Big Daddy, I am neither for or against guns because I don't think they really matter that much.

I grew up with them and used them most of my younger life for hunting and on the farm.
I don't bother keeping any guns around now simply because I can't be bothered with them.

We have people here who want to ban anything that looks like a gun. Right behind them are the people who want to ban knives.
In some places a baseball bat is considered a restricted weapon and you better have a good excuse if there is one in the trunk of your car.
Pepper spray is not weapon if it is for dogs or bears, but it might get you criminal charges of you have it on the subway...

At what point do you run out of things to ban?
It gets quite ridiculous sometimes.

On top of that I don't know anyplace where the police can not charge you with possessing a weapon dangerous to the public peace (or words to that effect) and let a judge decide if your rolled up newspaper, your wife's high heeled shoe or your grandma's cane is actually a weapon.

None of these measures deal with the crazy.
And yes, the crazy just go to the next weapon of opportunity.

We cut funding for the treatment of the mentally ill years ago and simply turned them loose in society.

Consider that the shooter at Virginia Tech was supposed to be restricted from having weapons and was supposed to be receiving psychiatric care, and the resources to do that, to make it happen, were not available.

Yes to the secondary post too, well mostly yes anyhow.
I mean other than keeping your head up and being reasonably cautious what else is there to do really.

One thing I do know is that I will never allow the fear of the crazies to run my life for me.
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And yes, this thread is going too political, which I wanted to avoid.
So I will stop there.