In the wake of the Newtown shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School I wanted to write a piece about Guns in America. First, let me state that I am a gun owner, have been since I ordered my first rifle at the age of 14 from the Sears catalogue, and it was delivered to my parents front door by a Sears delivery man.
My brother and I both ordered the same Coey 22 long rifle, single shot, bolt action rifle and by the age of 16 were both classed as marksmen by the appropriate government agency as we both belonged to a competitive shooting team. Since then my fascination with various firearms has increased until I have what some would consider to be an arsenal. I own, and shoot handguns, rifles and shotguns. I enjoy the challenge of reloading my own shells, working on the techniques of what is called precision shooting and reloading, and also teaching this sport to my sons.
I have never hunted, only once been involved in paintball "warfare", and do not use human form paper or manikin targets when I am on the gun range. I have walked out of gun ranges because of the apparent "attitude" of the shooters in the club, and choose not to indulge myself with high power, rapid fire weaponry.
Due to the nature of the love / hate relationship that society has with guns (and gun owners) I chose for a long time not to mention this sport to co-workers or friends. As time went on I would sometimes find myself in conversation defending sport shooting and people who own firearms. As governments moved closer to, and sometimes limiting or refusing people the "right" to keep and bear arms I became more and more vocal about gun ownership.
The NRA is perhaps one of the most vocal organizations of people adamant about those "rights", while organizations such as MADD are just as adamant about drunk drivers. Guns are used to kill, alcohol is also used to commit murder. The silence about drinking drivers is deafening while the noise about gun ownership is like a sonic boom.
Why the difference?
A dunk driving fatality is just as fatal as a gunshot. A drunk driving incident is just as capable of producing multiple fatalities yet it is so common place that we tend to ignore reports of drunken drivers causing death.
Why the difference?
Perhaps the difference can be explained in the way we view each 'weapon of choice". Guns were designed to protect us, and kill that which we deemed necessary to be killed, whether it be enemy or game animals, while alcohol and other spirits were designed to give us pleasure.
Death v/s pleasure....no contest...That is the difference even though both indulgences can lead to death.
This blog is about Guns for Brains. Perhaps in the situation of mass shootings, the populace has guns ON the brains. We see innocent children and their teachers being massacred and we righteously get upset to the point of desiring to take away everybodys' guns so this type of atrocity can never happen again.
The unfortunate reality of this righteous indignation is that America (and many other countries and companies) profit from gun sales. Guns are big business on the international market. America and other countries buy and sell guns to and from each other the same way a child would go to the corner store to buy jelly beans.
The "gun mentality" is not the private reserve of a few "nut cases" but is in the public domain in the form of the international arms shipments of weapons made by your government and mine, for the sake of profit. Our governments, the very ones who would try to strip away your ability to buy guns, are in the very market of selling guns.
Does your government representative balk at selling guns to a foreign body for profit, knowing full well that those guns may (will probably) be used to kill someone elses' children, brothers and daughters, parents and friends. The thought probably does not even cross their mind.
And yet, right now, because a couple of those guns were used to kill our own children and their teachers, we, North Americans, are again calling for the ban on the sale of firearms so this kind of tragedy cannot happen again. Where is the logic in that?
As long as we allow our government to produce and sell guns and other weapons, as long as we sell guns to anyone for the sake of profit, banning guns in our own society is hypocritical, and we are all, the hypocrites.
Politicians, and the general populace would not make good shooters as they keep missing the target.
To ban guns you must forsake profit, and neither the government nor corporate America will ever allow that to happen. You as a civilian in an armed society may feel like you have succeeded by getting a few guns banned from general circulation, but you have simply been hoodwinked by the arms dealing government and corporate America as they continue to sell for profit, elsewhere.
I do not financially support the NRA, nor do I have a membership in the NRA or any other shooting organization, But I believe that they have it right, and that society is aiming in the wrong direction.
Guns for Brains, or Guns on the Brain, you decide......but at the very least, hit the right target........
