Let's talk gun control.
This is actually a topic I meant to write about a few days ago, but for one reason or another kept forgetting. It was a headline on CNN tonight, so I remembered.
Last week, 2 Army recruiters were shot in Little Rock, Arkansas while they stood outside their recruiting office smoking a cigarette. One of them was killed. Both of them were Privates, and the one who survived had only just started at the recruiting site. The man who killed them was a self-converted Muslim who had "issues" with the United States for things we have done to Muslims in the past.
I will preface this whole thing by saying that I don't think his being a Muslim had anything to do with it. Muslims get the bad rap for being extremists and fanatics, and to a point some of them are, there's no doubt about that. But shall I remind you that 2 weeks ago an abortionist was shot and killed by a Christian who I would definitely call an extremist. Nevertheless, the guy who shot these two Army recruiters was a psychopath, and a psychopath is a psychopath, doesn't matter if they're praying to Allah or Jesus or any other invisible man in the sky. Unfortunately for him, it just adds more fuel to the fire of Americans' biased hatred for Muslims in general. But that's a story for another time.
What this is about is gun control. And the question is, how did this guy even get a gun in the first place? Not just any gun, mind you. According to the article I read, he had in his possession a semi-automatic rifle, a .22-caliber rifle, and a .380-caliber pistol. That's some heavy duty shit there. How on earth did this nutjob get his hands on these weapons?
Two words: Gun control.
Or perhaps, lack thereof.
Again, let me explain some things. I am not one of these liberal pacifists who think that nobody should have guns. This is America, and such things should be allowed. Do I think that having a gun in the home is necessary? No, not one bit. Unless you are police officer, there is no
need to have a gun in the home--and even a police officer only has one because it's a requirement for being on the job. So no, I don't think that people need to have guns. But I'm not going to say that they
can't. My uncle owns a security business and is also an avid,
responsible hunter. He's also a
responsible gun owner. I respect his choice to keep guns in his household because he is responsible with them. Some people, unfortunately, are not.
I shall, however, take a moment to point out one thing. Anti-gun control lobbyists say that it is written in the Constitution that you have the right to bear arms. Well, kinda. It actually says that you can have a gun if you're a member of a militia. And there aren't that many militia around today. So just keep that in mind.
Moving on. I am okay with responsible gun ownership and the right (however misconstrued it may be) to legally purchase a gun. What I am not okay with is the lack of control that allows people like this nutjob to get his hands on weapons like a semi-automatic rifle when he should in fact be in a psychiatric ward of a hospital. Does that sound sensible to anyone other than myself? What about Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, or Harris and Klebold at Columbine High? By all accounts, all of these people bought their weapons legally. And that's the part that just grinds my gears. How can we say that we are a country with responsible gun control laws when we allow people like these unstable murderers to
legally get their hands on weapons that are designed for one thing and one thing only, killing people. And let's not forget the
ammunition involved, either. That's also part of the problem. Seung-Hui Cho used hollow-tipped bullets in his attack, which are extremely lethal and make injuries worse. Are these kinds of bullets really necessary? What are we using these guns and bullets for? Defending ourselves, or killing people?
Conservatives balk at the idea of background checks and permits before one is allowed to buy a gun. People like Charleton "From My Cold Dead Hands" Heston insist that we should be able to walk into your average K-Mart and walk out that very afternoon with a gun and ammo for it. This is insanely irresponsible, in my mind. You want to buy a gun? Fine, no problem. Prove that you're sane enough to handle one first. Prove to me that you have a legitimate reason for needing one. Unless you're a hunter, a cop, or a member of a militia or the military, what on earth do you really need a gun for? Home protection? Try locking your doors. If you are that uncomfortable about your earthly posessions that you need to protect them at gunpoint, perhaps you should think about moving to the other side of the tracks.
In short, this blog is not about Muslims or Army recruiters or school shootings. It's about gun control and how we need to start really talking about it in this country. Gun control that means we are paying attention to the mental stability of the people who are attempting to buy these weapons. Perhaps people don't
need to have guns in the house, but then again, people don't
need cigarettes either. It's a choice. But it should be a responsible one. Like smoking around people, being a concientious gun owner affects other people too.
They say, "My definition of gun control: two hands."
I say, "My definition of gun control: more than two brain cells."
