In the last 5 months there have been at least 71 kids killed by guns. Average just under 6 years old

[The Straight Story]

147. Ok

First off - registration of all handguns wouldn't do much. As the people who are criminals already or would use them in an illegal way won't register them. It reminds me of the whole watch list idea that didn't do anything to stop the Boston bombings. People think things are being done to make them safer but they really aren't doing much.

Do you also agree that the benefits of cars are much greater than the benefits of guns? This also seems obvious to me. Without cars, society would grind to a halt. That is why bringing up the fact that cars kill as many people as guns is irrelevant. Sure, cars kill some people, but cars also provide far, far greater benefits.

Cars have great benefits (but also a terrible downside on our climate and our lives overall). You don't personally see guns having any benefit, and I am not sure if you have ever owned one or not. My nephew and brother in law hunt a lot and it has been a great help to them financially and food wise. Their food is not all raised on farms, they don't need massive 18 wheelers to truck their food to stores, etc.

Back in the day my dad and his family got most of all their meat from hunting and raising animals - which left very little footprint on the environment. Right now we have about 15lbs of deer meat here that my nephew brought in from hunting. And that does not include what he has at his house from him and his dad hunting.

When you start to add that up over the population we have a lot less carbon footprint because of hunters (and people like me who fish). Instead of driving to movies and such, my sister and her kids go outside to shoot skeet and targets. Now, personally, I think they should reload, but they rarely do.

Everyone in my family who owns a gun has used their guns for hunting. All but one (my brother-in-law who owns the most guns) voted for Romney. Dave voted for Obama and said to give him a chance - the rest were worried about some democrat who wanted to take their guns from them (and they obviously did not read Obama's interview with field and stream).

I get it. I don't own a gun. I don't hunt. Have no desire to really. But I get why there are people in my family (and some are rw nut jobs) who won't vote for a dem because they fear democrats want to remove their right to own a gun. They have benefits from owning a gun. They enjoy it. The don't hurt others. But they get lumped in with those who use them in wrong ways (and they bristle when I bring all this up and talk about how they themselves do the same about muslims....which is why we don't talk politics much).

Some day, I hope, I will own some land in the country. And I will hunt and kill my own food (much as I do with fishing as I noted above). I won't need big trucks and stores utilizing a ton of energy from coal and gas. I will have the space to grow food, hunt it, fish for it (not to say I wouldn't still go to a store and buy things like milk and such - but won't need to be as dependent).

Guns can - and DO - serve a purpose that can help our society. They don't in the hands of some - and that is where we need to come together and discuss things like adults.