[glatt]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

You're really batting 0.000 on this. I just got done telling you about the guns made IN PRISON.

Ah, yes. Unreliable single-shot zip guns, which are just as likely to blow up in your hand as fire in the general direction of where you are pointing the thing. Would the gunman who killed 5 Amish girls have been able to do that with a single shot imprecise weapon?

Originally Posted by MaggieL

I'm sure ATF will be interested in your theory that "there are no criminals who make guns", because they arrest people for making guns in ways ATF doesn't approve of fairly frequently.

I assume you are talking about gunsmiths who modify guns or make guns. Now you are relying on semantics and Bill Clinton style arguments that have to do with defining words. They are otherwise law abiding citizens who only become "criminals" when they make a gun with the wrong features. These guys aren't generally drug users looking to mug someone to get money for their next fix. Nice try.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Banning guns would have the same effect on availability of guns for criminals that banning drugs and banning alcohol did. It might raise the price, but that's about it.

You keep repeating that, but you ignore how easy it is to make alcohol and drugs. They are very easy to smuggle and also manufacture in our own border. I'm not going to, but I could make both myself. Making a real gun isn't nearly as easy, and smuggling them, while possible, isn't easy either.

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Since you claim it's a numbers game, tell us how many crime guns there are per year, so we can see exactly how "astronomical" it is, and how impossible to smuggle/manufacture them. Bear in mind that many crime guns are used in multiple crimes, so a simple count of gun crime won't cut it. Also remember that in this day of NC machining, a gun design is basically software. (In fact, my carry piece was made on NC milling machines in a shop that does other work besides firearms manufacture.)

You can do your own research. Do you deny that gun use in crimes is widespread? After all, you own guns to defend yourself against others, so clearly you must think some bad guys have them. Maybe "astronomical" was a bad choice of words. You probably had a mental image of Carl Sagan saying "billions and billions."