Senator James Webb, frickin' cowboy

[Hilary the Touched]

I supported James Webb in his run for the senate, and I agree with many of his actions, but I have to say that I find the recent arrest of his aide for carrying a loaded pistol into the Russell Senate Office Building embarrassing.

I think people who insist on keeping handguns are asshats, and those who drive around with them in their possession are even more so (with the obvious exception of law enforcement officers).
I've never seen defensible statistics supporting Webb's assertion that crime is diminished in locales where gun carrying is permitted; people often point to the District of Columbia, where gun ownership is strictly controlled, to demonstrate that it doesn't work to diminish crime.
WELL DUH. The District is a tiny geographical area separated by only a river from a state where they practically give you shotgun if you super-size your Slurpee at the 7-11--no shit there's a lot of guns in D.C.

Here's a point you never hear discussed: my ex-husband (a military police officer) once told me that approximately one-third of guns used in the commission of a crime were acquired by stealing them from non-criminals. Yeah. Some dude breaks into your house to steal your laptop, and bonus! There's your pistol, tucked into the drawer of your bedside table.
My feeling? If you don't have possession of a gun, you can't shoot somebody with a gun. Accidentally or otherwise. And neither can your 7 1/2-year-old kid.

[Moira]

I supported James Webb in his run for the senate, and I agree with many of his actions, but I have to say that I find the recent arrest of his aide for carrying a loaded pistol into the Russell Senate Office Building embarrassing.

Wait a minnit, how did the aide manage to get a loaded gun in there?? I did a segment for Good Morning America last November that was filmed in the Russell Senate Office Building's Rotunda, and there are metal detectors. Are aides not required to go through them? If not, there's a giant whole in our amazing security system.

I completely agree with you about guns. If you keep it in your house to blow away robbers and rapists, how do you think you're going to wake up fast enough to grab your weapon before the intruder uses his? Especially if you have it locked away so Timmy won't blow his own head off. Do people really think they're going to sense the presense of an intruder with time enough to get to wherever the weapon is stored, unlock it, and have it at the ready when the intruder shows himself?

And most acts of violence are done by people who are acquainted with each other, or are related. So that person may already know that you have a weapon, and where you keep it, and come prepared, and not in the middle of the night.

America's gun culture is insane.