I haven\u2019t had much interest in writing lately but every now and then the urge hits me \u2013 this is one of those times. I recently came a across an advice column written by Amy Dickinson that I simply can\u2019t not comment on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What caught my eye was this letter and reply on firearms<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Amy<\/strong>: This week, I discovered that my intelligent, hard-working, responsible 24-year-old daughter (who lives with me) is a gun owner! And it\u2019s not a normal gun, either \u2014 it is a 40-caliber semi-automatic, and she has hollow-point bullets to go with it.<\/p> Amy, this is the kind of weapon a criminal would possess! She says it is for emergencies. There have only been two home invasions in our neighborhood in the last 11 years.<\/p> I\u2019ve given her three choices: She can either give her weapon to me, sell it or move out in three weeks.<\/p> I love my daughter and would be so sad for her to move into a place that she would hardly be able to afford, but now I have to lock my bedroom door at night because I don\u2019t know what she\u2019s going to do.<\/p> Now she says that I don\u2019t trust her, and is barely speaking to me. How can I convince her to stop endangering us?<\/p> Dumbfounded Father<\/p> Dear Dumbfounded<\/strong>: According to my research, possessing hollow-point bullets is illegal in 11 states; is it legal in your state to own this sort of exploding ammunition?<\/p> In a report published in 2015, researchers at the University of Chicago found that 31 percent of households reported having a firearm in 2014, down from about 48 percent in 1980.<\/p> According to this study, there are more guns, but concentrated in fewer households. Why must your household be one of them?<\/p> Where did your daughter get this weapon and ammunition? Has she received any safety training or certification? (Accidental gun death is a substantial risk of owning a gun.) Is she perhaps engaged in another activity outside of your household that exposes her to increased risks and makes her believe she needs to have a weapon?<\/p> I have news for you: A locked bedroom door is no match for this weaponry; as I write this, just five days ago a father in South Carolina tragically shot and killed his own 23-year-old daughter through a closed door \u2014 when he mistook her for an intruder.<\/p> I agree with your ultimatum; I also weep that there is yet another (likely unsafe) gun owner in this country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Ok I\u2019m not really sure where to start, there so many false assumptions\nand flat out falsehoods here it\u2019s hard to keep track of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First hollow-point bullets do not explode; they expand or mushroom when they hit something. They are widely used by law enforcement and civilian shooters alike because their expansion and controlled penetration greatly reduce the risk of over penetration that could injure innocent bystanders.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Dickinson further claims that hollow-point ammunition is\nbanned in 11 states. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is completely false \u2013 only one state \u2013 New Jersey \u2013 and one city \u2013 San Francisco \u2013 specifically prohibit that possession hollow-point ammunition by civilians. And New Jersey and California have both long treated gun owners as second class citizens and the Second Amendment like the bastard stepchild of the Bill of Rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol is a perfectly\nnormal gun. In fact semi-automatic pistols are the most popular firearms in\nAmerica today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although their popularity has waned a bit in recent years .40 caliber semi-automatic pistols are still widely used by law enforcement agencies and civilian shooters alike. Millions of law abiding Americans use them every day for everything from self-defense, to target shooting and competition. Just because Dumbfounded Father\u2019s daughter owns .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s involved in anything nefarious. I can\u2019t find any data that shows .40 caliber pistols are especially popular with criminals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As an aside .40 caliber semi-automatic pistols were, until fairly recently, standard issue for the FBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third Ms. Dickinson claims \u201cAccidental gun death is a substantial risk of owning a gun.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Really? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I looked at data<\/a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics which shows otherwise. According to the CDC there were a total of 38,658 firearms related deaths in the United States in 2016. Of those, just 495, were the result of the accidental discharge of a firearm. Compare that with drowning, 3,786 deaths, or motor vehicle accidents, 40,327 deaths. Simply put, statistically, the swimming pool in your backyard or the car in your garage is more likely to kill you than a gun in your home. Hell, you\u2019re more likely kill yourself by falling in the tub or falling down the stairs than by accidently shooting yourself (falls caused 34,673 deaths in 2016). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth Ms. Dickinson assumes that Dumbfounded Father\u2019s\ndaughter is likely an unsafe gun owner. Why? What evidence does she have to\nsupport that conclusion? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dumbfounded Father describes his daughter as \u201cintelligent, hard-working and responsible\u201d so I think it\u2019s safe to assume she bought her gun legally from a licensed dealer. Like most people do. That means she would have undergone a background check (which she had to passed) in order to take possession of the firearm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And if she\u2019s as \u201cintelligent, hard-working and responsible\u201d as Dumbfounded Father claims she more than likely would have sought training. Once again that’s what \u201cintelligent, hard-working and responsible\u201d gun owers do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The dealer she bought her gun from more than likely offered her training or refered her to a local training class. At the very they least would have shown her how to safely load and unload her pistol. Which is also something that’s covered in the instruction manual that came with the firearm. Even if she bought the pistol used from a private party she could have easily downloaded the manual from the manufactures web site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Firearms training classes aren’t difficult to find either \u2013 there are literally thousands of NRA certified trainers all over the United States. They even offer online classes. Just go to https:\/\/firearmtraining.nra.org\/<\/a> or https:\/\/onlinetraining.nra.org\/<\/a> to find out more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly let\u2019s talk about Dumbfounded Father\u2019s ultimatum to\nhis daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The simple truth is, in this country law abiding Americans have a God given, constitutionally protected right to own and use firearms for lawful purposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Frankly, I think Dumbfounded Father is allowing his irrational fear of firearms cloud his judgement. DF needs to think long and hard about what\u2019s more important to him: his relationship with daughter or his fear of guns. As it is his he risks allienating his daughter and permenantely damaging their relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My advice for Dumbfounded Father, take a firearms training\nclass with your daughter. Go to the range with her, learn to shoot with her. She\u2019ll\nprobably surprise you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s actually a lot of fun and will probably bring the two of you closer together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I haven\u2019t had much interest in writing lately but every now and then the urge hits me \u2013 this is one of those times. I recently came a across an advice column written by Amy Dickinson that I simply can\u2019t not comment on. What caught my eye was this letter and reply on firearms: Dear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,52,19,53,963],"tags":[1387,1388,1320,725,1381],"class_list":["post-8347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-culture","category-guns","category-media","category-second-amendment","category-stuck-on-stupid","tag-amy-dickinson","tag-ask-amy","tag-safety","tag-shooting","tag-stuck-on-stupid","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-2aD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4839,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/03\/stuck-on-stupid-belleville-cops-booted-from-dennys-for-carrying-their-guns\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":0},"title":"Stuck on Stupid: Belleville Cops Booted From Denny’s For… Carrying Their Guns","author":"Jeff","date":"January 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Just when I think I've seen or heard it all, someone, somewhere finds a way to take stupid to whole new level... Consider for a moment the manager of a Denny's restaurant in Belleville,\u00a0Illinois who asked five plain clothes police officers to either lock their weapons in their cars or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5643,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/27\/federal-district-court-strikes-down-nations-last-explicit-ban-on-carrying-a-gun-in-public\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":1},"title":"Federal District Court Strikes Down Nation’s Last Explicit Ban on Carrying a Gun in Public","author":"Jeff","date":"July 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Roughly a year after the Supreme Court's decision in Dist. of Columbia v. Heller ended Washington D.C.'s defacto gun ban in 2008, Tom Palmer, George Lyon, Ed Raymond & Amy McVey filed a lawsuit along with the Second Amendment Foundation in U.S. District Court claiming the District's total ban on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5030,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/17\/ms-magazine-mocks-gun-owners-with-my-month-with-a-gun-blog\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":2},"title":"Ms. Magazine Mocks Gun Owners with ‘My Month with A Gun’ Blog","author":"Jeff","date":"June 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been enjoying a blogging hiatus, but when I spotted this link to Heidi Yewman's Ms. Magazine Blog series titled 'My Month with A Gun', I decided to interrupt my hiatus and weigh in with my two cents. Ms. Yewman is a career anti-gun activist, from Vancouver, WA, she's doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Guns"","block_context":{"text":"Guns","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/guns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4545,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/27\/bill-oreilly-pinhead\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":3},"title":"Bill O’Reilly: Pinhead","author":"Jeff","date":"July 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, I said it, and I mean it... Bill O'Reilly is a pinhead. I'm a little late getting to this, but I can't let this ill-informed rant by Mr. O'Reilly pass without comment. Look I'm not a Bill O'Reilly fan, I think he's the worst kind of self-important, self-righteous, populist\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5055,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/24\/ms-magazine-pulls-plug-on-my-month-with-a-gun-blog\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":4},"title":"Ms. Magazine Pulls Plug on \u2018My Month with A Gun\u2019 Blog","author":"Jeff","date":"June 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Ms. Magazine editor Michele Kort has apparently decided to pull the plug on Heidi Yewman's three part \u2018My Month with A Gun\u2019 blog because \"gun blogs\" had discovered series and were highly critical of Ms. Yewman's actions: \u201cSo, Heidi,\u201d began the email to Heidi Yewman from Michele Kort, her editor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Guns"","block_context":{"text":"Guns","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/guns\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3289,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/04\/11\/congratulations-to-phil-mickelson\/","url_meta":{"origin":8347,"position":5},"title":"Congratulations to Phil Mickelson","author":"Jeff","date":"April 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Wow, what a weekend! I can't think of better or more fitting ending to the years first major than Phil Mickelson's emotional embrace of his wife Amy after winning his third Masters title: AUGUSTA, Ga. \u2013 Even sweeter than Phil Mickelson slipping into another green jacket was seeing his wife\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","block_context":{"text":"Sports","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/sports\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/phil_and_amy-300x214.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}