In light of the recent massacre that happened at VA Tech, i wanted to post this article to show my opposed view for more gun control laws in the US. I am a big supporter of the second amendment and the right for citizens to be able to defend themselves. If a citizen chooses to do so by carrying a gun on their person, then so be it. I am legally licensed to carry a concealed handgun. My background has been checked by the Texas Department of Safety, and by the FBI. My record is clean. Here is what is required for a Texas Concealed Handgun License. You Must:1.  Be a resident of Texas or apply for a non-resident license.2.  Be 21 years old. 3.  Have a clean criminal history, including military service and recent juvenile records. 4.  Not be under a protective order.5.  Not be chemically dependent.6.  Not be of unsound mind.7.  Not be delinquent in paying fines, fees, child support, student loans, etc.8.  Be eligible to purchase a handgun by completing the NICS check. CHL (concealed handgun license) holders are some of the most upstanding and law abiding citizens around, and i am proud of being part of a great group of people who have decided to not just sit back and become a victim of some idiotic, criminal who decides he/she is going to hurt me whenever they want.Here is an intersting article:

Making a Case for Gun Ownership: Israeli-US Contrast

by Don B. Kates

When a 14-year-old high school student shot eight people, killing three, during a Paducah, KY., prayer meeting not long ago, many good-hearted, liberal people saw only one possible response: Tighten gun laws even further, or outlaw and confiscate guns altogether.Experience shows, however, that gun laws are not much use. Over the past 20 years, handgun ownership has doubled, while the number of homicides has markedly declined.Virtually without exception, ordinary law-abiding people do not murder. Our laws already prohibit guns to those who do murder—felons, drug addicts, juveniles, and the deranged—but they manage to kill anyway.Israel, which has much more experience with massacres, has a different approach. It licenses trained, responsible adults so that armed civilians will be ready and able to defend themselves (and others) in public places.Israeli criminologist Abraham Tennenbaum says, “The homicide rate in Israel has always been very low—much lower than in the United States… despite the greater availability of guns to law-abiding civilians.” In contrast, laws in California and New York make it virtually impossible for anyone lacking special influence to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun.Consider some examples of how these contrasting policies work: o On April 3, 1984, three Arab terrorists trying to machine-gun a Jerusalem crowd killed only one victim before being shot down by Israeli civilians. The next day, the surviving terrorist said his group had planned to gun down other crowds of shoppers, leaving before police could arrive. They had not known that Israeli civilians were armed. o On July 18, 1984, an unemployed security guard shot 31 unarmed adults and children in a San Ysidro, Calif., McDonald’s, before being killed by a police sniper 77 minutes after the tragedy began. o On April 6, 1994, (quoting an Associated Press release from Jerusalem): “A Palestinian opened fire with a submachine gun at a bus stop near the port of Ashdod today, killing one Israeli and wounding four before being shot to death by bystanders, officials said….” o Four months earlier, Colin Ferguson shot down 22 unarmed victims on the Long Island Railroad, killing five. o On Oct. 9, 1997, in Pearl, Miss., a 16-year-old stabbed his mother to death and shot nine people at his high school, killing two. His rampage ended when the assistant principal, carrying a .45 semi-automatic pistol, confronted the boy. According to Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck, who co-authored a book on the subject of guns and violence with me, there are some 2.5 million incidents annually where law-abiding, responsible Americans use handguns to stop crimes. Handgun Control Inc. tells prospective victims never to resist rape or robbery in any way: “The best defense against injury is to put up no defense—give them what they want or run.” But Professor Kleck says victims who use firearms to repel criminals are only half as likely to be injured as victims who submit—and much less likely to be raped or robbed.Mississippi and 30 other states allow responsible adults to carry guns. The results were evaluated by the University of Chicago’s John Lott and David Mustard, based on statistics from all 3,054 counties in the nation since 1977. Professors Lott and Mustard concluded that in states with these new laws, thousands of murders, rapes, and robberies were averted. In a forthcoming paper, Professor Lott also found that the number of massacre-type homicides have steadily declined in states adopting the new laws—but continue unabated in California, New York, and other states that have rejected them.Many anti-gun newspapers do not find such studies (or the Israeli incidents) “fit to print.” Rather, they editorialize that indiscriminately banning guns to the general citizenry would reduce both massacres and ordinary murders. Yet, in more candid moments, even antigun advocates admit laws can’t disarm terrorists or homicidal maniacs.Carefully tailored, sensible gun laws have a role to play in our criminal justice system. That includes allowing law-abiding adults to carry firearms. Banning responsible, law abiding citizens from owning guns will not work. Crime can’t be curbed by disarming its victims. Don B. Kates is the author of The Great American Gun Debate, published by the Pacific Research Institute. If youve read this far, then i thank you for taking the time to read. My only intention is to show the good side, the positive side of being able to protect yourself with a gun if you so choose to do so. More gun laws do not work! Isnt it strange that these so called "GUN FREE ZONES" have been the sites to some of Americas worse massacres in history. Gun laws, and gun bans hurt the law abiding citizen.

Good for you. Check the forums under "Politics and Social Issues" and get ready for the massive idiocy onslaught.

dang, i posted in the wrong spot. Hopefully an admin can move my forum post to the appropriate section

Guns don't kill, people pull the triggers!

I really get peeved at liberals that think banning guns or tightened control measures will stop violence with guns. It won't and anyone that thinks it will is so FEEBLE MINDED!!

A recent case in point. In Japan handguns are illegal accept for use by the Military or Police. This week in Nagasaki Japan the Mayor of that town was shot to death with a handgun, by a member of the mafia.

There used to be a very popular bumper sticker in the US that stated "WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED ONLY OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS". I guess this holds true in Japan this week!!!

God Bless the USA and the 2nd Ammendment, may it remain strong!!

Wow, I didn't know we're still living in the Wild West. I think I may need a gun to protect my ass from those criminals who may want to hurt me any time of the day. I guess i should be carrying my handgun at all time too since I may never know what will happen next in this dangerous world. =P

It's funny some people are trying hard to relate 2 statistics here - the increase in gun ownerships and the decline in homicides. We all know why gun ownerships increase in the U.S. .. the best friend of NRA had been the majority of the house for 12 years. Voters love their guns. Even past democrat presidential candicates explicitly defend the 2nd amendment to score votes. I am saying- there can be a lot of factors that contribute to lower homicides - economics, tougher law enforcements, whatever. The author looks at 2 sets of data and trys to link them together to make his points. If the Democrat was in the house and there was a decline in gun ownerships, the description of the statistics would be different.

It's pretty biased... especially an "indirect" link between the low number of massacre-type homicides and the states that allow people to carry guns. I think the author forgot to mention the fact that these massacre-type homicides were commited by once "upstanding and law abiding" citizens who obtained their guns "legally".

Guns can empower good people to do bad things, and guns legally obtained by law-abiding citizens can fall into the hands of criminals.

This isnt a Utopia Kerry. If you ban guns, people will beat each other to death with sticks and clubs like they do in the UK.

But of course, you wouldnt mind giving up more of your rights for the "protection of civilization" and you would probably vote for the banning of sticks.

Heck, lets go ahead and let the government take our most fundamental right of self defense and maybe, if we're all lucky, one day we will live in a world where everyone will just yell obscenities at each other.

(>.< ")

guns are good, and now the govt is planning to take them away from "the people".. just wait...it is going to happen..

maybe not in your lifetime.

already a long time plan..

call me a conspiracy believer if you want, but your time of carrying a gun will soon be over....well maybe you will be the last on the list....you live in Texas :-)

but carrying a gun means jack ****...it gives you a false sense of security...(I carried 3 guns ALWAYS...and it means NOTHING.)

if someone wants to kill you, and is GOOD at killing), you will never get it out of your pocket, or holster.....

no insult meant to you bud

it is gun control that makes me angry

people should always maintain the right to carry a gun, but be responsible with it.

Congrats Blowing In The Wind!

Nice to find a fellow supporter of the 2nd Amendment and a responsible citizen.

Please dont think that Texas doesnt require a training/safety course. The ones i listed are basic requirements.

The saftery/training course required is usually a 2 day class with most of the class concentrating on the Texas Penal Code regarding the legal use of deadly force.

Happy carrying.

Matise,

When criminals and murderers follow your way of thinking, i will gladly put away my gun.

Until then, i and many other Americans refuse to sit by and let criminals do whatever they want, whenever they want to.

I will protect me and my family with a gun and you can sit there and plead for your life.

Thanks Vacanti,

Believe me, i agree with you. Id say that 90% of self defense is preventing the crime in the first place, not waiting till it has happened.

Im sure your aware of the three colors of awareness and i try my best to stay in code yellow as much as I can.

Carrying a gun doesnt make you invincible, but at least with a gun and the proper mindset, my chances improve.

I also would like to add that Texas and the rest of the US isnt the Wild West.

Many, many responsible citizens from ALL walks of life carry concealed handguns. And you would NEVER know it, concealed means concealed.

Since the law was passed, many opponents suggested that there would be blood running in the streets and people would be killing each other for stupid reasons. It hasnt happened.

Texas law is very strict in the use of deadly force. Suffice to say that you can only meet deadly force if you believe that your life is in danger.

In other words, you cannot pull a gun out if someone is calling you names, or wants to pick a fight with you.

CHL holders are in fact held to a higher standard, and we are taught that we must deescalate a problem and do our best to avoid any confrontations or problems.

It has been difficult for me, where in the past if someoene did something wrong or tried to pick a fight with me, i would be right up in their face. Now, with the responsibility of having a CHL i find myself doing whatever i can to get out of or not even get myself into situations where a problem may arise.

I carry a gun, but i dont ever want to have to use it. However, i dont ever want to be in a situation where i NEED my gun but i dont have it with me.

In general people get what they deserve. Maybe not on at personal level but as a society. I think the last 50 years have shown this to be true. USA has decided that in general everyone can have a gun for personal protection. This combined with a mentality that everyone is a potential enemy and the Christian mentality of "an eye for an eye" punishment, has produced the country in the world with the most crime killings per capita.(Except some countries where the almighty US have provided guns/support/"democracy")

I fell sorry for the individual victim of meaningless crimes like this, but the numbers speak for them selves.

As the rest of the world at an alarming rate thinks of any American as a potential nut-case endangering our life, and therefore by Texan standards are an legit target. I feel sorry for any American traveling countries with the same view on weapons control as the USA.

I never want to meet a person carrying a gun, that for some reason thinks he has to use it.

Anyone seen the US statistics of legit vs criminal shootings in the US. Legit killings loose big time!

BTW 12 years in the military serving my country prove that I'm not a "tree loving nut case" wanting to ban all weapons. I only think that in a crisis the average Joe,even the well trained, make the wrong decision. And making the wrong lethal decision can not be undone.

If you have ever been in a conceal carry state, you may have already met someone carrying Gille