My point is, it really wouldn't be much harder to obtain a gun. It is so easy to get an illegal gun, you wouldn't believe it.

I know plenty of stories where people's lives were saved by guns, and plenty whose were harmed or destroyed by guns. I don't think it's effective to outlaw guns until you can get guns from the ones who use them illegally.

I also think there would be fewer deaths if people learned to use a gun properly after buying them. That's not to say there wouldn't still be accidents and guns ending up in the wrong hands (let alone criminals), but there would be fewer.

Just curious...when you say you don't want guns, do you feel the police should be able to have guns, or no one should be able to have them?

The other reason for guns and other weapons in the Constitution is to be able to protect ourselves from our own government. Yeah, I know that's laughable now, because our government has weapons beyond those you can find on the street, but at the time of the writing of the Constitution, that was more perceivable.

On the actual topic of this thread, I can't help it...I see myself, and the mentally ill, and others, as defective. I do not see myself living in "another way of being." OCD and panic disorder are torture. Being in pain is not normal. Having a mental illness is not normal, and it is a defect to me. While everyone is imperfect, there are certain physical and mental characteristics and certain abilities I think we're supposed to be born with. But just because something's defective, doesn't mean it can't be fixed.

I know there are a lot of people who will disagree with me, but I don't know how to see it any other way. This is what I'm convinced.