The Gun Manufacturers have a motto: “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people” Their point is that it’s not the guns that are the problem. It’s the people. Well, I have to wonder how the American people have allowed themselves to be talked into this kind of rubbish.Just this past week a New York City newspaper reported that 53 people were injured due to gun violence with thirteen people shot on Saturday alone. At a recent wedding at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan a man was totting a gun in his pocket. Someone brushed past him and the gun went off. Several people were shot and wounded. Here’s a case where the person didn’t even pull the trigger and the gun went off.
However that’s not the typical story. Of course it’s true that people with guns shoot people. Children with guns shoot other children. What is the answer? Take the bloody gun away from the child and take the gun away from the grownup. I can tell you from firsthand experience that if you have a gun there will at some point be a temptation to use it. I once was frightened in my own home and grabbed my son’s riffle and almost shot my housekeeper whose car had broken down and she had decided to sleep over. I have never again allowed a gun in the house. Having a gun may in itself provide the temptation to use it.
I have yet to see a situation in which having a gun made someone safe. If you do have a gun hanging around the house and someone breaks in and attacks you, the chance of ever getting that gun from wherever it is kept is probably nil. Two cops sitting in the front seat of their car, carrying guns in their holsters, were shot by an angry nut. What good did their guns do them? On the other hand, the Police are supposed to be trained in the use of their weapon. I am a big supporter of the Police. By and large they do a wonderful job of protecting our communities. I do agree that they too need to have more training in how to shoot without necessarily killing the perpetrator. However, the civilian who owns, and now can legally own and carry a weapon in public need have NO training whatsoever. He needs to have a driver’s license to drive a car. He has to pass a test in order to receive that. The gun carrier doesn’t even need to pass a test. All he needs to do is to file for a permit. No one even checks his character. We do a better job on choosing people who can live in a Coop than this society does on Gun control.
Come on everybody. Why can’t we vote down the Gun Lobby and make the world a better, safer place?