AveragEd
Member
We don't live in a high-crime area and I have no real reason to carry but I do have a Pennsylvania License to Carry Concealed Weapons as it one of two ways you can legally carry a handgun while hunting in the Keystone State and they can be helpful for collectors, which the reason for having it that is stated on mine. But I'm not crazy about the locks, either, and while I own about a dozen S&W revolvers, none have locks and I don't see myself buying one that does.
Having said all that, I see the biggest problem regarding firearms in the home to be responsible storage. I live near Harrisburg, the state capitol, and we have had two preventable shootings involving kids during the last couple of years.
I the first case, a 10 year-old was playing with his aunt's 40S&W in the presence of his older cousin, who was supposed to be watching him but had a bunch of friends over for who-knows-what activity. The cousin, who knew enough about guns to be dangerous, made the gun "safe" by removing the loaded magazine. The 10 year-old promptly put the round in the chamber into his forehead.
The aunt bought the gun "on the street" from someone who got it from its rightful owner's girlfriend who stole it from the owner during a lover's spat. The local newspapers were filled with articles about what a shame it is that there are so many guns "out there." Never mind that it was stolen goods (the owner and the girlfriend kissed and made up right about when that kid was blowing his brains out, so it was never reported stolen), that some unlicensed street "dealer" bought and sold a handgun or that the aunt obtained it illegally. It was the gun's fault, can't you people see that?
In the second case, a three year-old walked through his family's living room past his father and two of his friends carrying his father's loaded 9mm and proceeded to the kitchen, where he shot his mother. She survived but again, it was the gun's fault.
Obviously, the guns in question were not stored in a responsible manner. I see the anti-gun outfits' next move to be pushing for legislation to prosecute gun owners when their gun is stolen from an "irresponsible" storage medium. And you know, I'm not really against that idea. It's just dumb to keep a loaded firearm under a mattress, in a nightstand or in a closet or other insecure place when there are children in the house. And even though our kids are grown and on their own, there still isn't a gun in my nightstand because as soundly as I sleep, a perp would be using it on me before I even knew he/she was in the house.
I write for Shotgun Sports Magazine and made this subject the topic of a column a year or so ago. If we gun owners as a group don't take the initiative to keep our guns stored responsibly, we as a group will suffer the consequences. One container that any judge and jury accepts as being as responsible a storage device as exists is a safe. The very word suggests that the gun owner did all he could to keep his firearms out of the hands of others.
Ed
Having said all that, I see the biggest problem regarding firearms in the home to be responsible storage. I live near Harrisburg, the state capitol, and we have had two preventable shootings involving kids during the last couple of years.
I the first case, a 10 year-old was playing with his aunt's 40S&W in the presence of his older cousin, who was supposed to be watching him but had a bunch of friends over for who-knows-what activity. The cousin, who knew enough about guns to be dangerous, made the gun "safe" by removing the loaded magazine. The 10 year-old promptly put the round in the chamber into his forehead.
The aunt bought the gun "on the street" from someone who got it from its rightful owner's girlfriend who stole it from the owner during a lover's spat. The local newspapers were filled with articles about what a shame it is that there are so many guns "out there." Never mind that it was stolen goods (the owner and the girlfriend kissed and made up right about when that kid was blowing his brains out, so it was never reported stolen), that some unlicensed street "dealer" bought and sold a handgun or that the aunt obtained it illegally. It was the gun's fault, can't you people see that?
In the second case, a three year-old walked through his family's living room past his father and two of his friends carrying his father's loaded 9mm and proceeded to the kitchen, where he shot his mother. She survived but again, it was the gun's fault.
Obviously, the guns in question were not stored in a responsible manner. I see the anti-gun outfits' next move to be pushing for legislation to prosecute gun owners when their gun is stolen from an "irresponsible" storage medium. And you know, I'm not really against that idea. It's just dumb to keep a loaded firearm under a mattress, in a nightstand or in a closet or other insecure place when there are children in the house. And even though our kids are grown and on their own, there still isn't a gun in my nightstand because as soundly as I sleep, a perp would be using it on me before I even knew he/she was in the house.
I write for Shotgun Sports Magazine and made this subject the topic of a column a year or so ago. If we gun owners as a group don't take the initiative to keep our guns stored responsibly, we as a group will suffer the consequences. One container that any judge and jury accepts as being as responsible a storage device as exists is a safe. The very word suggests that the gun owner did all he could to keep his firearms out of the hands of others.
Ed
