I rarely talk politics, with good reason: I understand only a little and have no gift for "seeing the whole picture." I know my gifts and this isn't one of them.
But I will say this, without a shred of doubt: it is time to do something about guns. I don't care about hunting rifles or old shotguns, so you can save your stories about your great-grandfather's civil war relic. Let's either ban them outright, or let everyone have them. Last night I wanted to go for a walk, but since it was after dark it's just not smart in my neighborhood. Even if we'd left the baby alone and gone together, having the two of us together wouldn't guarantee safety. You know what would? A gun. It doesn't seem right that suicidal pedophiles can have them, and the right/ability to plan the rape and murder of 10 children that goes along with them, but I can't have one.
So either they all go, or I want one. I'm a damn fine shot, and would have given my left arm (truly) to have the chance at a shot at this guy. I'm tired of the rights of the criminals taking precedence over the rights of good people, especially children. You can throw any constitutional argument at me that you want. You will never convince me that it's more important for a child-molester to have his rights than it is for my neighbor's child to be safe on her own street. Never. One person's rights clearly have to trump another's, and it's time to put the good-guys ahead of the bad-guys.
I saw an old ER the other day where they decide a kid's been abused and take him away from his Dad. Dad then goes on a shooting spree, targeting doctors at home and shooting any member of the public who gets in his way. Finally a civilian in a park sees this guy shooting people, pulls out his concealed weapon and shoots the shooter 5 times. This guy ends up in the hospital with a minor scrape, getting patched up. Carter (Noah Wiley) figures out who he is and disdainfully berates him. Is this what we should all be doing? Just shooting people?
I probably saw this episode first 8 years ago. I probably agreed with Carter then. This time I watched it with my jaw hanging open. This guy just STOPPED A MURDERER. He stopped further innocent people from being killed. He was a hero, and nobody treated him like he was. I just don't get it. When did we become so desperate to avoid the truth: There are some bad people in the world. Pretending it isn't so won't save our kids; it just exposes them to more danger. There are bad people in the world, and if it's them or us, I choose us without a shadow of a doubt.
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2 comments:
I'm right there with ya, sweetie. When I met Craig I was right in your shoes several years ago. Not incredibly educated on the topic, but knew that no one is ever shot down in Tokyo where guns are banned, and the murder rate is a lot lower in Britain where even the cops don't have guns.
Now I'm married to a certified NRA-card-carrying, concealed-carry-permit-owning, Second-Amendment-loving gun nut, and I have learned quite a bit after sorting through the rhetoric.
Having a gun won't guarantee your safety, unfortunately. I wouldn't walk through a dangerous neighborhood with one and feel safer.
BUT. Studies show that municipalities that allow concealed carry permits have a lower crime rate. Why? Because the bad guys know that there is a higher chance that, if they try to do mayhem to you, you *might* whip out a gun and hurt them. So you don't even have to have the gun and you're more protected than you were before.
I'm still not sure they do enough to make sure you're not a loony-tune before they give you one of those permits, though. It is a long and fairly arduous process to get one, so easily-distracted loony-tunes probably don't cut the mustard.
Of course, in Arizona it is perfectly permissible to walk around with a gun as long as it isn't concealed. When I first moved here I was appalled to see a sign in a local grocery chain that said, "Please check your weapons at the courtesy counter." And you could (still might be able to) buy guns at KMART.
There have been a couple of situations where idiots have walked into public places, started shooting, and have been stopped by some citizen packing heat. I know that if a family member of mine were saved by such an act I'd be forever grateful.
That being said, there are certain restrictions on Craig's ability to carry the weapon into our own home, due to the presence of tiny people therein. I told him that he is covered under the Second Amendment outside of the house, but he's covered under the Bess Amendment *inside.*
If you think that a gun would "guarantee your safety" you are sadly mistaken. The solution is to get pro-gun politicians out of office so that laws can be tightened and the nuts on the street can't get them so easily. This Congress is working to ease the gun laws! Why does the general population need assault rifles? The more guns there are, the more people will be hurt - guilty people and many innocent ones. So, contact the Brady Campaign (formerly Handgun Control) and see what will really happen if everyone is allowed to carry a gun.
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