Rant about guns

[piplover]

If you are easily offended, please don't read this. Nough said.



This is a rant about firearms. About the several posts I've seen today advocating stronger gun control. I can understand people are upset. A terrible, horrible thing happened, and people are hurting tonight. But to be blunt - stronger gun control isn't the answer.
Every rant I saw tonight was pretty much of the vein that this horrible thing would probably not have happened if there were stronger gun control laws. I say, BULLSHIT. If the fucker was that crazy and determined to hurt people, he would have found another way, such as a pipe bomb or a crossbow. Those things are equally deadly, and yet a hell of a lot easier to get. Why aren't people ranting about the need for crossbow regulations?
I was raised with guns. Some of my earliest memories are of going shooting with my dad. I think I was five when he let me shoot his bb gun. My sister and brother were equally young when they first got to shoot. Does that make us crazy fuckers who want to go out and blow people up? How about this: instead of advocating for harsher gun control, lobby for gun awareness. I can tell you for certain that when my dad took a watermelon and blew it up with one shot, it drove home to me just how deadly a gun can be. Not one of us kids had any urge to ever touch those weapons in the house, because we were all very aware of the danger they presented. And I'm talking about my four year old brother telling a friend that you don't touch the stuff in daddy's closet because it's dangerous. How many four years old know not to touch a hot stove? How many know not to run with scissors? If a person wants to have a gun, I say let them. But I also say make the person go through a gun safety class. If the person wants to have a weapon, make it so they know about that weapon and all it entails. Hell, do we blame the car when a person kills someone while driving drunk? People have to go through school in order to get a driver's license, I think guns should be the same.
Fifty years ago it was common for five and ten year olds to know how to use a rifle, to respect it, and to not kill themselves with it. They used it as a tool, because that's what it is. A tool. Its not evil, its not going to get a mind of its own and start going off at odd hours of the day. It takes a person, a sick, crazy fucking person, to use a weapon to harm.
As a soldier you learn to respect your rifle as the tool it is. But I learned that lesson long before I ever joined the military.
So for anyone out there who wants to rant about firearms and gun safety, please think about what you are saying. By making a gun a secret, all you're doing is making kids curious. If you take the mystery away, and just lay out the facts, then there's nothing there for the kids to want to explore for themselves. Teach children about guns. Teach them the dangers, make them aware of the consequences. But for goodness sake, don't blame an inanimate object for someone's fucked up actions. Shooting guns is fun, its a sport, and its a right in this country. Make people aware, because the biggest danger to anyone is ignorance.
End of Rant.

Comments

[piplover.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Gun control shouldn't be about prevent, prevent, prevent. It should be about inform, inform, inform. Sigh.