Gun Control?
I remember when I was a child, my favorite possession was a toy rifle. I played with it almost daily. Every night on television, you wouldn't have to channel surf very long (there were only three channels) before you'd find a western, war movie, or a 'cops and robbers' program. Guns were an acceptable element of our culture. Every boy child had a toy gun. Half of the pick-up trucks I saw on the road had a gun rack, with rifle, hanging in the rear windshield for all to see. Nobody ever seemed to be alarmed by this, or even talk about it, and there didn't seem to be many crimes, with or without guns, back then.
I have to wonder why there were less gun crimes and gun accidents then than now. This is a time when you can't get through a single day, without hearing some alarmist demonizing guns, gun owners, and the NRA. I remember when small pistols were referred to as 'purse pistols'. It was not uncommon for women to carry them, concealed in their purse for their own personal protection, and these women knew how to us them. In the early 1970's government propaganda renamed these 'purse-pistols' and they became known as "saturday night specials". I also remember when 'military issue' semi-automatic rifles were just that. Then during Bill Clinton's presidency they became "assault rifles". Perhaps if Clinton had accepted his draft notice he'd have known that an "assault rifle" was a 'military issue' fully-automatic rifle. I remember that after Clinton's successful campaign to restrict the sale of these semi-automatic 'military issue' rifles to the public, he went after 'single fire' hunting rifles. If they were equipped with a scope, they also got a new name. "Sniper Rifle". There seems to be some kind of government (and media) agenda to demonize guns and gun owners, and to turn the tide of public opinion against anyone who owns a gun, whether it be for sport or for protection.
You don't see many (if any) toy guns in toy stores anymore. 'Zero tolerance' policies in our schools are sending elementary school children home with serious reprimand for simply sketching a pistol on a piece of paper. Yet we hear of more crimes and accidents involving children with guns than we've ever heard before. It seems the media, has developed a fixation on the subject. Statistics quoted by the media and some government officials are often found to be inaccurate, yet the NRA, when correcting these inaccuracies, is accused of lying and distorting the facts.
I wonder why there is not the same alarm given to the fact that more children are
harmed, permanently maimed, and some even killed by the family dog. Far more children die in their backyard swimming pool than the number of children who are harmed or killed with guns. Child abuse is another example of extremely high numbers of permanent damage, even death that is suffered by children. Harm (and death) to children riding bicycles is another frighteningly high statistic. Where is the media and government outcry against these accurate statistics?
Before we allow ourselves to be duped by the media and some of our more liberal friends in government, I'd like to paraphrase a comment made by Mikhail Gorbachev after the fall of the Soviet Union, and the end of the 'cold war'. I remember it well. He said, in one of his lecture tours of American universities, that the Soviet Union never considered offensive military action against the United States. Only defensive military action was considered. When a student asked him to explain, he said it was because of the Second Amendment to our
Constitution. He explained that the Kremlin was convinced that, because half of the American population was armed, a victory and subsequent occupation of America was a "virtual impossibility".
I share the concern about unfortunate shooting accidents involving children. It's a shame and, in my opinion, should be crime, if a gun is allowed to get into the hands of a child who has not been trained in gun safety. If there is a gun in the house, it should be locked away from children's access. Secondly, as soon as they are big enough to handle a weapon, the children of the house should be trained in gun safety, properly taught the mechanics of operating a firearm, and taught to have proper respect for the inherent danger of guns. Parental responsibility! Wow! What a concept!
I also share the serious concern in America of the unfortunate fact that our children are shooting at each other. In the streets, at their schools, and in 'drive-by' pot-shots. I suggest, however, that the root of this problem is not guns, but a social sickness. I suggest that blaming guns is a cowardly cop-out. A refusal to face the fact that this social sickness is of our own making, and that we don't have a clue as to how to fix it. I don't deny there is a problem. But I vehemently disagree with the growing tide of opinion that guns are to blame. As long as we stay in denial, blaming guns, and refusing to face the ugly truth that we ourselves are the problem (and only we can fix it), this problem will never be resolved. More restrictions, even a total ban of firearms, will not make this problem go away. Maybe a little Parental responsibility? A little more involvement in our children's lives, perhaps? Let's try to look at the real problem.
Gavas 120202
Copyright © (2002) Gavas Independent Group
Gavas,
Why do you think you need a gun? What are you afraid of? They banned guns in Britain and gun crimes went down. Why wouldn't the same result happen in America?
Steve Walters (Seattle) 12/23/02
Dear Steve,
The situation in Britain is a state of imbalance. The only guns in Britain are in the hands of criminals. Many of the police don't even have guns so there is another imbalance. If the police can't protect you, and you can't protect yourself, the criminals have the upper hand. In the words of Roman Emperor Nero, "Those who beat their swords into plow - shares will plow for those who don't."
Rob Wright, (Toronto) 01/06/03