Ignorant? Well, there evidently are a whole lot more folks out there who think like I do. Otherwise, how do you suppose the editor and Metcalf were quickly terminated? Lots of folks canceled their subscriptions to G&A. And expressed their displeasure on countless other gun forums. Didn't a constitution framer once say "Those who would give up freedom for safety,deserve neither" or words to that effect. The constitution doesn't mention the safety of the populous, if I remember correctly. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
A large number of people thinking the same thing doesn't mean a lack of ignorance.
A lot of people used to think that the world was flat and that you'd fall off the edge if you went too far out into the ocean.
There were a lot of them, but they were still ignorant of the reality and as a result, wrong.
I'm not saying that you are wrong in this instance, just that your argument that there are many of you, therefore you must be right, doesn't work.
I haven't read Metcalf's article and don't know if I will get a chance to, but from the bits that I've seen, I can understand how what he wrote was just handing the anti-gunners an opportunity they couldn't afford to not exploit.
That was poor judgement on his part. Whether it was worth him being fired, I'm not a subscriber, so I don't have a dog in that fight and so I'm not even going to chime in on it.
As far as training goes, I don't think that it should have to be compulsory, I would think that every responsible gun owner and every citizen who is even remotely serious about his or her duty as a member of the militia would see getting training - even minimal training - as an obligation.
Like many things, any idiot can shoot a gun. What makes the difference is the ability to proficiently OPERATE - not just shoot, but maintain, load, unload and safely handle - a weapon(s).
Demonstrating that ability instills confidence, not only in the shooter, but also in those around the shooter.
Having a common set of training standards developed by gun owners and training centers (Gunsite, etc) and getting those standards recognized by as many LE agencies as possible and getting gun owners to VOLUNTARILY agree to meet them would be the ideal situation and would take one more argument away from the anti-gunners.
o͞opid/
