More Gun Restrictions, Please

I’m struggling to process today’s shooting. Columbine knocked me on my ass 20 years ago. Sadly, these fucking things are getting so commonplace that you can choose not to have it affect you — if you are one of the fortunate ones not to be involved.

Today was a “small one” compared to Vegas. God, even trying to comprehend what happened in Vegas…how can you? (Remember Vegas?)

But I don’t want to fall into numbness. I want to recognize, and acknowledge, that these are traumatic, avoidable events.

Yes, avoidable. All crime is not avoidable, nor is murder. People have been murdering people since the dawn of time, and it’s not going to stop. I have no vision of Utopia.

The Second Amendment is pretty clear with its language, and our legislators have chosen to ignore it. When’s the last well-regulated militia you saw?

I took a handgun course recently, and even a simple one-day course requirement would do wonders for improving gun safety, and also preventing many impulsive gun purchasers from getting access.

What kinds of guns should be legal? All guns? All variations? All features? We already don’t allow automatics (for the most part). The point is — certainly some restrictions should exist, right? The nukes and tanks arguments are somewhat silly, but in actuality quite relevant and insightful.

The Second Amendment doesn’t grant the right to bear any arms you want. Just some arms. What kinds of arms? How about not the kind that can allow one person to easily murder 20 kids. Or shoot 500 adults.

Also: require training and organization into militias. Perhaps militias store their arms in group lockers, with militia oversight into when the arms can be retrieved.

The point is, the Second Amendment needs interpreted. Maybe even revised. Amend the amendment. This is common sense. Legislation can follow common sense. We have brains. We can do better.

Instead, we have the NRA and the GOP playing brinksmanship — resisting every single effort to reasonably interpret, revise, or simply implement Second Amendment controls. This is neither helpful nor logical. It’s purely disruptive, un-American, and leads to more murders than we need to face.

US Citizens are diverse, and much more complicated as people than the partisanship outlets (or morally bankrupt groups like the NRA) would have you believe. I’m a liberal and a firearm owner. I will never give a cent to the NRA and I believe they are a pox on our proud society. I welcome gun control and I believe the proliferation of guns are directly proportional to the gun deaths in our country…because I believe in facts. Catch the part about being a firearm owner? Fuck the NRA. Fuck them to hell. Fuck their profit-driven, power-driven core that is draped with a thin veneer of patriotism in order to shove their poison pill down the throats of otherwise good-hearted Americans.

In my first aerospace job after I graduated, I needed to get a security clearance because I’d be exposed to details about a spy-plane’s performance and deployment information. It was a job with real responsibility, so I had to prove I had the character and ability to handle that responsibility. The clearance took months, and my entire life was gone through with a fine-toothed comb.

We also do the same thing with Driver’s Licenses and a million other fucking things, including Dental Assistant licenses and Massage Therapy licenses. You have to prove that you are worthy. In reality, there are a bunch of terrible people. But you know what there isn’t? Complete randos working on your teeth with no evidence of training, or any reason to believe they aren’t charlatans.

A well-regulated militia would be a wonderful place to start.

Our gun plague is a disease force fed down our throats by the NRA and the GOP. The scientific, evidence-based truth is plain to see — just look at other developed nations. And if you don’t believe facts? God help you, you’re part of the problem. Still — do you have a heart?

There is actually middle ground for citizens to unite: more gun laws and restrictions. How many? How about some more? Some more would be a really good place to start. Stop believing in the NRA’s vision of all-or-nothing, and retake your ability to think about your fellow citizens. They are dying in droves thanks to the lack of meaningful legislation.

I, as a responsible gun owner, stand with anyone that is willing to DO something about gun deaths, not just pray about it. And right now, that is not the GOP. After all, praying hasn’t stopped murder so far, has it? If my gun ownership gets affected because the Second Amendment gets interpreted RATIONALLY for once, I’ll be truly glad.

The US has chosen to live with this problem so far. Let’s fix that, like good humans should.