I am hardly what you would call a gun-nut, although as a summer camper I did participate avidly for a few years in the NRA's target-shooting program for kids. Later, just out of college, intending to buy a handgun, I applied for a permit under New Jersey's very stringent rules. I needed the local police chief to vouch for my good character, and my fingerprints were taken and sent off to the FBI. I went through this approval process twice over the years, both times letting the permit expire unused. Here in Colorado it is easier to purchase a gun, but I own only one -- a .22 Ruger rifle that I use for target shooting. But I do not own a handgun, and I have serious reservations about buying one, since I worry that my kids would somehow find it, disable the trigger lock, load and fire it without my permission. I know this is so because, as a teenager, I inadvertently came upon the combination to a vault that lay behind a secret panel in my father's bedroom closet. The combination was written on a scrap of paper that I found among some cummerbunds that he kept in a box. If I was able to find the combination to his safe, and to open it (as I did), then my kids could surely find a way to get into mischief with anything I might try to hide from them. Zero Impact But Monday's deadly shooting rampage at Virginia Tech has caused me to reflect on my mild gun-shyness. The incident will doubtless be seized upon by many gun-control advocates as yet one more reason to ban handguns. Personally, I feel very strongly that this is the wrong answer ' that even a total ban would have zero impact
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