SNIP

>This is a risk assessment issue. Is your family at greater risk from outside threats against which a gun in your home protects, or from the gun itself? The answer varies, of course, but for most Americans, the risk of the gun in the house is much higher than the benefit it brings.
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>Tamar

I agree with this statement completely. As responsible parents, there would have to be a risk so great that no other alternative would do. It is difficult to imagine such a risk, but from personal experience I know that they sometimes do, indeed exist.

I think most Americans do not live in constant fear or under a constant threat of personal safety. It is difficult for most to imagine a world where a weapon would actually be needed or, God forbid, used. Most Americans live in residential areas where there is not a threat from wildlife as well. However, there are, and always will be, those that do.

That is why I feel the training and licensing option is the most appropriate for this country. I have had to use a weapon on bobcats, bears, wild pack dogs, and yes, people. My experiences are not shared by most Americans though and it does terrify me to think of the number of Americans with no training having weapons easily accessible. The area where I live is rural and most teenagers are trained on weapon safety and usage (and families keep their guns locked up), but in the city that is definitely not the norm. Of course, my daughter's school also has Future Farmers of America meetings and field days so the environment is definitely a rural one.

I feel this country needs to focus more on mental health and gun control and safety, not outlaw guns. I cannot tell you the number of times I have had to call on animal control (in the county and in more than one county) to respond to rabid animals or packs of wild dogs. Their response amazes me - they always want the citizen to capture the animal and then they will cart it off. I actually had one show up and say to me "What exactly do you expect me to do?" I have complained (as well as others have) ad nauseum about the use of our tax dollars. They only seem to actually attempt to capture or tranq an animal when tv cameras are involved (as was recently when two black bears wandered inside city limits here).

If the school bus brings my daughter home, she has to walk from where the bus drops her off up a long stretch of road surrounded by woods to get to my house. There is a creek that has to be crossed and it is a popular watering spot for animals. She no longer does that - I take a late lunch and pick her up. The wild animals are beautiful in the morning when I am sitting on my porch drinking my cup of coffee, but with the sightings of bears recently, the walk is too dangerous. Also, I no longer keep "guns" in my home since she is a teenager and we have teenagers over to our house regularly. Teenagers can get around almost any security device.