The problem is not the guns. In my whole life, I have never seen a weapon of any kind, be it a fire arm, pellet gun, knife or even a base ball bat, jump up and commit a crime. It is the stupid, inconsiderate jerk who wants to impose his will, and lasyness on others.

A wise man once said, if guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns.

One thing I have found out though, is stay away from non-jacketed lead, as much as possible, even if you are not shooting, it has a tendancy to pit what it comes in contact with, even just sitting in the mag,,,,then again, it is possible the barrels I had were sudstandered as well, I really do not know.

I am sory, I did not mean to imply that you did not know how to shoot.

All I meant was that .22 are designed more for teaching youngsters to shoot, therefor, they tend to take more abuse.
Again I am sorry, I really did not mean to under rate your abilities

This debate has been a heated topic for as long as I can remember, probably longer than I have been alive. To put it plainly I can see all your points.....unfortunately, I can even understand where the gun control activists come from as well,,,,all though they are sadly mistaken and need to be willing to be educated.

Here is my beliefs on the matter.

I believe in: responsible ownership, propper education, a whole lot of common sense, and quality gun control (the ability to hit what you shoot at, when you shoot, every time you shoot), I believe those who break the laws should be punished in such a fassion as the punishment fits the crime (I.E. you shoot someone, you should be shot in exactly the same place, with the same caliber of wepon).

My great Grandfather used to have a saying, "if our grave yards were bigger, our prisons smaller, and our trials shorter, the crime rate in this country would be dramatically reduced."

As far as owning such weapons are concerned, well the constitution of the United States says it better than I could ever say it. "The right to KEEP and BARE arms SHALL NOT be infringed." Well I do not see a list of exceptable weapons here, it is a very vague statement made intentionally. That is because the founding fathers knew that as time elapsed, and new technologies were discovered, then newer and better weapons would be created.

This brings us to towed missile arrays, and thermonuclear devices, should the general public be allowed to own these? Why not? As long as no laws are broken by there owners, as well as propper education and licensing/registration procedures were obeted.

What good use would they be to the private citezen? Simple, if every law abiding citizen in America had a thermal nuclear ICBM in their back yard, capable of being aimed at and reaching oh say Afganistan or Iraq don't you think the bloody
a-- holes that perpatrated the 9-11 attacks would have thought twice before doing it?

Taking it one step farther, almost every state in the Southwest (that is of course for everybodies favorite gun control advocate, California ( may it die a horible death, and rest in pure torment in H_ll), not only required every man to not only to own a fire arm of some time, but to cary it in plain veiw, while attending any and all social function which may be attended by women, I.E. church, picnics, dances, etc. in case of Indian raids.