| Commentary and Philosophy Non-Fiction posted May 31, 2022 |
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Stand Up to Protect our Freedoms
Gun Safety Makes Sense
by Annmuma
There has been a lot of press about the most recent school mass shooting. Those nineteen faces of dead, maliciously murdered, ten to twelve year olds have gained a great deal more attention than the vast majority of the total 268 mass shootings recorded so far in 2022 in the United States of America.
I’m defining a mass shooting as any individual shooting in which four or more people are killed and/or maimed by a single perpetrator. The Memorial Day Holiday alone was marred by five -In Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona and California. We’ve had shootings in parking lots, beauty salons, churches, grocery stores, the list is endless.
And, yet, when the subject comes up, a lame and illogical response is chanted over and over: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people”. It is played loud and often. The truth is guns are bought to kill; that is the most legitimate reason for a gun, to kill or to cause someone or something to believe they could be killed. Guns, at the time the Second Amendment was written, were not weapons of mass destruction. They are now and it is the current situation to be faced and managed; the Second Amendment plays a part in that management, but it is not THE management.
One group of concerned citizens suggests better entrance control at our schools, more security in the classroom. A reporter interviewed someone in Uvalde who said the teacher who left the door open bears blame for the deaths of those nineteen children. He went on to say that teacher should be locked up! Some have even said that teachers should be armed. Apparently, there is some theory by which this approach could be modified and used in our places of worship, perhaps arming the minister or the Rabbi, the deacons and maybe the Sunday School teachers. It baffles me as to how that idea could be implemented at the grocery store or the barber shop. What about the outdoor festivals such as the one in Las Vegas where many people were gunned down while listening to the favorite band? This idea doesn’t even make the list of solutions worth discussing.
A friend suggested that, if everyone were armed, then we would be much safer. The ensuing conversation reminded me of an All in The Family episode years ago when Archie Bunker suggested that arming the airplane passengers would reduce plane hi-jackings. It was laughable then and laughable now, but in a much more somber atmosphere.
Recently a group of more spiritual thinkers have emerged with their suggestion that we must change the world. They proclaim a spiritual good versus evil fight is going on and we cannot stop mass shootings until we have some moral awakening. I agree that the world needs a spiritual renewing; we need more prayer, more looking to a moral authority for guidance and we are in desperate need of more love, compassion, caring and the ability to forgive.
But the basis of our world is not a great deal different today than it was at the beginning of time. Our existence and our individual spiritual growth depend on the precept of good versus evil. Both the Christian and the Islamic faiths teach that Jesus will have a second coming; about 40% of Americans believe that second coming will occur before the year 2050.
The Bible tells us that Jesus said the Lord will come as a thief in the night when his arrival is least expected. There may be a universal Armageddon some day and good will win. I don’t know and neither does anyone else. What I do know is that a personal Armageddon takes place every day in every heart and mind. It is up to each one of us to fight the battle daily and to work toward as many ‘good’ wins as possible as we grow toward whatever our purpose is.
My point is: Today’s fight between good and evil is much different than the fight of one hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. The number of people involved in the fight and the weapons at their disposal has increased multi-fold. Sans the universal Armageddon, hoping the world will change is an exercise in futility. People will continue to be filled with hate, love and the fight will continue on every level. An individual can only truly change their own heart and mind.
As the world population exploded, so did the weapons available to both those who would use them in non-threatening to society ways and those who will destroy lives. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem by limiting our ability to move about as freely as we are used to, and by creating the space where a new fear of loss of control can grow. Today’s technology allows congregation of groups of people who fear their loss of power over others or are afraid of those who speak a different language or have a different skin color.
It is the responsibility of the citizenry to devise laws and safeguards to protect the populace when an individual loses his/her fight between good and evil. Without weapons of mass destruction, that person's ability to become a mass shooter is minimized. There are other ways that evil can manifest itself, including mass murders; should that occur, it must be addressed. For now, it is mass shootings on the table and our first step toward reducing them is to control access to the weapons most coveted for that purpose.
Talk of gun control frightens a segment of the population and results in their wrapping themselves in the Second Amendment, as if it is the only amendment.
There is no thought given to the other freedoms being pushed aside by the existence of mass shootings. Instead, the conversation often turns to the slippery slope and images of all guns being confiscated by the government. That would be logistically impossible just based on the number of guns in households and it would be so unpopular as to be impossible to enforce. It is so far from reasonable pondering that one cannot have a discussion when this premise is put on table. Second Amendment rights do not allow for the citizenry to be armed with weapons of mass destruction. The Second Amendment guarantees:
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
What we have in this country right now is not a ‘well-regulated Militia’ and over eighty percent of the population is in favor of some sort of gun control.
While we wait for the spiritual awakening, we owe to our children, to our neighbors and to ourselves, the implementation of some variety of the steps listed below. To do otherwise is inexcusable and, to the extent that we do nothing, each of us bears the blame for the next mass shooting.
- A Background Check, not just for prior criminal activity, but for history of any mental affliction that would likely have an adverse affect on the person's ability to control his emotions or ascertain the difference between right and wrong.
- A Three-Day Waiting Period
- A Required License that includes certification from a Gun Handling class
- Continuing Education Classes on a three-year basis to maintain the license
- Age of Twenty-One to purchase any gun
- The Banning of the sale any AR15 or AK47 or any similar weapon that belongs only in the hands of the military.
- The Banning of all large-capacity magazines for automatic weapons.
These are reasonable solutions to have on the table today, to be discussed by our chosen representatives in government and to be written into law – National Law so there is no way to hide behind any one state’s opting out of some portion and to assist in getting data into one, accessible, national data base..
As a moral nation dedicated to the right of life and liberty, we cannot continue to allow our freedom to gather in groups to be infringed upon and held hostage by irresponsible gunsellers, gun buyers and gunowners. It is time for every citizen to demand freedom from lack of responsible gun control.
There has been a lot of press about the most recent school mass shooting. Those nineteen faces of dead, maliciously murdered, ten to twelve year olds have gained a great deal more attention than the vast majority of the total 268 mass shootings recorded so far in 2022 in the United States of America.
I’m defining a mass shooting as any individual shooting in which four or more people are killed and/or maimed by a single perpetrator. The Memorial Day Holiday alone was marred by five -In Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona and California. We’ve had shootings in parking lots, beauty salons, churches, grocery stores, the list is endless.
And, yet, when the subject comes up, a lame and illogical response is chanted over and over: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people”. It is played loud and often. The truth is guns are bought to kill; that is the most legitimate reason for a gun, to kill or to cause someone or something to believe they could be killed. Guns, at the time the Second Amendment was written, were not weapons of mass destruction. They are now and it is the current situation to be faced and managed; the Second Amendment plays a part in that management, but it is not THE management.
One group of concerned citizens suggests better entrance control at our schools, more security in the classroom. A reporter interviewed someone in Uvalde who said the teacher who left the door open bears blame for the deaths of those nineteen children. He went on to say that teacher should be locked up! Some have even said that teachers should be armed. Apparently, there is some theory by which this approach could be modified and used in our places of worship, perhaps arming the minister or the Rabbi, the deacons and maybe the Sunday School teachers. It baffles me as to how that idea could be implemented at the grocery store or the barber shop. What about the outdoor festivals such as the one in Las Vegas where many people were gunned down while listening to the favorite band? This idea doesn’t even make the list of solutions worth discussing.
A friend suggested that, if everyone were armed, then we would be much safer. The ensuing conversation reminded me of an All in The Family episode years ago when Archie Bunker suggested that arming the airplane passengers would reduce plane hi-jackings. It was laughable then and laughable now, but in a much more somber atmosphere.
Recently a group of more spiritual thinkers have emerged with their suggestion that we must change the world. They proclaim a spiritual good versus evil fight is going on and we cannot stop mass shootings until we have some moral awakening. I agree that the world needs a spiritual renewing; we need more prayer, more looking to a moral authority for guidance and we are in desperate need of more love, compassion, caring and the ability to forgive.
But the basis of our world is not a great deal different today than it was at the beginning of time. Our existence and our individual spiritual growth depend on the precept of good versus evil. Both the Christian and the Islamic faiths teach that Jesus will have a second coming; about 40% of Americans believe that second coming will occur before the year 2050.
The Bible tells us that Jesus said the Lord will come as a thief in the night when his arrival is least expected. There may be a universal Armageddon some day and good will win. I don’t know and neither does anyone else. What I do know is that a personal Armageddon takes place every day in every heart and mind. It is up to each one of us to fight the battle daily and to work toward as many ‘good’ wins as possible as we grow toward whatever our purpose is.
My point is: Today’s fight between good and evil is much different than the fight of one hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. The number of people involved in the fight and the weapons at their disposal has increased multi-fold. Sans the universal Armageddon, hoping the world will change is an exercise in futility. People will continue to be filled with hate, love and the fight will continue on every level. An individual can only truly change their own heart and mind.
As the world population exploded, so did the weapons available to both those who would use them in non-threatening to society ways and those who will destroy lives. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem by limiting our ability to move about as freely as we are used to, and by creating the space where a new fear of loss of control can grow. Today’s technology allows congregation of groups of people who fear their loss of power over others or are afraid of those who speak a different language or have a different skin color.
It is the responsibility of the citizenry to devise laws and safeguards to protect the populace when an individual loses his/her fight between good and evil. Without weapons of mass destruction, that person's ability to become a mass shooter is minimized. There are other ways that evil can manifest itself, including mass murders; should that occur, it must be addressed. For now, it is mass shootings on the table and our first step toward reducing them is to control access to the weapons most coveted for that purpose.
Talk of gun control frightens a segment of the population and results in their wrapping themselves in the Second Amendment, as if it is the only amendment.
There is no thought given to the other freedoms being pushed aside by the existence of mass shootings. Instead, the conversation often turns to the slippery slope and images of all guns being confiscated by the government. That would be logistically impossible just based on the number of guns in households and it would be so unpopular as to be impossible to enforce. It is so far from reasonable pondering that one cannot have a discussion when this premise is put on table. Second Amendment rights do not allow for the citizenry to be armed with weapons of mass destruction. The Second Amendment guarantees:
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
What we have in this country right now is not a ‘well-regulated Militia’ and over eighty percent of the population is in favor of some sort of gun control.
While we wait for the spiritual awakening, we owe to our children, to our neighbors and to ourselves, the implementation of some variety of the steps listed below. To do otherwise is inexcusable and, to the extent that we do nothing, each of us bears the blame for the next mass shooting.
These are reasonable solutions to have on the table today, to be discussed by our chosen representatives in government and to be written into law – National Law so there is no way to hide behind any one state’s opting out of some portion and to assist in getting data into one, accessible, national data base..
As a moral nation dedicated to the right of life and liberty, we cannot continue to allow our freedom to gather in groups to be infringed upon and held hostage by irresponsible gunsellers, gun buyers and gunowners. It is time for every citizen to demand freedom from lack of responsible gun control.
I’m defining a mass shooting as any individual shooting in which four or more people are killed and/or maimed by a single perpetrator. The Memorial Day Holiday alone was marred by five -In Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona and California. We’ve had shootings in parking lots, beauty salons, churches, grocery stores, the list is endless.
And, yet, when the subject comes up, a lame and illogical response is chanted over and over: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people”. It is played loud and often. The truth is guns are bought to kill; that is the most legitimate reason for a gun, to kill or to cause someone or something to believe they could be killed. Guns, at the time the Second Amendment was written, were not weapons of mass destruction. They are now and it is the current situation to be faced and managed; the Second Amendment plays a part in that management, but it is not THE management.
One group of concerned citizens suggests better entrance control at our schools, more security in the classroom. A reporter interviewed someone in Uvalde who said the teacher who left the door open bears blame for the deaths of those nineteen children. He went on to say that teacher should be locked up! Some have even said that teachers should be armed. Apparently, there is some theory by which this approach could be modified and used in our places of worship, perhaps arming the minister or the Rabbi, the deacons and maybe the Sunday School teachers. It baffles me as to how that idea could be implemented at the grocery store or the barber shop. What about the outdoor festivals such as the one in Las Vegas where many people were gunned down while listening to the favorite band? This idea doesn’t even make the list of solutions worth discussing.
A friend suggested that, if everyone were armed, then we would be much safer. The ensuing conversation reminded me of an All in The Family episode years ago when Archie Bunker suggested that arming the airplane passengers would reduce plane hi-jackings. It was laughable then and laughable now, but in a much more somber atmosphere.
Recently a group of more spiritual thinkers have emerged with their suggestion that we must change the world. They proclaim a spiritual good versus evil fight is going on and we cannot stop mass shootings until we have some moral awakening. I agree that the world needs a spiritual renewing; we need more prayer, more looking to a moral authority for guidance and we are in desperate need of more love, compassion, caring and the ability to forgive.
But the basis of our world is not a great deal different today than it was at the beginning of time. Our existence and our individual spiritual growth depend on the precept of good versus evil. Both the Christian and the Islamic faiths teach that Jesus will have a second coming; about 40% of Americans believe that second coming will occur before the year 2050.
The Bible tells us that Jesus said the Lord will come as a thief in the night when his arrival is least expected. There may be a universal Armageddon some day and good will win. I don’t know and neither does anyone else. What I do know is that a personal Armageddon takes place every day in every heart and mind. It is up to each one of us to fight the battle daily and to work toward as many ‘good’ wins as possible as we grow toward whatever our purpose is.
My point is: Today’s fight between good and evil is much different than the fight of one hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. The number of people involved in the fight and the weapons at their disposal has increased multi-fold. Sans the universal Armageddon, hoping the world will change is an exercise in futility. People will continue to be filled with hate, love and the fight will continue on every level. An individual can only truly change their own heart and mind.
As the world population exploded, so did the weapons available to both those who would use them in non-threatening to society ways and those who will destroy lives. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem by limiting our ability to move about as freely as we are used to, and by creating the space where a new fear of loss of control can grow. Today’s technology allows congregation of groups of people who fear their loss of power over others or are afraid of those who speak a different language or have a different skin color.
It is the responsibility of the citizenry to devise laws and safeguards to protect the populace when an individual loses his/her fight between good and evil. Without weapons of mass destruction, that person's ability to become a mass shooter is minimized. There are other ways that evil can manifest itself, including mass murders; should that occur, it must be addressed. For now, it is mass shootings on the table and our first step toward reducing them is to control access to the weapons most coveted for that purpose.
Talk of gun control frightens a segment of the population and results in their wrapping themselves in the Second Amendment, as if it is the only amendment.
There is no thought given to the other freedoms being pushed aside by the existence of mass shootings. Instead, the conversation often turns to the slippery slope and images of all guns being confiscated by the government. That would be logistically impossible just based on the number of guns in households and it would be so unpopular as to be impossible to enforce. It is so far from reasonable pondering that one cannot have a discussion when this premise is put on table. Second Amendment rights do not allow for the citizenry to be armed with weapons of mass destruction. The Second Amendment guarantees:
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
What we have in this country right now is not a ‘well-regulated Militia’ and over eighty percent of the population is in favor of some sort of gun control.
While we wait for the spiritual awakening, we owe to our children, to our neighbors and to ourselves, the implementation of some variety of the steps listed below. To do otherwise is inexcusable and, to the extent that we do nothing, each of us bears the blame for the next mass shooting.
- A Background Check, not just for prior criminal activity, but for history of any mental affliction that would likely have an adverse affect on the person's ability to control his emotions or ascertain the difference between right and wrong.
- A Three-Day Waiting Period
- A Required License that includes certification from a Gun Handling class
- Continuing Education Classes on a three-year basis to maintain the license
- Age of Twenty-One to purchase any gun
- The Banning of the sale any AR15 or AK47 or any similar weapon that belongs only in the hands of the military.
- The Banning of all large-capacity magazines for automatic weapons.
These are reasonable solutions to have on the table today, to be discussed by our chosen representatives in government and to be written into law – National Law so there is no way to hide behind any one state’s opting out of some portion and to assist in getting data into one, accessible, national data base..
As a moral nation dedicated to the right of life and liberty, we cannot continue to allow our freedom to gather in groups to be infringed upon and held hostage by irresponsible gunsellers, gun buyers and gunowners. It is time for every citizen to demand freedom from lack of responsible gun control.
 Recognized |
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At 1300 words, I know this is very long and many of my fellow fanstorians will not read it. I needed to write it. If you read it or just read some of it, I appreciate it.
My concern is that our Country is being unduly influenced by a small number of irresponsible people led by and managed by the NRA's rhetoric When one can follow the story all the way to the source and find that money is the basis, then it's time to change the story. Responsible gun owners -- of which my family has always been one-- take the responsibility seriously. Still, we are careful that our right to own a gun does not infringe on someone else's right to feel safe. Laws must change and one amendment does not take precedence over another.
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. My concern is that our Country is being unduly influenced by a small number of irresponsible people led by and managed by the NRA's rhetoric When one can follow the story all the way to the source and find that money is the basis, then it's time to change the story. Responsible gun owners -- of which my family has always been one-- take the responsibility seriously. Still, we are careful that our right to own a gun does not infringe on someone else's right to feel safe. Laws must change and one amendment does not take precedence over another.
Artwork by Lilibug6 at FanArtReview.com
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