I might never had known we had guns (in a hidden safe) in the house growing up but there was a break in and I overheard my Dad telling the police that might have been what the burglars were looking for.

Seriously, explain to me why ANY non-law enforcement, non-military person needs an AK-goddamn-47.

There was someone who was a casual friend for years and years. I stopped speaking to him after he ranted about having to replace the AK-47 (that he didn't have a permit for!) that was STOLEN OUT OF HIS CAR. This rant was on the heels of him bragging about applying for the permit that would allow him to carry a gun into a hospital or school, which he wanted because he thought it was a neat idea.

I can't imagine owning a gun, and yet when I bought the place in Otter Lake there was a BB gun in the house. I let Bobby keep it. He is very good with the target practice. My father hunted and I grew up around guns, but they upset me far too much to have them around me. I know far too many good people that have had their weapons stolen by bad people. And the potential for accidents. Eeep. Just too upsetting for me.

The mention of the screwdriver weapon reminded me of a murder suicide thing in my neighborhood that still freaks me out. A woman stabbed her former partner over 200 times with a screwdriver in their garage. (They had split long before but still lived in the same house for financial reasons) She then shot herself a couple days later in the back yard. It just was so distressing to think of what kind of rage she had to be in to kill someone that way. The news did report that she had recently stopped drinking coffee, so there is that.

Nope. I just view guns as intrinsically dangerous tools that I grudgingly accept that police need to use. I don't really think that non-police, non-military folks should have guns.

All guns or just handguns?

Because out here in the West, you still have a LOT of people who hunt for game for food purposes. We used to watch a guy's chickens and get deer meat in exchange. (I have noticed that progressives in the Western US seem to have differing opinions on guns than progressives east of the Rockies.)

I'd like to see more uniform/strict licensing and required training, but not elimination.

she complained at how much it hurt her hand when she stabbed someone

Few knives have a good enough guard to protect your hand from sliding onto the blade after a really strong stab. It's one of the reasons everyone usually ends up getting cut in a knife fight.

My dad has an uzi. It was a gift from my uncle. it stays in a gun club in Wisconsin (Dad lives out here in California). I doubt Dad has seen it in ten years. I think he only fired it once.

I do think guns are fun. I was thrilled when I got to hold (not fire, unfortunately) a thompson sub-machine gun and I must admit I laughed out loud the first time I felt the firing power of a .44 magnum.

Yes, they are a tool that can kill but so can most any other tool. As an extreme example: you wouldn't lock up your aluminum tent poles but many people have electrocuted themselves by accidentally or purposely touching a tent pole to a power line.

I am very biased about guns in households. When I was 14, my 15-year old cousin Benji(the one who has now served 4 terms in Iraq - once in the Gulf War) was playing around with what he thought was an unloaded rifle. We were in his bedroom and he was bragging about how he'd found the hidden key to the rifle cabinet. He pointed the gun at me and started to laugh, and his laughter yanked the gun's aim from my head to just left of my left ear, and just then he pulled the trigger. The bullet whizzed past my left ear, singeing my hair, and up into the wall and then the hallway ceiling.

His dad thought "boys will be boys" and grounded him for one weekend.

I'm amazed at how many gun accident stories start with, "He thought the gun was unloaded."

Can't people learn from the mistakes of others?

Yes, they are a tool that can kill but so can most any other tool. As an extreme example: you wouldn't lock up your aluminum tent poles but many people have electrocuted themselves by accidentally or purposely touching a tent pole to a power line.

But Laga, guns aren't used for shelter the way tent poles are. They are used for killing. That is the reason they're made. Target practice might be fun, but AK-47s are made for killing and nothing else.

I only shoot paper.