Catherine

I do not have the time to respond to every one of your claims here, except to say individual circumstances vary and the vast majority of civilian-owned firearms that "make an appearance" in self-defense SAVE many, many lives every year -- and those are almost never reported (certainly not nationally; sometimes locally). I will address your assertion above, though. You have stated what can be termed the "Quaker fallacy" -- that if you save your own life by killing another, that makes YOU a bad person. WRONG. Utterly. You did not invade another's house, looking to steal, attack, or kill. Most of those who are "just" burglars will flee INSTANTLY when faced with a homeowner with a gun. Those who do not would not stop until one of you was dead, regardless. It is your right and your -duty- to protect your own life against one who will kill you. The injunction is not "do not kill" but rather "do not murder." Please listen to Rabbi Daniel Lapin's most-excellent CD on the Ten Commandments where he makes this point and distinction far better than I could. To save your own life is to protect a gift given to you by your Creator, against one who has no right to take it from you. You would only become a bad person if you left your house, malice aforethought, with the intent to hunt someone down to maim or kill. To refuse to defend self (as some Quakers espouse) frees those evil-doers to wreak havoc at will, knowing that none will stop them. It is tantamount to proclaiming that evil may propagate unchecked through the land. “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer I will add "inaction" to Rev. Bonhoeffer's quote. Now, a couple other minor bits: I did not intend to judge parents harshly. The intent was to show there are other ways to handle the presence of firearms in the house. That which is hidden, not discussed, but NOT locked up is a serious temptation to children. If a family wishes to not speak about their firearms with the kids, they need to keep them locked where the kids cannot get at them. When one is not home, firearms need to be securely locked. No one breaking into this house could put their hands on ANY of our guns, no matter how long they were in here. The fire you mentioned in a later post? No firearms and no ammunition would be responsible for explosions. Cartridges do NOT "shoot" unless they are in a barrel. Over-cooked the powder could burn, yes, and they'd be ruined and might cause small damage in the immediate vicinity. FAR less damage than you can cause with a soda bottle, vinegar, and baking soda. Large quantities of powder (if they were reloaders) could make a nasty hot spot in a fire, but powder BURNS, it does not explode. For explosions, look at the fireworks -- those are designed to have small explosions and propel the sparkly bits. Again I will say: the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Firearms exist. The bad guys will ALWAYS be able to get their hands on them. We can either let the bad guys have ALL of them, or we can stop interfering with the good guys trying to own them legally. And the purpose of the Second Amendment is to insure that the government NEVER stops the citizenry from owning firearms, as that is OUR last defense against tyranny in government. I'm done on this topic -- there are plenty of articles and info available online, including my web site at www.constitutiondecoded.com.

Lord Monckton in St. Paul a couple years ago -- fabulous. Just fabulous. http://youtu.be/4zOXmJ4jd-8

My family and I are all safe. Worst thing that happened to me today was a migraine and that is getting better. Thanks to all but I'm not quite up to doing lots of computer posting yet; enough headache remnants. Actually came here to get the alternative to malwarebytes reference for my younger girl.

I'm going to re-do all my ATX returns in Drake over the summer (and maybe re-try the Drake returns in ATX, although they got done in Drake when ATX seized up and would not work at all). That way I'll be ready no matter which way I decide to go, plus I should be much more facile with Drake than I currently am. No way I'd make a final decision on software for next year any time soon, though.

First, that is already illegal indeed. So making it "more" illegal by passing yet another law is senseless; how about trying to ENFORCE the law already on the books instead! (They're making the same noises about machine guns -- which are "automatic" firearms; multiple shots per trigger squeeze. Those sales have been prohibited since the 1930's. Anyone who wants to have a machine guns has incredible hoops to jump through and has to be a collector, have extensive investigations, has to have that re-done every year, has to pay for a very expensive annual federal license...) Nothing would change (especially if they don't enforce the new law, too -- kind of like what they don't do about illegal aliens crossing the borders). It only scores political points for those who want to be able to boast about what THEY did to "stop" illegal gun sales. Posturing, that's all.

1. No, dear. The problem goes back far deeper, to yet _another_ government action taken for humane reasons that (as so very often happens) ultimately had the opposite effect of what was intended. That problem was the state mental hospitals over-medicating people and holding people who had treatable mental illnesses under life sentences. Instead of putting those facilities under closer scrutiny and external (and public) review, they were shut down. Now, to get someone who is dangerous locked away, they must FIRST commit some crime or atrocity; they can no longer be shut away before they kill. It is a very complex problem with deep roots. The base of it, though, is still evil, the desire of evil to destroy, and the choice by persons to act on evil thoughts, desires, and impulses. 2. Knowing there was a shotgun or rifle available on-site might have stopped this atrocity before it started. Really - if YOU wanted to cause major mayhem, would you not purposely choose a place undefended? And if you knew your preferred target WAS defended, wouldn't you go elsewhere? Think of something else? The known existence of firearms in location X is itself a deterrent. That said, nothing ultimately will stop a madman (or "just" a bad man with a gun) except a good guy with a gun. 3. The exacto knife attack hurt a couple dozen people; at least one critically. Another knife attack in China a couple months ago killed over a dozen. Dead is dead, regardless of method. 4. Your neighbor's tragedy: tragic. Possibly avoidable had the family properly (1) kept their firearms locked away from children and (2) taught those same children that guns are NOT playthings. I was raised around guns; my grandfather made sure my brother and I knew how to handle them safely and that we knew how dangerous they could be and that they were NOT toys. I was perfectly safe around the shotguns (bird hunters, my dad and granddad both; pheasant cacciatore yum!) from a very early age. My brother as well. Other children -- depends on the kids. Both my girls learned to shoot air rifles first, then .22 rifle, then handguns once their hands were big enough and strong enough. Neither of them ever, for one second, was allowed to have unattended access to firearms, nor did either of them ever see them as toys. When their grandfather (on their dad's side) was a small boy, it was _standard_ practice for boys to get a single-shot .22 rifle for their 7th-8th-9th birthdays (depending on family finances and how big they were). Those rifles got taken to school every day, and on the way home they were to look for squirrels and rabbits for dinner. No school shootings; but there were (rare) instances of schoolboys protecting teachers. 5. Your last couple paragraphs get answered lumped together here. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle; Pandora's box cannot be closed; evil people with ill intent will NEVER license themselves or register firearms. We cannot keep drugs out of prisons guarded with armed guards 24/7. One can make a perfectly deadly weapon with plumbing parts, cooking utensils, and household items. It is incredibly dangerous to bury your head in the sand and wish it would all just go away. One never knows when the "hobby" firearm may be pulled out for personal defense. If an evil-doer breaks in with gun already drawn, then the law, followed by the law-abiding citizen, requiring HIS firearm to be in a locked case (rather than loaded and under his pillow), has itself endangered the good person. The law prohibiting the evildoer from owning a firearm already exists -- so how on earth could he possibly have one? He can't, right, so he doesn't, right? Can you see how ridiculous that assumption is? A defensive firearm is the only thing that makes a 70-something grandma or a 20-something female student the equal of a 200 pound rapist or thug. Civilian ownership of firearms generally is the best deterrent to government's tendencies to tyranny. Once we PERMANENTLY solve the problems of rape, thuggery, evil, and tyranny, THEN we can talk about only using firearms for target competition. But not one second before.

Yay Jack! For the poster who asked "what saves lives?" go here: http://gunssavelives.net/ you can browse by state, by gun type, and more.

Lion, dear, you are also missing the point. The point is that evil and deranged people will always find ways to destroy and to kill. NONE of the proposed additional regulations would have had even one iota of effect on Newtown. What COULD have helped in Newtown was a principal who had a locked cabinet with a loaded shotgun. A janitor or teacher with concealed-carry and defensive shooting training. Instead those poor, brave, defenseless souls tried to stop a killer with NOTHING on their side. If having firearms locked up and declaring "gun free zones" worked, then there would have been NO violence at Newtown -- the school had already been declared gun-free! So there were no guns there, right? Crazy does NOT mean stupid. Did you know that the Aurora CO killer purposefully did NOT go to any of the TEN theaters closer to his home? The one he went to, the one he carefully chose, was one that advertised itself as "gun free." He KNEW, going there, that NO ONE would be able to STOP him, and he could continue his murderous, evil spree until the cops showed up -- during which time he had sitting ducks. Victim creation. There was an attack at a school just a week or two ago, with an Exacto knife used as the weapon. Dozens hurt. Are we going to ban exacto knives? Pressure cookers, like they used just two days ago here in Boston? Fireplace pokers? Cars? More people are MURDERED every year with CLAW HAMMERS than with firearms. The worst mass killing in the US was at the beginning of the 1900's by a deranged man in Maine, who used TNT (or dynamite, or something - can look up details online) that he legally obtained (used in rural areas to get rid of tree stumps) and hoarded FOR A YEAR beforehand. Oklahoma City -- fertilizer and diesel fuel. EVIL is the problem; evil and the choice to commit an evil act. The tool is NOT the problem. Focusing on the tool DOES THE WORK OF EVIL because it leaves the REAL problem -- the problem of evil -- ignored while everyone gets all frantic to DO something about a tool!! Firearms, in the hands of law-abiding citizens, SAVE tens of thousands of lives EVERY year. Most of those times the gun is never fired; merely brought out in the open. We don't ban cars because drunk drivers kill (and kill far more people annually than all firearms deaths). We take away the drunks' licenses (and far too rarely, in my view). Mrs. Lanza may never have been called to defend her town. The Constitution says she should be ready IF called. The score-political-points-using-dead-children crowd think there should be no magazines with more than 7 rounds. So, it's OK with them for a killer to have 7-round magazines? That can be changed in seconds? And use them uninterrupted for 10-15 minutes until the SWAT team shows up? But not OK for someone defending their family (or the kids in their school) to have a 20-round magazine? Where is the sense in that? Define "lots" of ammunition? One state nitwit here in Mass said a few years ago she didn't know why anyone would "need" more than 50 rounds for practice in any week. If I am practicing Olympic standard pistol, I can go through 200 rounds in less than an hour. (My husband keeps telling me to try out for the US Olympic Team in Ladies Standard Pistol; someday I just might.) Maybe I don't know why anyone would "need" a BMW 7-series car; what's wrong with a Ford Focus or Pontiac Vibe? WHY is it the government's job to decide what I need? --It is NOT their job; and none of their damned business, either. A government that decides how much ammunition you "need" will next decide how much soda you can drink -- whether you may purchase water in plastic bottles in your town -- if meat is too "resource intensive" for people to eat -- whether you get treatment for your illness or not -- and turn King George's tyranny into benevolent negligence by comparison. The Constitution was designed to LIMIT the government's power over individuals and keep it OUT of our day to day lives. I say again -- the proper place to look for answers is how EVIL gets hold of people, how it twists them, how it grows hatred -- and how to stop evil. Do NOT help further evil's agenda by blaming the tools it uses.

Joan, dear, you are missing the point. The founders and framers had a very deep mistrust of a standing army as intrinsically DANGEROUS to the country as a whole (but not the same fear of a water-based navy). That is why the Constitution does NOT limit naval funding -- but _requires_ that NO appropriation of funds for the army is for a period of time longer than TWO years. See Article 1, Section 8. Their concern was that the army would be used as a tool for oppression and tyranny -- just as King George 3rd used it for that purpose. They wanted, and expected, the states to maintain their own CITIZEN militias, with the citizenry specifically enjoined to remain well-trained (the original meaning of "well-regulated") and the federal government specifically FORBIDDEN to restrict individual ownership of firearms among the law-abiding populace. (The state governments go along for the ride due to Article 6's supremacy clause.) Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership has some fabulous articles and videos about the history of victim creation (the true name of what is incorrectly termed "gun" control) at their web site, www.jpfo.org -- I recommend you poke around there some time when you have a bit of time.

"The forum formerly known as ATX"? 1. Yes, topics frequently stray from the original. I see no problem with that. 2. If I don't like a topic (or have no need for it in my practice, at all or just not right now) I skip it; so can others. 3. I feel safe here posting "dumb" questions, and also feel confident that the responses I get will be both correct and helpful (even if occasionally hard to hear). 4. People who disagree with the above have plenty of other online places to go hang out. Here's your hat and don't stumble on the way out. 5. NT means NT. Whether it's a joke when you're in a bad mood, or a political topic, you are warned. 6. If you can't keep your nose out of an area you _know_ you don't like, and get your nose out of joint, that is seriously not _my_ problem. Grow some control. I love all my friends here, even those whose views I disagree with. And I think if we had a chance to just sit down and chat, we'd find far more things we agreed on than either of us suspected at the start. I say every year -- and I mean it every year -- that I could NOT run my practice without my online forum friends as my backup.

NO!!! You need to go study the Constitution and the history of that time. The 2nd Amendment is the most strongly worded absolute prohibition in the entire Bill of Rights. Additionally, the entire purpose of that amendment is to ensure that We, the People, have a last-ditch protection against a government turned tyrannical (remember the Constitution was written barely FOUR years after the Treaty of Paris - which ended the Revolutionary War - was signed). The War of 1812 was won because of the efforts of _privateers_ -->privately owned _warships_ that were as heavily armed (or more so!) than our small and, at the time, rather pathetic nascent Navy. I would support regular training requirements (the meaning of "well-regulated militia"), and prohibitions against legal firearms ownership by violent criminals after prison release. Please note that violent criminals rarely bother trying to acquire firearms legally -- they just buy them on the black market. If we can't keep drugs out of constantly-guarded prisons, it will never be possible dry up the black market in firearms.

I'd rather the IRS spent their time accepting returns rather than sending out acks. We'll get those later. Happens every year (one reason I like all my extensions done by 4/10).

I sent the hugs to Fiona from everyone; thanks for the good wishes. One of my clients is an ER nurse at MGH; I sent prayers and good wishes off to her yesterday as well. Prayers continue; the Salvation Army is working hard helping folks and the Red Cross is so inundated with blood donors they have asked people to call ahead first. Catherine

That's good to know - but mine is hooked up to my XP machine. I have the Fujitsu available for the Windows 7 machine. Thanks.

1. All of my family is OK. 2. Fiona was at work about two blocks from the explosions -- she felt the shockwave from the blasts. They locked down the store for a bit then shut down and sent everyone home. 3. I do know some people who have relatives currently in the hospital and in surgery. One of my contacts runs a really excellent community newspaper north of Boston; his sources are just fabulous and I've been getting my news mainly through him on Facebook. Tom Duggan is the name if anyone wants to look him up. 4. Prayers are always in order and appreciated for all those hurt. This story has several good sources for helping: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/15/how-you-can-help-in-the-wake-of-the-boston-marathon-tragedy-and-what-others-are-doing/

For years I used a Kodak i1120 duplex, TWAIN-compliant scanner and loved it. This year added a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 duplex scanner and it is also really good. Not TWAIN, so it's a bit less convenient for making bank deposits online. I also think the Kodak's paper handling was a bit better - have to be a bit more careful with the Fujitsu not to put in too many pages at once and that number is lower than the Kodak. However the Kodak does NOT have Windows-7-compatible drivers - a fatal flaw. Both of these scanners are duplex, which is _crucial_ and tiny in foot print, which is a real benefit.

I have a bunch of standard-deduction folks who nevertheless give me their Schedule A items. For them, I just add the Schedule A and print it out in the client copy. It doesn't transmit -- but they see it and are happy.

I have also run into the TIN for the schools going poof! upon e-filing. Doesn't happen the 2nd attempt -- just the first. First time figured it was me, so the second time I was super-careful making sure... nope; it's the program. VERY disturbing to have things change on you out of nowhere. I no longer feel I can trust the software to (ay) calculate returns correctly, and (bee) transmit accurately what I have finalized. NOT a good thing.

Good grief -- how disgusting. Those officers are sworn to UPHOLD the Constitution -- they should be summarily FIRED.

Once the dollar is abandoned as the standard currency, we will no longer be able to export our inflation as we have been doing for decades. At some point, the debasing of our currency the Fed has been doing will start to hit (the unrest in Europe will delay this) -- but inflation (even hyperinflation) is in our future. Read up on the history of the Weimar Republic.

Ultimately we need to take back control of ALL our levels of government - local, state, federal. We, the People, created the government "to preserve these Rights, governments are instituted..." -- the ONLY legitimate purpose of government is to protect our individual rights. As we created it, it is our creature, subordinate and subservient to US, its creators. We have forgotten that. So have the entrenched bureaucracies at _all_ levels. Until we take control back, we have to pressure all the various legiscritters and other officials, reminding them they are our servants, not the other way around. This is not a sprint; it is a super-marathon at least. A generational fight that that mcb's new great-grandbaby may see the success of.

Time to sue the pants off (a) the school -- teacher, principal, superintendent, and (b ) the town authorities who pulled the dad's permit for NO reason. "Shall NOT be infringed" means _exactly_ what it says. Every attempt to disarm just underscores the crucial importance of the 2nd Amendment and exactly the type of government high-handedness the framers were working to prevent!

Ever more reasons to homeschool.

I've said many a time that I could NOT run my practice without my newsgroups. This being the prime one. Thank you ALL, each and every one of you!!!!

KC -- a very Happy Birthday to you!!!