Really depends on your definition of "fair", doesn't it? Does fair mean everyone pays the same, or that everyone pays the same percentage of their income? Only one of those can be the case, and either way, its "unfair" under the other definition. Which is why, I suppose, we have BOTH income tax and sales tax: to cover all the bases of unfairness. :P

Seconded. Shielding children from things isn't always a bad thing, and its a large part of what parenting *IS*. Children don't start out with the ability to make informed decisions; you cannot just let them run wild on the internets and expect that they can properly understand everything they might see there until they have had enough life experience and context.

This must be why my one-year-old finds my keyboard and mice cables so fascinating, and constantly pulls them down.

Actually,equipped with the blutsauger, the medic can be quite competent on offense.

"However, it baffles me that people think that carrying a gun will somehow protect them from the bullets of other people carrying guns. I suppose "As long as I kill him first, I won't get hit". But I don't get where people have the confidence that they will win so overwhelmingly (especially if they aren't trained)."

It won't stop his bullets, you're right about that. And I won't necessarily kill him first.

But having a gun at least gives me a CHANCE, rather than leaving me at the "mercy" of this gun-wielding person who has already shown disregard of the law sufficient to break into my house. What's to stop him shooting me if I don't have a gun? His clearly superior ethics?

No, you only need to leave it unlocked once AND have that one time be coincidentally the ONE time a kid goes looking for it. Still bad, but much less likely than you are implying.

"properly handled and locked up, they're no more dangerous than a hammer " What part of "Properly handled and locked up" did you get lost on? Your comparisons fail, at least as a counter to the above post.