On Nov 2, 2008, at 5:50 PM, Nelson wrote:
++ On the chart that could compare firearms fatalities with automobile related ones, would the former even show up? maybe there should be a ban car group?
I think the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers group and the technological advancements in air bags must've helped tremendously. Eventually many cars will have built in sensors that allow a car to calculate a path that avoids collision or maybe even some sort of protective "shield". In any event, car safety will continue to improve.
Gun safety, esp. since it's a horrendous problem in the US, should look to nations with few gun problems and at least get some concrete plans. Otherwise you'll have to deal with increasing bans, weapon fingerprinting, bullet serial numbers, mandatory built in safety locks, etc. The best way would be to invest in new, non-lethal technologies that really work. I find my split pea shotgun shells, which are completely non-organic, to be an easy solution for me. After all, it would be morally bankrupt for any person claiming to be Christian (Jew, Moslem, Hindu or Buddhist) to claim to exercise the law "thou shalt not kill" or "do not kill" and not really care. If you're not keeping that tenet, you're really not a very good Christian (Jew, Moslem, Hindu or Buddhist) now are you? (I realize protecting oneself and perhaps saving oneself are exceptions, where ones life is threatened, even in Buddhism) Non-lethal weapons would definitely be the higher moral ground since they can protect a person, but they're not, by design, made to kill people. I'd like to begin to see people claiming to be Judaeo-Christians and Hindus, etc. regain their moral ground. Some of the greatest abusers hide behind the cross, although certainly a Jew named Jesus of Nazareth couldn't have condoned it. He who lives by the handgun, dies by the handgun.
And as a therapist friend once said "Show me a middle-aged man obsessed with guns, and I'll show you a man with penis problems..."
