Guns

A few weeks ago a mentally impaired guy walked into a theatre and shot 38 people. I believe that the death toll is now 11. Since the  attack there has been a predictable outcry to "ban all guns". For some reason (that puzzles me) there is a small but significant number of Americans who are flatly convinced that banning guns will eliminate people shooting one another. There is no reason to believe this. None. These people are wrong and it has been proven many times. I gives the criminal more power.

I live in a suburb of Los Angeles and like several of my neighbors we raised a family in my home and neighborhood, I do not own a gun. My wife and believe I there is  a greater danger of an accidental injury to one of the kids than an armed intrusion at our house. Some 40+ years have gone by and we've not changed our mind. Now there are visiting grandchildren and great grand children. The same logic applies.

So we rely on close proximity to our neighbors for protection. The neighbors each keep track of  unknown people in our neighborhood. We watch each other's houses for fires and water heaters that burst and other unusual things. We think that close neighborhood protection and two small barking dogs are effective as a gun.

This neighborhood closeness, sadly, is not available to  a huge number of American families. They must protect themselves. For many of those families, guns are the first lines of defense. Guns are  critical to the defense of their family and property.

Let's never, ever, ban or restrict guns in America.

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