Jeff,

It seems that you are reacting to some of the insane comments floating around about having guns in school to shoot deranaged shooters (HUH??).

I agree. If Obama doesn't take on the NRA, and if the conseratives don't value the lives of its' citizens more than a false claim based on the 2d amendment, I will share the disappointment.

Gun control advocates have wondered what it would take to wake people up to the need to restrict access to guns. If today is not that wake up call, after a series of senseless shootings across this country, it is hopeless.

We are expanding the concealed carry permit. This week, Michigan expanded the places where guns may be carried, including schools.

They wish they had guns to protectect themselves from looters.

Criminals will always have guns.

Not just anyone, but individuals who receive training in order to get a concealed carry permit should be allowed to have guns to protect themselves. Not assault weapons but revolvers and automatici pistols.

When establishments post a sign saying no guns allowed, that is like saying that everyone in there is a good target. A well-trained individual with a gun could take out someone before the police get there and prevent more deaths. It isn't always news, but individuals have taken out a shooter in a church and prevented someone who broke into their home from doing serious harm to themselves and their loved ones.

I never though that I would ever own and shoot a gun. But things have come to such a pass in this country, especially in the inner city, where police are stretched thin and often laid off, that it is necessary.

I asked a local policeman to come to see if my home could be better secured. He recommended, since I have no children, that a loaded gun be right next to me. When I asked about firing warning shots, he said that no, I should shoot and keep on firing. When you fear for your life there is no time to waste.

When children are in the home, loaded guns should be secured. There are special gun safes that keep the gun from others but let you quickly get it. Many deaths occur because people do not do this. They probably haven't had a course in gun safety, and I disapprove of such people having guns.

I remember a time when people could safely leave their doors unlocked. Sadly, that time has passed. Victems are killed with knives, bare hands, etc. If they had no guns they would still find another method. There are sick, horrible people out there, unfortunately. Trained people need to be able to keep their guns to  protect themselves and loved ones. A very sad state of affairs, but true. And the high unemployment rate (22% if calculated the way it used to be calculated), inflation (calculated the old way it was 8% but higher now, forget the exact figure), and the coming, sooner or later, hyperinflation will create people willing to kill in order to plunder the wherewithal to eat. A man who lived in Argentina when hyperinflation first hit has blogged and made YouTube videos about what it was like. He recommends storing water and food, buying gold (junk silver from your local coin shop is a better alternative here) and guns, if you are trained and willing to use them.

There are also hunters who, during hunting season, hunt for food. Yes, it is a sad thing to kill Bambi's mother, but in one county here I am told people are already living in cars and starving, people who are not loafers, that had jobs but lost them. Our government officials at all levels and even most churches are not doing anything to prepare to help as far as I can see and read.

Alas, that this is so, I wish it were not.