Actually, I think my position on gun control is pretty nuanced.

Actually, I think my position on gun control is pretty nuanced.  On the one hand, I live in a densely populated part of a big city.  There is no direction you can aim a gun without threatening life and property and prudent people try not to put themselves in a position where they have to make the choice whether to fire a gun or not.  When I hear gunfire in the night I do not assume that it is the sound of a property owner protecting his home.  The odds are greatly in favor of it being criminal activity because criminals often have a reckless disregard for life and property.  On the other hand, my work frequently takes me out through ranchland into the mountains.  Out there, at the end of twenty miles of bad road, I expect the neighbors to have firearms and to be proficient in their use.  If I hear the sound of gunfire out there on the ranches I do not assume criminal activity because, out there, the legitimate uses of firearms greatly outnumber the possible criminal uses. 

Some of the arguments, pro and con, in the gun control debate are ludicrous.   Even the strictest gun control laws will not take guns away from criminals.  They will, typically, only disarm potential victims. Nor do I believe that gun control would equate to a reduction in violence.   Even if it were possible to disarm a majority of the criminals, the U.S. would remain a remarkably violent country by the standards of the developed world. Trying to reduce the murder rate in this country is a complex problem and will have to involve more than taking away a few of the common murder weapons.  On the other side of the argument I have to take issue with those who have fantasies of being able to fight off government troops armed with deer rifles.   A few dozen of these survivalist types would be no match for a couple Blackhawk helicopters.  If you want to arm yourself against a government takeover, arm yourself with knowledge.  Try to build community instead of disparaging people who disagree with you.   Those are things they can’t take away.