I am a gun owner.
I grew up around guns.
And by “around guns” I mean there was a rifle that leaned against the wall near the front door.
I remember laughing once when we had relatives in from out of town “We should probably put the gun somewhere else” My mom said… So I picked it up and put it under her bed.
None of us ever hurt ourselves
We all practiced shooting.
My mom and dad both had hand guns.
And I was gifted one on my 18th birthday.
One of the first dates me and beau went on was to a gun range. I “taught” him to shoot (he has terrible aim but at least he knows how to load and if he needed to fire at say a rhino then he’s good to go).
This doesn’t make me a gun nut just someone who never felt guns couldn’t be kept safely.
Of course they can.
But not everyone is a group of (fairly) sane individuals who keep a gun with only the idea of hunting and the safety of their family in mind.
And we can’t keep living in a world pretending that the framework of our country is so great that it can’t be improved upon.
I used to think along the same lines as “From my cold, dead hands….” but it isn’t my cold,dead hands that we keep seeing. It’s movie goers, holiday shoppers, and children. It’s people going about their every day life and having it ended all because we’re just so fucking stubborn to see the truth.
I can’t pretend anymore.
It will be a massive undertaking and it will be hard but we need to give up the guns.
Now.
I’m not even saying all the guns. I still think we should be allowed to keep rifles for hunting, etc. We have certain animal populations that get out of control. And there are many scenarios that would necessitate a portion of the public having some experience.
And with extensive background checks, etc I think we should be allowed A (one) hand gun per person.
And , of course, arm the police as much as you want.
And have stocks of arms set to go should we ever need to protect our land on this soil. Locked away until that day comes.
But the semi-automatics and high capacity guns in general need to go. They belong on a battlefield and that should not be America’s cities.
So today I no longer support the second amendment as it is currently interpreted. We HAVE to make a change if we want this to stop happening. We are too great a nation to keep allowing this. This can’t go on.