Gun Crime - some dialogue

A friend of mine has responded to my thoughts thus:

"Sorry, Vic, I've got to disagree with you on this. I can't see any reason why someone would need to keep guns at home if the only time they get used is at gun clubs. If you (shooters) enjoy shooting at inanimate targets, and claim to be whiter than white, then the way to prove that is to ensure that your guns _cannot_ be used to murder people, even on that day when the owner - the person "who everybody liked", perhaps even you! - flips his lid.
Maybe 'gun crime' has gone up and illegal guns are more prevalent than ever, but all the "someone going off the rails and shooting a load of people" incidents, that I'm aware of, have been done with legally held weapons. If those weapons had been securely kept in a gun club, I believe these events would have been _much_ less likely to happen."

Some great opportunity for dialogue here (and it's great to have a friend with whom I can disagree), so let's get started:

Having a gun at home has never really been part of the problem (other than the obvious involvement of the weapon itself). At one stage in the firearms legislation debate the practice of storing guns in one location (club, Police station, etc,) rather than separately at home was assessed and was thought that the weapons not all being in one place was a positive (for many reasons).

If you read my blog you will see that I say that for some people (those who only shoot on their club range doing club competitions, postal competitions and 'social' shooting), keeping their weapons in the club is a logical and practical step. For some who might shoot at different ranges (competition shooters) this would not be so good and you're adding to the time the weapon is in transit too and of course the weapon is still outside the clubhouse/storage area walls. I know many who might visit three of four ranges (outside their club range) every month - just not practical.

I'm not claiming shooters are 'whiter than white' but the words indicate that there might be an assumption that shooters might not be. I recall reading that shooters were amongst the highest scoring types when asked/checked regarding compliance with the law (often through fear of doing something that caused them to lose their ticket?).

As I've already pointed out, target shooters shoot at bits of paper (hunters shoot animate objects) and only when I'm doing Mil Skills have I seen people getting taught to shoot people and whilst people can flip, those I've known who were shooters did so using a kitchen knife, a car and (ironically) a golf club. as you so rightly say, you can kill with almost anything. Considering the number of people we train to shoot people, I am always impressed at the small number of flippers we have from them and other shooters. The reality is that the majority of shooters are taught to handle weapons correctly and in such a way that when/if they flip, guns are not the method of choice.

Concerning the 'going off the rails' episodes, the sadness here is that two of the three gun tragedies we've had owe a great deal to the poor management of those people concerned (I have no idea about the current situation in this respect but assume this does not apply). To return to Hamilton, (loaded) illegal weapons were found in his home and rather than confiscate and remove his ticket, they were added to his collection and made legal!! We don't need tighter gun laws, but we need those laws to be applied properly.

I did make the (tongue-in-cheek) comment that, golfers use clubs (also lethal) to put little white balls near their target whilst shooters use guns (animate target shooters are called hunters of course). The majority of shooters are balanced and never a problem - same with golfers (recall story where bloke killed with with club recently - best outlaw golf too? No, don't really thinks so ;)).

The reality is that shooters and golfers have killed with the tools of their hobby and so have many other with the tools or focus of their hobby (I think that stamp collecting is probably one of the very few safe hobbies here). I must reiterate my view that had Hamilton done his stuff in Dunblane by killing the kids and their teacher with a car, no one would have been looking to outlaw cars. Mind you, as there's more car crime than gun crime, perhaps this is the way forward!

Hopefully we have the makings of some good debate here.