hold the phone, does K-mart even sell guns? The one by me does not. does it in other places? Thats ridiculous, imo.
People have the right to bear arms. They should have the PRIVILEGE to bear arms. that is, a right that comes with responsibility. rather than simply declaring citizens have the right to bear arms, as though it were a basic right on par with freedom of religion and speech (in the examples i am semi-playing the devils advocate, but its irrelevent), because it is not. its not a right, its a privilege. as long as you own and operate your gun responsibly and safely you may own it. this would include
- proper storage (i.e. unloaded)
- proper safety training in the use of the gun for you and anyone else who lives there
- proper use of gun (i.e. no holding up banks, etc)
if people follow these (and perhaps other) guidelines, i personally see no reason to prohibit them from owning a gun. like darrigaaz said, any child who shows off his dad’s gun to a friend, and winds up killing that friend did not learn proper gun safety, nor did the parents. you dont leave a loaded gun lying around, and even if it was unloaded and the child loaded it, you dont leave a child thats going to do that. you educate your damn kid about the gun, so he doesnt do that.
the owner of the gun should be charged with manslaughter in that case if it occurred.
adolescents of course, should not be allowed to own a gun, and perhaps not even operate one (i could go either way on this one). you should be an adult, with the proper education on the matter, and no criminal record, or history of mental illness.
back to kmart….
kmart should not be allowed to sell guns.
aside from just seeming so basically wrong, it sends the wrong message, it makes them seem as if any other item. which they are not. they are instruments of death. this is not an item to be taken so lightly as to sell it in kmart. it should be sold in gun-specific stores, by properly liscensed dealers, to properly liscensed consumers, and every gun in the place should be in police records, with barrel groove prints (whatever you call those) and perhaps even tracers (again, i could go either way on this)
the problem is not that people have guns, its that they have the wrong attitude. too many people with guns dont respect what it is, and should not own a gun, and too many people who dont own guns also do not respect what it is, and demonize it to the point of ludicracy.