, thoughts, opinions, etc.

The second leading cause of death for "young people"? Again, tell me that this 1994 statistic doesn't include criminal youths shooting each other or getting shot in battles with police, and I'll listen. Until then, it's just a distorted government-created stat at a time when the government wasn't too high on the concept of individuals' rights.

It's illegal to possess a gun in Washington D.C. Ask someone there what the murder rate is lately. (Guess what? They're not beating each other to death with garbage can lids!) It's illegal to possess a gun in Australia. Ask someone in Victoria how well that law has worked. (Hint: The murder rate there jumped 400% the first year the law was in effect.)

Under Clinton's Justice Department, The rate of prosecutions for Federal gun crimes dropped by over 40%. But it's not about enforcing the laws already on the books (of which there are hundreds, if not thousands); It's about government having total authority over people, and about criminals having the right to your personal property.

A last thought: Over 170 million people were murdered by the hands of their own governments in the past century. What's the first thing the government did in each case before the "cleansing" began? They disarmed the public. And it makes sense, really. It's easier to kill someone who disagrees with your policies when they're not shooting back. And remember, every person to whom it happened probably thought "It could never happen in MY country". Feel free to label this as right-wing militia, mountain-man-crazy gun-nut talk. You'd be wrong, but you're entitled to your opinion. I don't like "wings", I prefer breasts and thighs. I do sometimes wonder how quickly the left would change its mind about disarming the public if a nut-job like Pat Robertson or Pat Buchanan or Jerry Falwell ever managed to connive their way into the White House, and the Senate chambers overflowed with religious zealots. Remember, the government is our friend...We don't need guns, because the government is there to take care of us... I have to admit I would find it hillarious, patriotic, and ironic to see some tick-infested Berkley Hippie Relic trying to figure out which end of a rifle to fire as the troops marched in to take him prisoner and burn his stash. Ok, my blood sugar's low enough for the afternoon. Hope this has been entertaining and educational to some extent...