Freedumbs

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln


I don't need to speak of what happened last night. We all know. A horrible, tragic thing that, as unimaginable as it is, happens with greater frequency as the years pass. I also don't need to speak of why it happened or what exactly is to blame. There is no singular reason, equally applied to all instances.

But there is a commonality. One that simply cannot be discussed, even though it is blatantly obvious to everyone. It cannot be discussed because some people do not want the discussion. They fear it, and what might become of it. They will invent theories and imaginative situations where everyone will suffer. They do not think, even for a second, that if they do not, can not, participate in a reasoned examination followed by well thought out action, that some day it will be so bad that they will be forced into the very situation that they proclaim to be the absolute worst outcome.

Let me put this right out front and get it taken care of immediately so that we can get past it. If the United States of America someday decides that its coming for your guns and will happily kill you for resisting, there is not a damned thing you can do about it. I don't care how many or what kind of firearms you own, how many thousands of rounds of ammunition you stockpile, how much time you spend at the range, or how many articles of tactical clothing you own. You will not persevere. You will not hold your own. You and yours will not survive. They have tanks and planes and missiles and mother-fukin' battleships. Despite what is claimed, the USofA has the most advanced, most powerful, and largest military force in the history of the world. It is completely delusional and irrational to assume that you would even have a chance. The days of a level playing field between the private sector and the military are far, far behind us.

And while I'm on the subject, the very same military that you proudly and patriotically honor on Veterans day and Memorial Day is the same exact military that you claim will be kicking in your door to pry the gun from your cold, dead hands. The same goes for law enforcement. Sort that shit out, they can't be both.

Get this stupid end of the world as we know it shit out of your head so that we may progress.

Now that that is said, there is no reason that anyone in the American public needs anything approaching a semi-automatic military grade firearm for protection or hunting. You don't need a high capacity magazine. If you can't get it done in rapid fashion, your assailant has already killed you or others around you, and the animal you were shooting has literally high-tailed it out of there. You lost because you are a crappy shot, not because the government took away your freedoms.

Now, you might be one of those that feel we that the answer to gun violence is to have even more guns. What could go wrong if everyone was packing heat? Nobody would suffer at the hands of another ever again. That is blatantly, patently false. Gun owners are more likely to accidentally shoot themselves or others than they are to be shot by a "bad guy". So, if logic follows, the more gun owners there are, the more accidental shootings there will be. Check the numbers, it's on the rise and we aren't even near full saturation yet. If your blood doesn't boil every time a child is accidentally shot by or shoots another with a firearm owned by a self-proclaimed "responsible gun owner" or worse, a "Patriot", and you just shrug it off as the price paid (not by you, obviously) for freedom, you should remove yourself from humanity post haste.

A point is rapidly approaching, and that is the one where we collectively take action for the common good, or we have action taken against us. If we, the people on both sides of the gun debate, can have adult discussions about firearms in America, then we can control our future by coming to an agreement and proceed into the future. If we cannot, then we will be victims of our own complacency and/or stubbornness and come face to face with what is feared most.

Firearms do not need to be banned, not all of them anyway. We've done it before, with the ones that were capable of pumping out mass amounts of lead in a shortest amount of time, and it was supported on all sides. It was not a Liberal or Conservative argument, it was a human one, and was supported by every living President, both Republican and Democrat. 

The authors of the Constitution, in all of their wisdom, allowed for amendments to be added or repealed because they knew that with time comes change. If the situation calls for it, and the prerequisite number of states are in approval, changes in the Constitution can be made for the common good. So, you have to ask yourself, are you going to belly up to the table and put in the work to find a solution that works best for everyone, or are you going to stand back with your arms folded stubbornly refusing to budge, clinging on to the scenario that I covered in paragraph 3?

So what do we do? We can't ban all the guns, that is unreasonable. We should have the ability to protect our persons and our property from others, and as we all know, banning something doesn't remove it from existence. What we should do is work to change the culture, hold those that behave irresponsibly accountable for their actions. Make firearms things to be respected instead of items of status and evidence that you're on the proper side of the fence. Rights come with responsibilities. If you can't control your weapon, you lose it. For how long depends on how stupidly you were behaving. Firearms have an express purpose, and if you can't respect that, you don't get one. Simple as that.

There will always be violence in the world, at least in the foreseeable future anyway. It'll come dressed in any number of disguises with an equally numerable amount of reasons. It's unavoidable. What is avoidable is the wholly ignorant, blatantly stupid, and incredibly thick-headed behavior that gets innocent people killed or injured for no other reason than someone felt the overwhelming urge to be the "good guy".