Gun control might not deter regular criminals, but it would these mass shooters

[spin]

70. I don't spend a lot of time worry about lightning but since I lived in the ...

Tampa Bay Area of Florida which calls itself the "lightning capitol of North America", I am well aware that lightning is dangerous and can kill you. I have learned to take precautions when I hear thunder.

I will agree that the NRA and gun manufacturers do try to scare the public in order to increase membership or sales.

In several posts above I have pointed out that I don't spend a lot of time worry about a home invasion. I don't pay much attention to scare propaganda from the NRA or gun manufacturers as I realize that violent crime in our nation has fallen to levels last seen in the late 1960s. This fact is rarely mentioned by either the gun industry or gun control groups but is based on FBI statistics.

When I first moved to the Tampa Bay Area I bought a home in what was a nice neighborhood. Over the 35 years I lived in that home, the neighborhood gradually went downhill.

I thought of moving but I owned the house and was nearing retirement even though there was a lot of crime and gangs in the area. Two houses down from mine a drive by shooting occurred at the home of a gang leader. I personally chased off four guys who had broken into the neighbor's house across the street and almost got shot for the effort. More than one time I witnessed cops running down my street or within walking distance of my home with drawn weapons chasing a bad guy. Several clerks were shot and killed in different store robberies also within walking distance of my home. A girl was raped in a hurricane canal 100 feet from my house.

I did have one attempted home invasion. The burglar alarm went off one night when I was at work. My daughter went to investigate, wisely carrying a large caliber revolver with her. She found a man forcing the sliding glass door of our home open. When she pointed the revolver at him, he ran.

I later asked her, "Why didn't you shoot him?"

She replied, "Dad, you told me to never shoot anyone who was not in the house. He was only half way in."

Shortly after I moved to Tampa, I had developed an interest in target shooting handguns. By the time the neighborhood turned dangerous I already had a small collection of handguns that could be used for home defense. My daughter was using one of these target revolvers.

I retired and moved to a small city in north Florida. Still there is a considerable amount of drugs and violence in this town. I can walk two blocks from my home and buy any illegal drug I want. I don't use such drugs but it seems to be a thriving market in this area. We have even had gang shootings here. Home invasions here are very rare. This is an area with lots of hunters and almost everybody has a rifle, shotgun or handgun in their home and the bad guys know it. However it is wise not to leave anything of value outside overnight or it will disappear.