Except for a single season of hunting deer, the rifle has sat in one closet or another since then gathering almost a quarter century of dust. So neglected has it been that some years I couldn't even remember whether I still had it or whether I had thrown it in a dumpster with my leisure suit. And there are probably millions of people in the country like me. In point of fact, other than hunters, ranchers, and farmers, almost nobody in America needs a gun. And certainly, were there not the oft-argued Constitutional right to lean on, only a mere handful could justify handgun ownership.
Pistols are a part of our heritage, but America is no longer a frontier society.
If many arguments are still settled in a blaze of gunfire, that's because there are too many weapons at the fingertips of too many hotheads. It's not because no other avenues of recourse exist. And as crime rates continue to drop nationally, the self-protection defense for handguns sinks, too. Surely, an argument can be made for gun ownership. And smooth, well-crafted weapons can be every bit as beautiful an article of artisanship as an automobile or a piece of pottery.