SamSpade
Well-Known Member
And it is sure to piss someone off - that's what freedom of speech does ---
In my church, at Christmastime, during the service, candles are handed out to everyone. At one point, the church lights are dimmed or turned off, and the candles are lit throughout the sanctuary, and we sing "Silent Night". It's a church tradition that goes back long before I ever came to Southern Maryland.
Not EVERYONE gets a candle. We don't give them to toddlers and infants, and it's my guess that any elderly person not in full command of their senses or any ADHD child their parent deems a risk - they don't get to hold a FLAME.
Why is that? Because out of 300 members in attendance, SOME PEOPLE can't be trusted to be responsible with it. Thankfully, there's been no instances of hair or clothes catching on fire, because people act responsibly.
At home, my parents were very very careful to make sure we, as young kids, were kept away from lighters and matches and the gas stove. That worked for about twenty years - until when I was away in college, and my brother burned the house down and my family narrowly escaped with their lives.
So the moral of the story is - you should outright ban all forms of fire, matches, lighters, gas stoves and the like, because somebody, somewhere might start a dangerous fire who shouldn't be trusted with it.
Ditto sharp edge razors, cars and the like - a child, a disturbed teen, a mentally ill person - they MIGHT drive over people with a car, a child might cut himself with dad's razor, a toddler might use Dad's circular saw and cut off a finger - maybe part of his sibling.
Do you see where I am going with this? It ought to be obvious by now.
The problem is not that we HAVE GUNS. There are over 300 million guns in this country. Out of those, easily 98-99% of them have never been pointed at a person, much less FIRED at one. Those that have - many have been used in law enforcement, and we in general TRUST they are used - RESPONSIBLY.
The problem is NOT that we have matches - or knives - or cars - or rat poison -
Or guns. The tragedy happens when they are handled irresponsibly or allowed into the hands of those who should never ever be trusted with them.
YOU know that you would never allow pesticide in the hands of your toddler or aged feeble parent - but really don't have a problem with other members of your family. You would never hand a firecracker, even unlit, to a child.
But protesters have been USING fireworks and fireworks type explosives at protests - in addition to rocks, bricks, baseball bats and - for reasons I don't get - water bottles which have been frozen.
We do NOT ban matches, lighters, CARS, poisons, acids, lye and knives, and most can easily be acquired at a store.
It is not the ITEM - it is the perpetrator and the methods we use, to keep them from using them.
THAT should be obvious - not that we need to ban guns.
In my church, at Christmastime, during the service, candles are handed out to everyone. At one point, the church lights are dimmed or turned off, and the candles are lit throughout the sanctuary, and we sing "Silent Night". It's a church tradition that goes back long before I ever came to Southern Maryland.
Not EVERYONE gets a candle. We don't give them to toddlers and infants, and it's my guess that any elderly person not in full command of their senses or any ADHD child their parent deems a risk - they don't get to hold a FLAME.
Why is that? Because out of 300 members in attendance, SOME PEOPLE can't be trusted to be responsible with it. Thankfully, there's been no instances of hair or clothes catching on fire, because people act responsibly.
At home, my parents were very very careful to make sure we, as young kids, were kept away from lighters and matches and the gas stove. That worked for about twenty years - until when I was away in college, and my brother burned the house down and my family narrowly escaped with their lives.
So the moral of the story is - you should outright ban all forms of fire, matches, lighters, gas stoves and the like, because somebody, somewhere might start a dangerous fire who shouldn't be trusted with it.
Ditto sharp edge razors, cars and the like - a child, a disturbed teen, a mentally ill person - they MIGHT drive over people with a car, a child might cut himself with dad's razor, a toddler might use Dad's circular saw and cut off a finger - maybe part of his sibling.
Do you see where I am going with this? It ought to be obvious by now.
The problem is not that we HAVE GUNS. There are over 300 million guns in this country. Out of those, easily 98-99% of them have never been pointed at a person, much less FIRED at one. Those that have - many have been used in law enforcement, and we in general TRUST they are used - RESPONSIBLY.
The problem is NOT that we have matches - or knives - or cars - or rat poison -
Or guns. The tragedy happens when they are handled irresponsibly or allowed into the hands of those who should never ever be trusted with them.
YOU know that you would never allow pesticide in the hands of your toddler or aged feeble parent - but really don't have a problem with other members of your family. You would never hand a firecracker, even unlit, to a child.
But protesters have been USING fireworks and fireworks type explosives at protests - in addition to rocks, bricks, baseball bats and - for reasons I don't get - water bottles which have been frozen.
We do NOT ban matches, lighters, CARS, poisons, acids, lye and knives, and most can easily be acquired at a store.
It is not the ITEM - it is the perpetrator and the methods we use, to keep them from using them.
THAT should be obvious - not that we need to ban guns.
