Let
me say up front, this is not a rant about the need for gun control in
America. There is a need for gun control, however, I long ago came
to the conclusion that gun addiction is like any other addiction, you
can't cure it until those addicted ask for help.
The
first step is for those addicted to realize that they have a sickness
in the first place, and since the vast majority of gun owners in
America are law abiding citizens, they don't think they are sick or
are doing anything wrong by amassing arsenals of destruction. Which
means there is no problem and therefore no need for gun control.
When
you ask, the arsenals are for personal protection or hunting and just
in case.
Just
in case what, I ask.
Well,
just in case....there is no answer that they want to give to that
question. Not really, because then they would have to admit that they
live in fear...in fear of their neighbors....in fear of a black
planet....in fear of a white planet...in fear of nameless, faceless
criminals bent on taking their stuff away from them.
They live in
fear of the coming anarchy and revelation, the end of times. They
live in fear of the return of Jesus, when they will have to give up
their stuff and move to heaven, which is supposed to be a good thing.
However,
if they were really honest, they would tell you, they don't really
want to go there, either, until they have to, and only after they
figure out a way to hitch a u-haul up to the hearse to carry their
stuff with them.
So
in the meantime, they buy guns and wait, for whatever.
And
as they wait, they infect the next a generation with their sickness,
primarily today, via video games and a lax attitude about violence
and the agents of violence.
The
first two words out of my youngest nephew's mouth when he first
started forming thoughts and words on his own were, Walmart, Jo, and
weapons. He wanted weapons to play games on the computer. Never
used the word guns...He wanted and still wants weapons, which is a
computer word...only now at the age of 11, he wants real weapons. I
know because we've talked about it. Walmart was the place where you
go buy stuff...Jo is my name...He had no concept of “aunt”. I was
just Jo, at the time.
Owning
guns are okay in his mind, because his parents own them. His
grandparents own them, too. His Granddad, my father, is a hunter, a
sportsman. He has what I can only describe as an arsenal of weapons,
many of which were handed down from other men in my family. Men who
never figured out how to take their guns with them when they died.
My
uncle was a police officer, one of the first Black officers in
Cincinnati. My dad has his collection of guns. My grandfather was a
country boy who used to be a hootch and moonshine runner back during
prohibition. Granddad needed guns for protection against the feds
and others who might have tried to jack his illegal cargo. My
grandmother used to talk about the bullet holes in the side of the
car. My dad now has my grandfather's guns.
My
father hunts rabbits, pheasant, shoots groundhogs and moles to keep
them from tearing up his perfectly mowed lawn. My father just likes
to buy guns. He never shoots them anymore. Just likes owning them,
cleaning them and showing them off to his equally enamored grandsons.
I
remember walking down into the family room, when our latest marine
was visiting recently. A serious boy thing was going on. Nearly the
whole floor of the family room was covered in guns, rifles, handguns.
Old guns, new guns. I had no idea. The guns are never shown off when
the women are home. The marine is a marksman and actually taught
shooting on Paris Island. He was very at home amidst the guns and my
dad's enthusiasm. And, it goes without saying that he is a man, all
man..a grandson. Guns are something for men to talk about.
My
dad is a member of the National Rifle Association. Law abiding. Keeps
his guns in a vault-a locked vault to protect the young ones. When I
was a kid, the gun was simply left on the shelf in the closet in my
parent's room and we knew not to even think about touching it.
Kids
today, are a different story. They have to touch and handle,
regardless of what they are told to do or not to do. So dad locks
them up, now. Progress of a kind, I guess.
My
father and I are on different sides of the gun control argument. In
order for gun control to happen, I would have to convince my father
that he has a real illness with his need to own so many guns. But he,
and others like him, nearly all the members of the NRA, don't believe
they are sick, in any way shape or form.
They
won't admit to being fearful either.
They
are comfortable in hiding behind the rationale that people who use
guns to kill people are either criminals or crazy, not like them, the
law abiding citizens of the NRA. The law abiding need their guns to
protect themselves and their families from the criminals and the
crazies and to go hunting once in a great while.They don't
distinguish between owning a 30 ought six or 12 gauge from owning an
AR 15 assault rifle. They are all just guns, or weapons as my nephews
say.
Guns
don't kill people...people kill people. Fear the people, not the
guns.
And
that is why the shooters in Aurora, or Columbine, or the beltway
snipers will have easy access to weapons, because guns are part of
the American lifestyle of everyday American citizens.
Everybody
has em, nobody uses em.....like any other tool in the garage... just there
when you need it.
