This Person is a Member of the US House of Representatives

[ICantSpellDawg]

I don't want anyone to take anyone's guns away, I played the "joke" card in reference to Greyblades post.

I do think the idea that a tyrant would be stopped by privately owned firearms is a delusional fantasy, which assumes the tyrant doesn't have numbers and a militarized police force. Fascism/Communism/Tiddlywinks will come to America with most people thinking it's a good thing. A gun is only as good at safeguarding liberty as the brain behind it. To quote an oft repeated trope " a gun is just a tool". The same tool can just as easily be used to oppress .

I'm all for guns in personal safety. The lack of manners in the public sphere is appalling and would be better served by more guns. I would like to warn every would be hero out there though. You're much more likely to shoot yourself or a family member than an intruder. You are also statistically not likely to hit the intruder when you fire. So I guess that falls in the delusional fantasy camp as well.

I do agree with you on those points. Zimmerman was wrong and negligent for his own safety and that of others when he pursued a lone individual in the night. Basic understanding of any animals is that when they feel threatened, they will become more threatening. The initial action led to a chain of events, compounded by the extremely poor decision of Martin to assault Zimmerman which was the proximate cause of Zimmermans self defence action which resulted in Martin's death. This could have been avoided so easily one would hope if everyone would rely less on machismo and more on "the lizard brain"

Guns are not a stop-measure for tyranny. Much better would be an educated, reasonably compassionate and engaged populace. With that type of a populace, guns are not as much of a threat either, so in a Utopia, guns are still not a bad thing.