I'll answer the Brady's 20 questions right here. I'll start by saying that it is my belief that if everyone carried a gun, no one would ever need to use one. Using one for nefarious purposes would in essence be committing suicide.
1. Do you believe that criminals and domestic abusers should be able to buy guns without background checks?
--A. This question is irrelevent as everyone who wishes to purchase a firearm must have a background check.
2. What is your proposal for keeping guns away from criminals, domestic abusers, terrorists and dangerously mentally ill people?
--A. Keep them in the hands of the law abiding, just, patriots, and mentally stable people. If you do that, the people who would use guns for nefarious reasons will either stop, or end up dead. Their choice.
3. Do you believe that a background check infringes on your constitutional right to "keep and bear arms"?
--A. A background check infringes on my right to privacy. Never has a background check prevented me (a law abiding, mentally stable citizen) from purchasing a firearm.
4. Do you believe that I and people with whom I work intend to ban your guns?
--A. Yes. Just look at the "Assault Weapons" ban of 1994, and the state and local equivalents that still exist today. You banned an entire group of guns based solely on how they look, and not how they function.
5. If yes to #4, how do you think that could happen ( I mean the physical action)?
--A. Possibly through the Hitler style confiscations that have already happened in Brittain and Austrailia.
6. What do you think are the "second amendment remedies" that the tea party GOP candidate for Senate in Nevada( Sharron Angle) has proposed?
--A. As anyone who has studied the Constitution will tell you, that is the truest intetnion of the Second Amendment. While I do not plan to take such actions, it is the fear of an armed population or potentially even a revolution that is what keeps (or should keep) politicans honest.
7. Do you believe in the notion that if you don't like what someone is doing or saying, second amendment remedies should be applied?
--A. I'm assuming you mean politican when you say if you don't like what they say/do. The ballot box should always be the first option. The "second amendment remedies" that you so speak of are the original intention of the second amendment, just like openly criticizing and protesting the government are the intentions of the first. Notice the order in which the framers placed the amendments. When voting, first you vote with your voice. If the politicians still choose not to listen to the majority(stress on majority), then it may be necessary to move on to step 2.
8. Do you believe it is O.K. to call people with whom you disagree liars and demeaning names?
--A. Are they lying? If so, then yes it is ok to call them liars. Calling someone a demeaning and untrue name solves nothing and only shows how ignorant you are for not being able to honestly debate them on the issue.
9. If yes to #8, would you do it in a public place to the person's face?
--A. If someone is lying to me, I will call them a liar to their face.
10. Do you believe that any gun law will take away your constitutional rights?
--A. Yes. Most of the laws on the books already do. Would you considder it constitutionally acceptable if you were required to purchase a license from the government before you could: go to church? pray in your own home? write a critical essay? retain a lawyer? not bear wittness against yourself? I didn't think so.
11. Do you believe in current gun laws? Do you think they are being enforced? If not, explain.
--A. Do I believe in them? Yes, they do exist. Do I beleive the do more good than harm? No. For the most part, they are not enforced...at least not against the criminals they are intended to dissuade from using guns for nefarious purposes.
12. Do you believe that all law-abiding citizens are careful with their guns and would never shoot anybody?
--A. I believe the overwhelming majority of law-abiding citizens are careful with their guns and would never shoot anyone, except in self defense. This has been supported time and time again by law enforcement statistics showing that gun owners are significantly less likely to be convicted of a crime, and in such case they are it's usually a minor (non gun related, and non-violent) offense.
13. Do you believe that people who commit suicide with a gun should be included in the gun statistics?
--A. No. Regardless of the method of choice, suicide should always be included only with suicide stastics. It's been shown, across the globe, there is no statistical link between gun ownership and suicide. In fact if anything, higher rates of gun ownership have minimized collateral damage in suicides (look at the recent trend in Japan to commit suicide by mixing household chemicals to make toxic fumes, and the people that took out entire apartment buildings by doing so). Someone becoming so hopeless that they feel the only way out is to kill themself is always a tragedy, but to blame a hunk of metal for it is only ignoring the problem. Banning guns may serve your statistic of lowering gun related suicides, but it doesn't lower overall suicides.
14. Do you believe that accidental gun deaths should "count" in the total numbers?
--A. Accidental deaths are the only thing that should count in the total numbers. Malicious intent is the fault of the person, not the object. Accidents are the only thing that can reasonibly be blamed on the object.
15. Do you believe that sometimes guns, in careless use or an accident, can shoot a bullet without the owner or holder of the gun pulling the trigger?
--A. It's possible. One of two things must happen for a cartridge to "go off" either something must strike the primer with enough force to activate it or the entire cartridge must be heated sufficiently for the gun powder inside to ignite (commonly referred to as "cook-off"). Most, if not all, modern guns are designed to prevent the primer from being struck without the trigger being pulled.
16. Do you believe that 30,000 gun deaths a year is too many?
--A. Compared to what? The estimated 500,000 to 2,500,000 lives saved per year by responsible gun ownership? Let's not forget that your number of 30,000 deaths per year includes suicides (which the gun ownership rate has been shown to not affect at all) and justified homicides, that is self defense and shootings at the hands of police officers within the scope of their official duties. Subtract those two groups from your statistics and it is less than 1/3 the number you report.
17. How will you help to prevent more shootings in this country?
--A. The only shootings that can be prevented are the accidental ones. Those can be prevented through education on how to safely handle a gun. As we've seen from contries with complete bans on firearms, murders will still happen (including mass shootings), suicides will still happen (with different methods). Focus on what we can fix instead of what we cannot.
18. Do you believe the articles that I have posted about actual shootings or do you think I am making them up or that human interest stories about events that have happened should not count when I blog about gun injuries and deaths?
--A. I haven't seen these articles, so I cannot comment on them.
19. There has been some discussion of the role of the ATF here. Do you believe the ATF wants your guns and wants to harass you personally? If so, provide examples ( some have written a few that need to be further examined).
--A. Maybe they don't want to harass me personally, but they have. I've had to fill out an amended 4473 form because when I signed it I wrote the two digit year instead of the four digit year. I'm pretty sure their resources could be focused elsewhere if they are truely trying to reduce crime.
20. Will you continue a reasonable discussion towards an end that might lead somewhere or is this an exercise in futility?
--A. I just did. Please see my previous 19 answers.
