Guns and Gun Control

[Jeff OTMG]

Hello all! I am new here, as I am certain you are able to see in my status. If the subject line interested you enough to enter this thread, then you are the people I need to speak to. If you didn't care about the topic, you would not be here.

The posters here are primarily 'Greek' or hope to soon go 'Greek', making you generally young, predominantly female, middle to upper class, and relatively well educated. This is exactly what I am looking for. Firearms are mainly an issue of interest to middle age white guys, ie. me, yet we hear much about them in the press and, unfortunately, that is where many people not involved with firearms get the information that they have.

These are some of the things which I have noticed:

Females tend to discuss this topic from an emotional position rather than questioning information and reaching logical conclusions. Think Rosie O'Donnell.

People from major metropolitan areas (NYC, L.A., Chicago, Detroit, Boston, D.C.) tend to support gun control more than in other cities and rural areas (Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Austin, Indianapolis, Jacksonville).

Men are generally more opposed to gun control, where women tend to have no feelings on the topic or lean toward supporting gun control.

Educated people tend to oppose gun control until they reach higher levels which would permit them to teach on a university level, there they appears to be a shift and more support gun control. This is most noticeable at the traditionally more liberal schools such as U.C. Berkley as opposed to a school like Texas Tech.

The reason for all this is that I am interested in your views. Where you get your information from. If you think that there is a problem related to firearms, why and what is your viable solution? I would also like to know where you are from, sex, age, level of education, level of education you expect to reach, and 'greek' or not. The reason for the last question is that the 'greek' community as a whole is widely involved in civic and community charitable activities. Those activities tend to be more within the realm of the more 'liberal' mindset. We don't see nearly as many Republicans doing volunteer work at homeless shelters as we do Democrats.

I will go first. I am male, 43, born in N.Y., but grew up in Oklahoma City. My father is a retired FBI agent. I am a business consultant and currently live in Austin, Tx. As a consultant I travel and go where I am needed having worked in 4 states, 8 cities, doing 14 jobs, in the last 12 years, my current client being in Indianapolis, In. Past clients include federal agencies (FAA, NASA), state agencies (1 in Ok., 3 in Tx.), and private industry. I was an engineering major at Oklahoma State University and was going to pledge a frat called Triangle, but the structured lifestyle was not for me.

Hopefully this will illicit a spirited discussion and I may be able to determine exactly how this topic is being addressed, if at all, at both high school and college levels. If you make a statement as fact all I ask is that you be able to back it up with references and that those references not be an anti-gun organization or a study funded by one. How much credibility would a pro-gun poster have if all their references came from the National Rifle Association. Please no hit and run or hateful responses, I am not here to flame or get flamed and this can be an emotional topic if it is approached from that angle.

If any of you have considered or end up considering doing a paper on this topic for school, be it for the historical significance or the social impact, I have done much research over the last 20 years and would be happy to share that information to anyone who might find it helpful.

If there are few or no responses then I will assume that the topic is not really of any real interest to you which could very well be the case. Otherwise, talk to me people.