Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Liberally Ignorant & Guns

I've been thinking about the Sandy Hook school shootings since the morning it happened. How can we not? It's been in the news ever since. Plus, how do you get over the fact that a mentally ill person murdered 20 children? Plus six adults of course. But honestly how does anyone intentionally shoot and kill children? I wonder this same question every time the news reports a mother or father who kills their children and commits suicide. What good did this person possibly believe they were doing for their child? I wonder this every time the news tells us a man killed his wife, children, and then commit suicide. Where is the outcry for so called "gun-control" in these domestic violence reports?

No, "gun-control" only becomes an issue when it's a very public murder. Something where a dozen or more people are killed all at once. Or when a very public or political figure is killed (or almost killed). I find it interesting how we seem to vilify the man who kills his wife and children yet somehow we vilify the gun itself when another man kills random people in a public setting. In both cases we deceive ourselves ultimately. The gun is simply a tool. Just like a knife, explosive materials, or any other object which ultimately is used to bring about the death of others. The real impetus to the act of murder is ultimately either an issue of severe emotional chaos (lack of emotional control), severe mental illness, or a lack of moral values and respect for human life.

We should be talking about abortion quite honestly. What is the difference between abortion and the Sandy Hook murders? In both cases children were the target of a murderer. I'm sure the so called "pro-choice" movement will have a knee jerk reaction of dismay to my saying this. What's the difference though? In both cases an intentional act was made which resulted in the death of a child; a human being. Thousands of unborn children are murdered every single day in this world. The media certainly doesn't give that story the time of day.

But there is a different impetus behind each of these acts. Inherently both are purely selfish. Both show a lack of value for human dignity. However, one is more apparently driven by mental illness (mass shootings, bombings, etc) where as the other is driven by a simple lack of moral values (abortion). The former could be resolved or at least improved by seriously figuring out how to properly administer help to those whom are truly mentally ill. It's not like any of the recent mass shooters were an absolute surprise to everyone who actually knew them. They all showed signs and symptoms along the way. The latter could ultimately be resolved by making legal changes (or by simply becoming a more moral and faithful people once again).

This hyper emotional focus on "gun-control" is a farce to say it nicely. First of all, the very term in and of itself is incorrect to begin with. What they really mean to say is "outlaw guns". The media loves using false terms when it comes to firearms anyhow. Several times a day I see them using the terms "assault weapons" and "automatic weapons" when referring to civilian firearms. These terms are used by the "Liberally Ignorant" I've decided. It seems to me the false use of terminology is both a case of being ignorant (uneducated on the issue) and liberal in political agenda.

In today's modern world most firearms owned by civilians are meant for one of two purposes. I would wager that most of them anymore are owned for self-defense purposes. However, many Americans are avid hunters. Of the hunting variety there may very well be a disproportionate amount of single fire type firearms (such as "bolt action rifles"). However, many modern shotguns and rifles which are designed specifically for hunting are now "semi-automatic". So what exactly does this "semi-automatic" mean? Well, "semi" means half or partial. Therefore, it's either half or partially automatic. This means you can shoot the firearm more than once without actually having to reload it. That's really what it means. The firearm automatically puts another bullet into the firing chamber each time you shoot it. However, it does not automatically fire the next round for you. That folks, is what an "automatic" weapon does. You could also call that a "machine gun". Pull the trigger down once and hold it and the gun will keep shooting rounds until it runs out of them.

Semi-automatic weapons include a large portion of hunting related firearms these days. Many shotguns (used for hunting big game, dove, quail, water fowl, etc) are being made in a semi-automatic fashion to improve the hunters odds of hitting a moving/flying target. I hunted with an old single shot 12 ga shotgun as a youth and I can attest to the fact that it's not very easy hunting dove or quail when the first and only shot is all that counts. The same goes for many rifles these days. Unfortunately, many of these semi-automatic rifles look very similar to the automatic versions of them used by modern day militarily. Therefore, the liberally ignorant think they're all the same darn thing.

But what about handguns? I'd wager that the mass majority of handguns sold today are the semi-automatic variety. And quite frankly I wouldn't wish to own a handgun that was not semi-automatic. The point of a handgun is for self-defense purposes in my mind. It's for last second survival against a deadly threat against yourself or someone you should be protecting. I want that second, or third shot if I need it. But that's really beside the point quite frankly. Because this whole ordeal isn't really about guns to begin with. None of these mass shooting suspects killed a bunch of people with a single gun anyhow. If these so called "automatic weapons" are so overkill why did these guys all show up with multiple guns?

Again, that's even beside the point. A gun can kill someone regardless of what kind it is. Even a BB gun can kill someone under the proper circumstances. David killed Goliath with a slingshot for goodness sake. The point is that if someone decides they are going to kill someone there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Unless we know ahead of time what's going to happen all we can do is try to defend ourselves if and when that time comes. And quite frankly, that irrational person is going to be hell bent on accomplishing their goal no matter what they have to use to do it. We need to understand and accept that. They will use a car, a bomb, a gun, rocks, shards of glass, nails, anything they can get a hold of if they're actual intention is to kill other people. And we're not likely to talk them out of it.

This is why we need to be focusing on the real issues. These people are sick. Normal human beings don't wake up and decide to kill a bunch of children. Even mentally ill people seem to plan these events out over time rather than a split second decision. So we need to be focusing on figuring out what makes them tick improperly. And we need to focus on getting these people the right kind of treatment whatever that ends up being.

For some, those who simply lack morals, that very well may mean getting them to Church so they can learn how human beings were meant to act toward one another. This country was founded on religious freedom, mostly by Christian leaning people. Somehow we've strayed far, far away from that bent. Now days being a Christian is taboo.

We must remember that laws are like locks. Every lock is ultimately defeat-able. Every law is breakable. Laws keep generally honest people honest. Just like locks keep honest people honest. Those who are inclined to break locks or laws will always do so. Those are the folks who simply do not care about morality or perhaps don't have the mental ability to do so. Legislation does nothing but solve outcry. It will never solve problems. Murder has been a crime throughout the history of mankind.

But people are murdered every single day.

The normal person doesn't live their entire life without committing murder because they're afraid of jail.

The normal person doesn't live their entire life without committing murder because they're incapable.

The normal person lives their entire life without committing murder because it's wrong.

Until we can fix those who are mentally ill and return morals to those who don't have them we will always have pain and suffering. Until we care enough to try... it will never happen.

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