- I only attended two conference calls with the American Hunters and Shooters Association and was on the "advisory board" for only a short period of time when I found it was not my cup of tea. I wanted to further the female perspective in the world of gun ownership, but it was not the right arena in which to do so.
- I believe that every U.S. citizen who has a legal right to own a gun should be able to do so. When I say "legal right", my intent is to make sure felons, especially those with violent criminal backgrounds, have no right to own and operate a gun. If that makes me "anti-gun", so be it.
- As a responsible gun owner who uses her weapon for personal defense and protection, I still see no purpose whatsoever to own a weapon with a magazine that contains more than 10 rounds of ammo. However, if someone wants to own one, then it should be registered with the ATF. Not saying a legal citizen can't own one, but as a strong supporter of our men and women in blue, there needs to be some regulation on that kind of power to prevent police officers from walking into an ambush if such an owner takes a turn to the dark side.
- I'm against any U.S. jurisdiction that prohibits residents from owning a gun for personal protection. We should have the right to protect ourselves with at least the basic protection of a handgun. If I eventually move to NYC, you can bet my handgun's coming with me.
I think of our fine nation's founding fathers and try to put myself in their shoes when they developed the second amendment. Young America was much different back then - hell women couldn't vote and many owned slaves - and the basis of this amendment was likely more for personal protection against the British militia from rampaging into the cities and towns of our young nation. Our founding fathers could not have the insight to the advances in technology - they were thinking with muskets and bayonets, not AK-47s and sawed-off shotguns. If they would have had the insight of how guns and ammo would advance in 200+ years from the time they crafted the U.S. Constitution, I think the second amendment would have been more specifically defined.
Nevertheless, I'm not paid nor have I ever been paid by anyone from the anti-gun side of the fence to take any of my stands or opinions. The only thing that has influenced my opinions is life itself - having a best friend in high school murdered by a felon's bullet; being mugged on the street via a gun; going to the funeral of a highly respected police officer who was blown away by a shotgun fired by a convicted felon; and seeing a dead child on the floor of a bedroom who accidentally got ahold of a gun that should have been locked by his parents. I'm not saying that anyone should give up their guns, but that it's not the worst thing in the world to have such guns registered and known by law enforcement. I'm perfectly happy to let officials know what I have in my house - I have nothing to hide.
