Passing thoughts on Gun Control and its effects...

From thinking about the position of reasonable men and gun control points.

A lot of us aren't anti-gun, just feel that there is a practical limit on how powerful a weapon that a neighbor should be able to own. Should I be allowed to build a nuke of any kind in my basement without government interference? If not, then we agree there needs to be a limit. We probably won't agree on where it should be. I don't think civilians should have access to full automatic weapons.... I'm also not afraid of the government coming to take guns. (Or invade my house.)....
lifted from a family member's thoughts

Actually, there is no limit on your neighbor's weapons, or the ones in your home if the government isn't coming in to inspect and collect all those that are too big.

More governments have been overturned in the Twentieth Century by their own armed forces than populations, more elected or selected leaders have taken their nation and armed forces into unlawful and terrible times than have armed law abiding populations.

I would be more convinced of the tender thoughtfulness of nations that don't buy nukes, threaten their neighbors with nukes, nor seem to want to have the only nukes in town. Suitcase nukes are possible, but then suicide bombers don't need nukes to kill thousands do they? and not one person I know thinks building bombs for terrorizing the neighbors is a good thing - I am almost sure they are illegal, so why hasn't the government been able to stop their production?

But in the end - nothing the government does to prevent the spread of nukes has worked, will work and it doesn't promote peace - we have been at war too long since the last time we dropped nuclear weapons. Maybe not nuclear war but the list of dead in Southeast Asia since 1945 is nothing to ignore.

So how does that equate to wanting to make sure your neighbor doesn't have an automatic submachine gun? You won't know he has it until he uses it wrongly. If he has been paying his tax, he could have three or four - they aren't illegal, just need to have a Federal Tax paid. May be no new ones issued, but I know there are neighbors that own some.

The laws that work are the ones that punish the criminal for using a weapon in commission of a crime, those are the ones that make a criminal think before acting. If he fears enough to use a firearm in the commission of a crime no law on the books anywhere is going to stop his getting and using a weapon. You can't own firearms in Mexico I understand, but most homes have military rifles issued by the government in Switzerland. Which country has large armed gangs, massive drug problems and is a really poor place to raise a family? It is not what size or type of weapon your neighbor has, it is more important what kind of a kind neighbor he is... and our government can't guarantee that either.