American's treating guns with respect? You can't be serious. About 10%
of the gun owners I know keep them in a safe.

Average number of firearm thefts that occur every year in the US:
341,000
(Source: US Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Guns and
Crime, 4/94)



"Simon Robbins" wrote in message ...
"B2431" wrote in message
...
He didn't say "original intention," he said "only purpose" and Colt did
make
target pistols.

Let's make an analogy to what you suggest. For thousands of years bows and
arrows have been weapons of war. Today they are primarily used for
competition
or entertainment with some people using them for hunting. If a weapon's
orininal intent is to kill people then we should also ban archery and the
javelin from the Olympics.

I wouldn't advocate banning either archery or pistol shooting from
competitive sport. That's not really my point. And as I stated earlier,
even being a Brit, I'm not anti-gun. I actually admire the (vast majority)
of the American public for being mature enough to keep guns with the respect
they deserve. (I don't think the British, not having had a culture of
large-scale gun ownership, could display the same inherent respect were the
law here to be suddenly changed.)

Until a few years ago it was possible for a UK ctizen to legally own a
pistol for competition, but following a single well-publicised incident
where a legitimate owner turned his guns on a playground full of children
the law was changed to ban ownership outright, rather than address the
failings of the licensing system that enabled an unstable individual to
obtain them. Having said that, most competitive target shooters accept that
gas-pistols are an acceptable, though not preferable, alternative.

Si