Guns: Bang Bang, Who's Dead?

B Guns don't kill people, people kill people. Which means a gun laying quietly in a locked gun safe is of no more danger to me I than a piece of cheesecake in the refrigerator is to my thighs.

Overall, the two points above lead me to conclude that people have choices to make here. Do I trust people?

People vary from culture to culture, within genders, within ages, so this is even more difficult or dangerous for me to try to do but, here goes...

Here's what I know or believe about people:

#1 People are impulsive.

#2 People are selfish.

#4 People lack respect.

#5 People frighten easily.

#6 People have a history of being violent, both to themselves & to others.

People are well-intentioned, many are well-educated, but all the above still factor in. And when it comes to guns, just those 6 points alone make me worry. When I realize that all that stands between gun ownership & gun use is those 6 points, I get a sick feeling in my stomach.

Take the cheesecake example for instance.

I know it's there. I should not eat it because it's for me to bring to a gathering the next day, and it should remain safely behind that door. I know that it's not healthy. I know that it will not only counteract the walking I did earlier that day (I'm pretending here, for illustrative purposes that I actually walk or do anything ‘fitness geared' at all...) I know that eating the cheesecake, even one tiny sliver, will make the whole thing useless to bring along to the pot-luck. I know that I'll have to make other arrangements. I know that I told the children to leave that cheesecake alone, at least 67 times, and told them if they were hungry to make a sandwich or something. I know that I should be a good example. Of self-restraint, of dietary propriety, of self-respect - of anything, just so I don't open that door, open that taped box...

I am alone. I am emotionally hungry. I crave. I hit a snag in my writing.

I will open the door, cut off a big wedge, and eat it all. And as I eat it, I will ponder a second helping...

I have been too lazy to make myself something good to eat. I have impulsively reacted to my emotions. I have selfishly ignored the feelings of others who ‘wanted,' and will make everyone ‘suffer' as I drag them out to the store tomorrow, minutes before the gathering, to buy something else - and we will be rude by arriving late (and several of us in sour moods). You could argue that I gave into my personal fears. And it would even be appropriate to say I acted in violence towards myself with a food indulgence that serves only to hurt myself in the long run (I won't debate food issues now - my arteries are too clogged - but it's true.)

If I succumb so easily to a cheesecake, how does a person react to a gun?

As a parent, I naturally fear a child's reaction. Children are curious. It's forbidden. They *must* have it.

Even the well-trained children, the ones diligently taught to respect the gun's power, have killed themselves or a playmate unintentionally. And those who have not been trained, like my own children, are lured by the unknown or seduced by the fact that Johnny has something, knows something, they do not.

Some would argue that it's my fault as a parent, for not showing, training, my own children with proper gun use. I admit that aside from "Don't ever touch one! They are not toys," I have done ‘nothing.' But in reality, proper training is no guarantee. It may be a small percentage of gun deaths, but to the family, percentages mean nothing. I don't know the odds of one of my children playing at a house with a gun on the property - I can't look that up, it makes my blood run cold, and my legs run to that cheesecake in the fridge...

But children do die from guns, gun ‘play,' every year. It's a fact. It's one thing I'd like to remove from the reality of parenting, especially when I have to rely on another parent being responsible for both their child & my own.

Some parents intend to teach Johnny, but do they? Do they continue the training, the lectures, as often as they should?

Do they always keep the gun unloaded & locked in non-family centered room in the home? After all, if it is to protect, against that surprise intruder, shouldn't it be kept bedside, & loaded, ready for use? ...They can unload it & return it to the safe in the morning. Every morning?

Humans being what they are, I bet that one morning someone ‘forgets' or is too lazy to handle it before their coffee... and they don't remember it again until they get into bed that night... And if it was ok that night, it can be ok another night... & so on & so on.

Do they maintain the strong vigilance it requires?

Again, maybe that percentage of non-vigilant-gun-owners is small. I can't really argue that it isn't, I'm not going into the research vault, remember? But it is some percentage, no matter how tiny.

Now, here's another thought:

Jane & hubby are arguing one night. Jane looses her temper, she says words she can't take back. Not just because you cannot un-speak words - but because Hubby lost his temper too, and threw a bullet out there he cannot take back. Now Jane is unable to take-back or make-up for anything.

And obviously, we don't want to get me started on abusive husbands... If there had been a gun in my house... Who might have used it? If I had even reached for it in self-defense, would I have been able to use it before he did? I didn't even hit back - I doubt I could have pulled the trigger (I don't think I could have picked it up, in all honesty). I bet he would have kept walking towards me as I begged him not to, until he reached me, and he took it away, or at least pointed it at me as he pulled the trigger...

Or maybe my daughter, trained as she would have been, would have come to my defense with the family gun...

Jane's home alone one night. Something ‘bumps' in the night, and it can't be Hubby, he's out of town, & it can't be Johnny, he's asleep in bed, the little angel.

So she scampers to the drawer, ok, even the safe. She loads it & just waits. Finger on the trigger. Another bump. This one's closer. The door opens.

Huh, I guess Johnny had a bad dream. Or Hubby's flight came in earlier.

Again, a small percentage? Sheesh, you're a rough crowd.

Now we have a depressed person, it need not even be Jane or Hubby over the loss of their beloved son. Let's say it's Susan. She's a teenager, with all the problems that teens with hormones & proximity to other teens - who can be so cruel...

Susan is alone one afternoon. The pain is bad. Real bad. She feels she should just end it. There are plenty of options. But pills she gags on, it would be too hard. Razors? She might chicken out with the pain. Jump? "I'm so stupid," she thinks to herself, "I'll only break a leg, or worse, end up paralyzed..." But the gun, the gun is quick & deadly. She gets it. She uses it. She was right. She's dead. Or maybe not, she's only half-dead forever. The point is, the gun is too fast for an impulsive choice. It's serious. There's no way to call for help after you try that one.

Again, maybe it's a small percentage. I don't know.

But at some point, someone has to consider that all those tiny percentages add up to a significant number.

And for me, that significant number is one. All it needs to be is one of my loved ones. That's all it needs to be significant to me.

Guns are too fast, too serious, too deadly, to be in the hands of beings so impulsive, selfish & without a general respect.

It's precisely because we are impulsive, frightened, selfish, lazy, beings without respect that we are violent.

If humans weren't violent, we wouldn't ‘need' guns at all. (Except for hunting, which is another debate topic of its own.)

There's an old saying: Two wrongs don't make a right.

When it comes to safety, guns aren't the answer. They are the tools of the problem.