Crooks buy guns to use in safe (for them) enviornments...

WOW! That sounds like it took a brain surgeon to figure out. Or not.

A NY Times story tells of a recent study that finds criminals will obtain guns from states with lax gun laws to use in states with stricter gun laws. DUH!! No kidding?

Here's the story; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/us/politics/27guns.html?_r=1

The takeaway quote for me was this: “A state’s gun laws are only as good as the weakest link in the national chain,” Professor Fox said. “A state with weaker gun laws becomes a supplier for states with stronger laws.”

He has it backwards. IMO the weakest link isn't the state that allows easy access to firearms. The weakest link is the state with the strictest gun laws.

Here's my solution to the problem: All states should allow for easily obtained firearms. Then the criminals won't be taking guns from a state where John Q. Public is likely to blow the crook's head off in the commission of a crime, to a state where calling 911 is touted as being the answer to hearing some creep breaking into your kid's bedroom.

Yes, there are nuts who shouldn't have firearms. Some of them are on the front lines of this debate avidly pushing for the right to buy cruise missiles for the back yard (that is an exaggeration, but not much of one).

However I'd rather have a chance to defend myself properly than have to wait and hope the idiot at the 911 call center properly prioritizes my call and the cops are close enough when needed.

Not all 911 operators are idiots, but it only takes one. The wife and I have had the pleasure (?) of dealing with that one.

My old man had a lot of faults but he DID leave me some good advice. One of his admonitions was, "Don't point a gun unless you plan to shoot it, don't shoot it unless you shoot to kill."