Getting it off my chest
Coming into yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I didn’t have much to write about. That’s always the kiss of death. There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “may you live in interesting times.” Well, there’s no denying that we live in interesting times. Two news stories intersected yesterday from different parts of the country.
Minnesota seems to be in the crosshairs again with another police shooting. This time, an officer says they were reaching for their taser and pulled out of their gun instead. I suppose it could happen to any of us if we were packing that much heat.
On the same day we had another school shooting make the national news. This leaves people like me to connect the dots. How are these events related? What if anything can be done to stop them? At the end of it all, most of us have that same powerless feeling you have when you see an accident happening in slow motion.
I suppose we can be thankful that there was only one victim in each case. However, I can’t help but think there is one unifying source to the problem. Guns. There are very few things that make me more angry. As a commentator, I get tired of commenting about it. We say the same things over and over again and nothing seems to change.
I think what’s more frustrating is the overarching attempts to be politically correct and accommodating of the gun owning population. I say I don’t want to take your guns. I say all I want is common sense gun control legislation. I say all I want are background checks and an automatic assault weapons ban. I say all of those things because I know the response I will inevitably get if I say something more. That ends today.
That’s not the truth though. I for one am sick and tired of hiding it. I’m tired of kowtowing to Rambo wannabes that seem to think they need to open carry their AR-15 to the florist so they safely buy flowers for their wife. I’m sick and tired of the dumb son of a bitch that thinks they need to carry their assault rifle into Wal-Mart because we need a good guy with a gun. I’m also tired of short-sighted legislatures that seem to think the answer is more open carry and fewer restrictions. I’m just sick and tired of being sick and tired.
I’m sick and tired of muting my own feelings because they aren’t politically popular. I hate guns. I have always hated guns and there is nothing that will change that. This isn’t assault rifles or automatic weapons. It’s not handguns. It’s not rifles and shotguns. It’s all guns. If every gun disappeared from the world I would be much happier.
I’ve never suggested banning guns or confiscating guns because I know it’s a non-starter. I also know plenty of people with guns that are responsible adults that wouldn’t be caught dead looking like that stupid Missouri couple. I also know that a part of this is driven on pure emotion. Sure, it worked in Australia, but I know these issues are much more complex than that.
I also know that situations like the Minnesota shooting are a lot more involved and a lot more needs to be said and done. I will say those things in due time. Others will too. For now, I just needed to come out and say it so I don’t have to hide it anymore. I hate guns.
For me, Ireland voting to remove their constitutional ban on abortions was a milestone. Even seemingly unmovable rules can be changed. So, on guns. We need to have fewer of them. So, ban handguns. Ban large magazines. Ban semi automatic rifles. Set a sunset for the right to own these weapons. Maybe if cops are less afraid, fewer people will get shot. Advocate for something that is a real solution to the problem. And the problem is too f’ing many guns in America.
1As badly we need gun control,, I think it will only slow things down. Demilitarize the police…important. And the next time SWAT attacks the wrong house the commander AT A MINIMUM should be fired and held responsible for any death & imprisoned like any criminal!!!
2Outlawing military arms may slow the spread of more weapons but there are so many out there now that it will be a very long term problem still!
I live in Canada, and I personally don’t know anyone who owns a gun. I am astonished that anyone is surprised when there is a mass shooting in the USA; you have over 300 million REGISTERED guns, and probably even more unregistered guns, and you’re upset when there’s yet another mass shooting? I am surprised there isn’t several mass shootings every day with that number of guns. Add into the mix the fact that you have no free medical coverage, so mentally ill people get little or no treatment and can walk into a Walmart and buy a gun for $50! It’s a very sad time for America, and I am very sorry for you.
3@ Liz
I, too, live in Canada. I know lots of people who own hunting rifles and shotguns*, all of whom would think that owning let alone carrying a handgun would be crazy.
I also know one or two people who own handguns, having passed extensive screening police and safety training. IIRC, they have safes at home for secure storage and are subject to random audits.
* Probably depends on the region and degree of urbanization where we live.
4If we’re living in the land of “what I want”, I want all gun owners to have a license, just like a drivers license – a written test on the laws and a test in front of law enforcement to show you know how to operate a gun. Then, every gun is registered and every gun has a high dollar liability insurance policy. If your gun is stolen or “stolen” (sold on black market), the liability policy pays the administration of justice wing of your local government. If you are caught with a gun and no license – prison felony – and I mean a real one, not a DWI slap on the wrist. And I am just fine with ammunition being expensive too. As Chris Rock said, let guns be free and bullets coat $1,000 each (he may have said a higher number). As you may tell, I’m sick of gun violence!
5More honesty is needed in the conversation. To begin with, “yes, we are going after their guns.” The sorry fact is that those who ‘think’ life requires heavy armaments are the least stable and ergo most unsuited to carry any variety of weapon. So indeed, yes, the plan should be to remove weapons from those unstable individuals.
That “plan” should begin with law enforcement. The latest assassination of an unarmed black man by a cop is a prime example. A person who escalates a routine traffic stop into some ‘heat of the moment’ pitched battle is the living definition of unsuitable to carry a weapon. She claims “I didn’t know the difference between a pistol and a taser.” The more common expression would be “not knowing a portion of one’s anatomy from a hole in the ground.”
I’m not a doctor or trained in any type of social service. But having taught HS math for a couple of years I have a fleeting familiarity with assessment testing. So please, someone better versed in those fields at the WMDBS, please explain to the rest of us why it’s not possible to screen out these individuals before their first day at a police academy or whatever ‘school’ they attend. TIA!
6I’m addressing police violence in my next piece. Stay tuned…
7We can wish and wish for reasonable gun control, but as long as the “democrat” version of mitch mcconnell is in the senate, joe manchin, nothing will get passed. He’s already said he comes from a “gun culture” which means whatever the nra wants, no matter what a majority of voters want. And wtf does gun culture mean to him?
8So we’ll continue to see these shootings and idiots driving around with AR-15 decals on their big truck windows. Drives me crazy.
I don’t hate guns. I appreciate them as machinery, like a sharp knife with very few use cases. I’ve never shot anything bigger than a frog, with a pellet rifle. I ate it, and several others. I was thirteen. I’ve eaten a lot of speared fish.
The solution is definitely not confiscation, unless you subconsciously want a civil war. I kid you not.
Registration and insurance will work fine and reduce the level of killings to a tolerable* level, if the non-compliance punishment is severe. Second offense mandatory year+fine. Government-run insurance.
*If you think every life is of some silly infinite worth, you’re just jabbering from a strange land…
9If you want real gun control, you want to have 50,000,000 provisional ATF agents monitoring guns. “Provisional” in this case means unpaid yet highly- very highly- motivated.
Here’s how to do it: Make every first purchaser of a gun responsible for its use during its entire lifetime, no matter how they let it pass from their hands. If it gets stolen, pawned, given away, sold, etc., and is used in a robbery or murder twenty years later, they are as guilty as the user.
They will be very, very motivated to a) consider how many guns they want to own and b) keep theirs out of the hands of everybody else. Since it would be very risky for them to let go of it (80% of all gun homicides are committed with guns that used to belong to someone else), they will destroy it rather than turn it loose to the public.
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