Sorry for the hackneyed title, but I couldn’t resist. Anyway … time for another polarizing topic.
Mark Frauenfelder, in Gun owners are the happiest people in the US (Boing Boing), quotes Arthur C. Brooks’ WSJ article Trigger Happy (may be transient link), which says ‘In 2006, 36% of gun owners said they were “very happy,” while 9% were “not too happy.” Meanwhile, only 30% of people without guns were very happy, and 16% were not too happy.’
You may find the comments at Boing Boing entertaining. Or not. Whatever.
I grew up with guns. They were not hidden — in fact, there was an open gun rack on the den wall, with rifle and shotgun in easy reach, and a pistol or two in the desk drawer. A gun was nothing “special”, just another to-be-respected item, along with fast cars, pre-OSHA farm equipment that could kill you just as fast, pre-EPA pesticides that could kill you slower, and large dangerous animals running loose, angry about being food, I suppose. You tended to assume that everyone had guns, and it wasn’t unusual to run across someone in the fields or woods who was armed. No big deal.
Circumstances change; however, I do believe in responsible gun ownership. I’m just sayin’.
Update: see my Second Amendment post.
