..About the Guns..
I had just blogged a minute ago about the loss of Officer Lang of the MPD. Her death, combined with so many other incidents (the school shooting in Connecticut and the murder/suicide of Jovan Belcher, and the shooting in an Oregon mall) added to the big fuss about guns and the laws surrounding them.
I can understand that there would be a lot of fear and anger going on because those were tragedies involving guns. With the death of Officer Lang, that would be four incidents that a gun was involved in within a matter of a few days. Add the shooting at the Dark Knight Rises and thousands of other murders across the United States, and you get a fear of the common denominator--guns.
I'm sure nothing I can say will change some people's minds about guns. I know people who are staunchly against guns and will always be that way. On the other hand, there are others who believe and lean heavily on the Right to Bear Arms. I, admittedly, am one of those people.
A commonly used phrase is "Guns don't kill people, People kill people" and I can say that I concur. Mayor Wharton said "nobody has a Second Amendment right to load up and kill a police officer" and I completely concur. Thing is, the enthusiasts took that statement to mean an attack on said Amendment. I think it goes to show that emotional knee-jerk reaction that always rears its ugly head when tragedies occur. I took that statement to mean that even if you are street legal..you don't have the right to kill an officer. I'm sure others will disagree.
Truth be told, a gun is an inanimate object. By itself, it is nothing more than an expensive paperweight. In the hands of a trained person, it can be an object used for protection or assault. In the hands of an untrained person, it can be an object used for protection or assault. To me, owning a gun legally is but a small investment in the protection of you and your household. While it is no guarantee of safety, it could be that one thing that stops massacres or saves lives. Owning a gun is a BIG ASS RESPONSIBILITY and those with good sense know this when they take their training classes. I think of what could have happened had a teacher had a piece on him/her and shot that idiot in the dome in Connecticut. Would the body count be lower? Maybe so. However, I'm certain that a very skittish America would begin to villainize the heroic teacher for even having a gun at school. Even as he/she would be taken to jail for having a gun on school property, would people remember that he/she saved more lives?
But we don't dwell on the upright gun owning/toting citizens..we think of the criminals who commit these crimes. People think of James Holmes with his arsenal or the Columbine shooters and pound their desks screaming "WE NEED TO CHANGE THE LAWS SO THAT NOBODY ELSE HAS TO DIE" or insert extremely animated response. Using my good common sense, I assume that there is worry that someone could go to Guns & Ammo, pick a piece, buy it, go home and kill everyone on the block. I ask, just how in the hell can you determine a person's intentions? Background checks can't tell you if I'm suicidal or if I'm feeling mad vengeful.
Alas...I have to wonder what criminal decides to go buy his weapons like we did..which is straight from an authorized supplier? I'm certain some have. But do you think the fokes being served that drug warrant really went to a store, waited in line, provided ID and signed on the dotted line? You think they took the long class to learn how to properly handle a weapon?? I strongly doubt they did. There's this thing called the Black Market, and I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that it's full of all kinds of illegal and stolen weapons.
If the reports are accurate, and Officer Lang's shooter really was 15 years old..where do you think he got his gun?
I know, I know...people can have fokes buy guns for them..just like with liquor and smokes. It happens. I'm almost 100% certain that it happens. But really now, what law do you think could pass that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals? When a business has a sign outside banning guns, do you think the potential shooter looks at it, ponders, then decides to shoot up a place without a warning sign? For every gun carrier who gets mad at FedEx's policy on guns and speaks out, I'm certain there's one who could care less and walks in to ship a package..fully loaded like a boss.
In cases like Jovan Belcher's..who could have calculated the likelihood that he would use a gun to singlehandedly leave his daughter orphaned? If he bought it legally, do you think he did it with the thought of doing what he did? How could it have been prevented?
When Sahel Kazemi bought her gun...she bought it off of a felon. Not out of Walmart. She bought it and put four bullets into Steve McNair and one into herself. What law do you think could have changed her ability to get that gun from dude? He got prison time for it..but hell, he was a felon to begin with. Did the law keep him from that deadly transaction?
The debate could go on forever. In the end, I still say that gun control won't change the criminals' minds and steer them away from crime. Taking guns away from those legally allowed to carry won't keep us any safer. Anything can be deadly if placed in the hands of a person with the intent to kill. Do a little browsing or sit up and watch Discovery ID one day. People have been murdered some of every kind of way other than shooting. After the stabbing spree in China...are we as scared Americans out to ban knives too?
The issue isn't the gun. It's the person holding it.
I can understand that there would be a lot of fear and anger going on because those were tragedies involving guns. With the death of Officer Lang, that would be four incidents that a gun was involved in within a matter of a few days. Add the shooting at the Dark Knight Rises and thousands of other murders across the United States, and you get a fear of the common denominator--guns.
I'm sure nothing I can say will change some people's minds about guns. I know people who are staunchly against guns and will always be that way. On the other hand, there are others who believe and lean heavily on the Right to Bear Arms. I, admittedly, am one of those people.
A commonly used phrase is "Guns don't kill people, People kill people" and I can say that I concur. Mayor Wharton said "nobody has a Second Amendment right to load up and kill a police officer" and I completely concur. Thing is, the enthusiasts took that statement to mean an attack on said Amendment. I think it goes to show that emotional knee-jerk reaction that always rears its ugly head when tragedies occur. I took that statement to mean that even if you are street legal..you don't have the right to kill an officer. I'm sure others will disagree.
Truth be told, a gun is an inanimate object. By itself, it is nothing more than an expensive paperweight. In the hands of a trained person, it can be an object used for protection or assault. In the hands of an untrained person, it can be an object used for protection or assault. To me, owning a gun legally is but a small investment in the protection of you and your household. While it is no guarantee of safety, it could be that one thing that stops massacres or saves lives. Owning a gun is a BIG ASS RESPONSIBILITY and those with good sense know this when they take their training classes. I think of what could have happened had a teacher had a piece on him/her and shot that idiot in the dome in Connecticut. Would the body count be lower? Maybe so. However, I'm certain that a very skittish America would begin to villainize the heroic teacher for even having a gun at school. Even as he/she would be taken to jail for having a gun on school property, would people remember that he/she saved more lives?
But we don't dwell on the upright gun owning/toting citizens..we think of the criminals who commit these crimes. People think of James Holmes with his arsenal or the Columbine shooters and pound their desks screaming "WE NEED TO CHANGE THE LAWS SO THAT NOBODY ELSE HAS TO DIE" or insert extremely animated response. Using my good common sense, I assume that there is worry that someone could go to Guns & Ammo, pick a piece, buy it, go home and kill everyone on the block. I ask, just how in the hell can you determine a person's intentions? Background checks can't tell you if I'm suicidal or if I'm feeling mad vengeful.
Alas...I have to wonder what criminal decides to go buy his weapons like we did..which is straight from an authorized supplier? I'm certain some have. But do you think the fokes being served that drug warrant really went to a store, waited in line, provided ID and signed on the dotted line? You think they took the long class to learn how to properly handle a weapon?? I strongly doubt they did. There's this thing called the Black Market, and I would be remiss if I didn't remind you that it's full of all kinds of illegal and stolen weapons.
If the reports are accurate, and Officer Lang's shooter really was 15 years old..where do you think he got his gun?
I know, I know...people can have fokes buy guns for them..just like with liquor and smokes. It happens. I'm almost 100% certain that it happens. But really now, what law do you think could pass that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals? When a business has a sign outside banning guns, do you think the potential shooter looks at it, ponders, then decides to shoot up a place without a warning sign? For every gun carrier who gets mad at FedEx's policy on guns and speaks out, I'm certain there's one who could care less and walks in to ship a package..fully loaded like a boss.
In cases like Jovan Belcher's..who could have calculated the likelihood that he would use a gun to singlehandedly leave his daughter orphaned? If he bought it legally, do you think he did it with the thought of doing what he did? How could it have been prevented?
When Sahel Kazemi bought her gun...she bought it off of a felon. Not out of Walmart. She bought it and put four bullets into Steve McNair and one into herself. What law do you think could have changed her ability to get that gun from dude? He got prison time for it..but hell, he was a felon to begin with. Did the law keep him from that deadly transaction?
The debate could go on forever. In the end, I still say that gun control won't change the criminals' minds and steer them away from crime. Taking guns away from those legally allowed to carry won't keep us any safer. Anything can be deadly if placed in the hands of a person with the intent to kill. Do a little browsing or sit up and watch Discovery ID one day. People have been murdered some of every kind of way other than shooting. After the stabbing spree in China...are we as scared Americans out to ban knives too?
The issue isn't the gun. It's the person holding it.
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