I am not bullied, coward or persuaded by the Second Amendment alarmist.
Having the American public armed with killing machines, is not smart. I support Senator Bernie Sanders on many issues but his stance on allowing the manufacturers of guns a legal loophole to escape culpability, is disturbing. He flatly states he thinks gun manufacturers should not be held liable for gun deaths, unless they “knowingly” knew a gun would be used in a murder or violent crime. This, unfortunately, would include the making of America’s favorite mass killing machine, the AR-15 assault rifle.
James E. Holmes, Adam Lanza and Jacob Roberts killed forty, men, women and children from Connecticut to Portland in a matter of minutes, due to the massive firepower they were able to easily and legally obtain. Gun enthusiast, will tell you they like, target shooting, hunting and collecting but the sole purpose of a gun or rifle is to kill something. The events of the past 15 years show that the most popular killing objective, has become people.
I grew up watching Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Mannix and the Untouchables on TV (OK, I am an old guy) with an average of approximately 12 faux killings per week. This became so alarming to parents of my age we fought vigorously to make guns a source of ridicule and embarrassment to own. The mother, of mass murderer Adam Lanza, allegedly gave her son a gun as some sort of therapy for an increasing mental disorder. I would not even allow my three sons to play with toy guns for fear it may contribute to thoughts of violence. That logic was not founded in any fact but neither was cigarette smoking, causing cancer, at the time. I played cowboys and Indians as a kid, also cops and robbers. I think, I am well-adjusted (don’t ask my friends) and the battle lines of good and evil, though not always right, were well defined.
We have entered a new wave of violence based on fear, intimidation and unprecedented bullying, albeit, online or face to face. The after school challenge to a fist fight has become the after school, choose your weapons. A shoving match at a bar has become a drive by shooting and a wink has turned into a paranoid insult only solved by the firing of a fatal shot. I am not afraid to say the Supreme Court has totally bastardized the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment. Zeke and Fred at the corner filling station or Jamal and Kenneth at the convenience store are not well regulated militias. I grew up in the inner city and gun deaths have affected me most of my adult life. I have become numb, in my old age, to the sound of gun shots, followed up by the ear piercing screech of blaring sirens. A local murder was once the most outlandish and gruesome story of the day, now it is just a footnote, until the next one. Don’t forget to duck.