Ox Road South: Recent Comments

Comment on New Laws Take Effect Today

Chap — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:17:38 GMT

Many thanks Bill!

Comment on New Laws Take Effect Today

Bill Love — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:45:50 GMT

Chap: Great work on the transportation bills - particularly with the "cost sharing" by non-residents.
Bill Love

Comment on D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

Paul Winchester — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:09:38 GMT

I wonder if Scalia found a specific right in the 2nd amendment itself or instead found it in its application through as he called it "historical narrative"?

Comment on Senate Steps Up

Paul Hampton, Winchester — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:07:33 GMT

Giving downstate what they want (getting rid of NOVA) would be an abject lesson in "Watch what you ask for, you might get it" for certain! We'll need to keep all this year's new registrants interested until Nov 09 election to win next year. Albo's already turned himself into a pretzel to accommodate his brethren, wonder what he'll do next year especially if a good opponent is recruited for his seat - anyone working on that?

Comment on Senate Steps Up

Paul of Winchester — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:52:52 GMT

Chap,
Does it seem to you like it seems to me that this special session the beginning of the 2009 campaign? Sen. Vogel (R) 27th published a column in June 28th's Winchester Star that contained what read like the heart and soul of GOP talking points for that purpose as follows: "Adding insult to injury, members of the governor's party rejected every single measure that would raise revenue without raising taxes. That included a lock on transportation dollars, diverting port proceeds for roads, dedicating off-shore drilling revenue, and allocating part of the current sales tax to fund transportation, programs that would undeniably generate hundreds of millions in new transportation dollars." I wrote a detailed rebuttal for later submission I'll send you if you like. It took me over 500 words just to rebut the numerous contradictions in fact and logic including a few in the statement highlighted above.

Comment on D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

JB — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:01:49 GMT

Chap,

This is one of the main reasons I voted for you! Your support for the second amendment.

The decision in a nutshell, jsut allows peopel to now own a handgun in THEIR home, and able to keep a firearm loaded and assembled, ready for defense. Simple. It does not permit concealed carry on the streets, which I wish it would. I carry concealed in VA everyday, but cant in DC (which is where I fear from my safety the most, and until the other day, guns were BANNED)..ironic.

The problem is people and politicians try to solve gun violence by banning guns. It has been proven that it does not work! Instead of patching the problem and slapping a band aid on the symptoms, how about we look and see what the root of the problem is. Guns don't start crime, crime is started from social and economic issues.

Chap, please keep fighting for our rights to protect ourselves.

One last thing, we gun pro people are not tryign to force guns on you and in your life so please do not try to force your anti gun laws on us.

Comment on Senate Steps Up

jb — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:51:49 GMT

Don, God forbid we secede and join DC...Id have to move. Then again, I don't think Chap would let them force their laws on us and not allow us to protect ourselves.

Regardless, only Texas has the power to secede from the union legally.

Comment on D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

Ian — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:16:27 GMT

Ed, I appreciate your sentiment toward accidental gun injuries, I as well am saddened by any loss of life, related to guns or otherwise. However, you (and the WP) are referring to a discredited study by Arthur L. Kellerman. (1) Kellerman admits that his study did "not include cases in which burglars or intruders are wounded or frightened away by the use or display of a firearm." He also admitted his study did not look at situations in which intruders "purposely avoided a home known to be armed." This is a classic case of a “study” conducted to achieve a desired result. In his critique of this “study”, Gary Kleck notes that the estimation of gun ownership rates were “inaccurate” , and that the total population came from a non-random selection of only two cities.

Of the 43 deaths reported in this flawed study, 37 (86%) were suicides. Other deaths involved criminal activity between the family members (drug deals gone bad). (1)

Of the remaining deaths, the deceased family members include felons, drug dealers, violent spouses committing assault, and other criminals.

Only 0.1% (1 in a thousand) of the defensive uses of guns results in the death of the predator. This means you are much more likely to prevent a crime without bloodshed than hurt a family member. (2)

It has been proven over and over again that guns in the hands of lawful citizens reduces crime. Any time a family member uses a gun inappropriately it is a tragedy. Part of the problem is training. If you have children in the house, they should be knowledgeable about safety issues etc. The parents should store the guns SECURELY so they may not be accessed by their children. Trigger locks don't cut the mustard, they are easily defeated. (3) The ONLY safe way to store weapons in the home is a GUN SAFE the only time a gun should be out of the safe is if it's in a proper holster on your person.

I don't have children in my home but I follow those rules myself. When I leave for work, the gun goes in my safe. When I return home the gun goes in a holster. When I sleep at night the gun is on my nightstand and my bedroom door is locked. This cycle is repeated every day.

Sources:
(1) Arthur L. Kellerman, Protection or Peril?: An Analysis of Firearm-Related Deaths in the Home, 314 New Eng. J.
Med. 1557-60 1986

(2) Dr. Gary Kleck, “Point Blank: Guns and Violence in America.” New York: Aldine de Gruyter. 1991

(3) http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/13/the-lockdown-gun-locks-unsafe-at-any-caliber/

Comment on D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

Edward A Gabris — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:34:30 GMT

I did not comment on the legality of keeping a gun in the home, with the Supreme court decision such is clearly legal. My comment was directed at the thought that having a gun in the home would increase the safety of those living there. This appears not to be true. If you wish to have guns in your home, that is your decision. If you or your family is injured or killed by one of these guns, (a far more likely event than defending your home),I will be sadden by your loss.

Comment on D.C. Gun Ban Struck Down

Ian — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:05:35 GMT

Ed, the answer is simple. If YOU don't like guns or think your kids will find them don't keep them in YOUR home. Keep your politics out of MY home (where guns are a plenty) and we will get along just fine.