Mark Alexander
You're a bad man. You're a very bad man!
Irreverent, independent, and often snarky partnered married gay boomer and doggie dad who is tired of moral pontification by hypocritical conservative assholes and hate filled religious bigots.
Based on some recent incidents, let me reiterate: If you are the owner of a photo that appears on this site and wish it removed, you don't need to get all legal and send threatening letters and takedown notices; just email me with the photo's URL or leave a comment on the offending post and I will gladly remove it.
In other words…
Retirement
(That's actual number of calendar days. It's a whole lot less if you remove weekends and holidays. And even less than that if you calculate the actual number of days I have to come into the office!)
In the 1950s or 1960s, if a kid had a gun, it was because they might live on a farm or ranch, go deer hunting, or need to shoot critters who ate their crops or killed their animals. Valid reasons to own a gun, back then. It was a "right of passage" or sorts, meaning the offspring had reached a certain level of maturity to have and handle the firearm respectfully and use it for what it was needed for.
Just as we now have generations who liked monster trucks and such having gotten old enough to afford "the truck of their dreams", resulting in the lifted trucks outfitted with monster tires just to drive around in (and look cool to them), we now have many military veterans who were in Desert Storm and similar whose sons now want "guns like Daddy used" for their own. Not for target practice or to hone their shooting skills, but for the ego boost it give them and the possible adrenaline rush it give them when they pull the trigger and feel the power of the situation, to them.
Single-shot deer rifles and similar have a place in our society, but "assault rifles" and fast-shot/repeater guns do not, best I can tell. Just watch some old "The Untouchables" tv shows to see how much a machine gun helped the "bad guys" get what they wanted.
FWIW.