You dirty rat you

[csgray]

I recently spent a day driving around Lack's neighborhood looking at houses, and after driving almost every street I have some observations: this is not a "semi-rural" neighborhood, it is a subdivision with many houses on 7-10,000 sq. ft. lots; there were many children out playing in and near the streets, especially the dead end ones; there were also many moms pushing strollers, people out walking and running, and people working in their yards; houses are close enough together that the sound of gunfire would be disturbing to many residents; and while we saw many loose dogs, but not a single one looked feral, or acted aggressive until you approached their driveway. Lack may be a decent shot and know how to pick appropriate ammo, but every time he shoots in his residential neighborhood with impunity he is giving tacit permission to every other person to "exercise his right" regardless of their skill level or judgment with firearms.

I grew up in a truly rural farming community where a gun was more of a tool than a weapon, but every deer hunting season I couldn't ride my horse in our own woods for fear some suburban hunter from the nearest city would shoot me. Other neighbors painted huge florescent stripes on their livestock to keep them safe. Guns are not inherently dangerous, but in the hands of fools they sure are. Gun control laws and regulation of where you can shoot exist because so many gun owners think they have the right to shoot any weapon, with any ammo, in any environment regardless of the rights of others to live without fear of being shot in their own yard. There is a time and a place for everything, but shooting guns on a suburban sized lot is just selfish and self serving; unless you are in dire circumstances where it is the only way to protect yourself or others.

If you are that concerned about diseases from rats then make it difficult for them to frequent your trees, wrapping the trunk with a smooth metal collar works well, and there are other products available too. Poison can be put in bait stations that keep neighborhood pets out, while letting rats in. I recommend getting a good ratting dog or cat, we had a 7 pound calico who killed a rat a day, every day, until the day she died. Once she had wiped out the population on our property she moved on to the neighbors' yards and went after their rats. We had one neighbor who threatened to shoot her for leaving paw prints on his windshield until he saw her take down a rat bigger than her that was working his bird feeder. Suddenly he became a big fan of that cat.

Are you sure this wasn't more about having a justification to shoot your gun that it was about getting rid of the rat? Otherwise, why post it to Punaweb?


Carol