Respect for guns

AS A 16-year-old youth, I had the privilege of attending Burnham Military Camp, along with a number of others, to obtain a gun licence.

For most, being there to obtain a gun licence was the sole criteria in attending, but the army also benefited by giving an insight into what military life might be like. The overwhelming experience was one of respect. A gun has one objective – it is designed to kill. It cannot discriminate. After obtaining the gun licence, it was left to the individual, whether or not anyone chose to own a gun. Personally, I’ve never felt inclined to do so. But I have worked alongside a number of individuals who have owned guns. Some of them have been ‘‘vets’’ – exservicemen – others simply recreational shooters, but the one thing they all shared in common was respect. I could never imagine living in a society with a cavalier attitude to gun control, or one where you could find a gun just ‘‘stashed’’ away. The horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut, shows how vigilant we need to be when it comes to gun control. YOU ARE right: ‘‘It’s time for US president to act on gun control’’ (Editorial, December 16) and ignore the gun lobby who have won every time at a cost of hundreds of young lives.

For all his faults, after a massacre in Australia, PM John Howard had the gumption to pass such a law and rid Australia of hundreds of thousands of automatic guns that at times will fall into the hands of vengeful or unsound people as happens every few months in the US. Will President Obama act now regardless of the powerful lobby and save young lives in the future?

The need to carry arms there died with the last cowboy. Yet the gun lobby said the school should have had guns to fight back. How insane is that? Imagine giving automatic guns to every school in New Zealand in case and seeing them used against our kids? Just plain crazy by gun mad people.

I was once worried as I knew of a woman carrying on an affair and the husband kept a loaded hunting rifle in his house. I was concerned he would find out and get out his rifle to kill both. Guns in houses should be the exception. Too risky for many. IN THE the furore about gun control, clear thinking is called for. That contains real surprises. In the Sandy Hook Elementary school, more guns would have saved lives.

Principal Hochsprung ran out and was shot. Presumably did not have a gun. She should have put one eye round the corner and shot the gunman, I say. Not nice. Still better than the actual outcome. School psychologist, same story.

Journalist Ezra Klein finds ‘‘lots of guns don’t necessarily mean lots of shootings’’ examples, Israel and Switzerland. Further in the same report ‘‘more guns means more murders’’ from Harvard. The salient point is that the shooter had signalled serious signs of need of help, more support, more human care. In some cases, lifetime prison or mental hospital required. Horrid, but better than killing a horde of innocent people first.