<!-Quote-!>Quote:And surely, if you're carrying, you just make yourself more likely to be dropped by the police.<!-/Quote-!>
And just why would that be? The idea behind concealed carry is the fact you have a firearm is not openly evident. If you know what to look for, and pay attention you might suspect, but you would never know.
There is only one reason for anyone to ever see your firearm. That's when you are threatened to the point deadly force becomes an option.
In that case you use it and simply put your firearm back in it's place of concealment, make the call and wait for the police to ask for it.
But then again, if you are dealing with cops like they have in Great Britain who like to kill people in the subway for wearing a coat in the summer, you could have a problem no matter what you do.
Prohibition did not stop people that wanted to drink from obtaining something to drink, the fact that certain drugs are illegal does not prevent prevent people from manufacturing or using them, making something illegal does nothing but give the criminal elements something else to barter in.
I know it's an old saying but it's true. If you criminalize firearms only criminals will own them.
A criminal does not care about any efforts at education or the effect of any "social stigma" on themselves personally.
And just exactly what gun law would you suggest to enact?
There are already multiple laws that are already ignored when it comes to the use of firearms during the commission of a crime, in many cases the first simply being the ownership of a firearm by a person with a background of crime, violence or mental illness.
<!-Quote-!>Quote:There's a good Bob Dylan line :- "...I'm around too many children, and they should never know one...".<!-/Quote-!>
I find it interesting you quote a man who through his use of illegal drugs was supporting a criminal element and therefore something he was supposedly against.
If you are uncomfortable around firearms and don't want to raise your children around firearms then I would be the first to say don't.
If you really want to change things THAT is the way to effect it.
I grew up around firearms, my parents grew up around firearms, I learned as soon as I could walk to begin respecting them even though I may not have understood completely at that point.
My father received his first firearm from the Sheriff of Boone County Missouri at the age of 8 years old.
I received my first firearm from my father at the age of 11 years old.
I'm not talking something I was given and could only look at. I was hunting alone at that age.
My kids, due to the fact I was divorced when they where young never gained what I considered a basic knowledge of firearms.
Even though they are now adults, my firearms are already in my will to be given to various other people depending on who lives the longest. I would of course hope to have enough warning to distribute them myself.
The best chance due to age is currently the son of a friend, a 15 year old who did grow up around firearms and learned to respect and use them in a responsible manner.
Even that chain could be broken as there are others with a "first shot" at them if still around. They may choose differently when it's their time.
That is the only way you will ever get firearms away from people in the United States. It won't be by any government regulation.
At that point then the responsible citizens won't have firearms. Only the Police, Military and criminals will own them.