Speak Up

The Big Mistake

The Sandy Hook School Shooting: The tragedy and the lesson. Part 3 of 4

There are a lot of reasons a firearm feels right in my hand but one of most important is the protection of my family. I hope I never have to use one for this purpose and I doubt I ever will, but I am my family’s last line of defense. I have chosen to meet this responsibility, in part by being armed and prepared. I disagree that “most criminals are not violent”, but I recognize that most of them do not want a confrontation. Interviews with prison inmates confirm, “If they know a gun is in the home they will pick another target”. Unfortunately, using window stickers to advertise the presence of firearms or the intent to use one for home defense isn’t acceptable behavior at this time.

 

In the weeks since Newtown Connecticut, I’ve watched news feeds full of dispatches divorced from reality. Almost everyone seems to be making the same mistake, focusing their anger on the tool instead of the problem. When a deranged bomber kills people we blame the bomber, when a drunk driver kills people we blame the driver, but when a disturbed shooter kills people we blame the gun. Some go so far as to insist that a world with exactly zero guns in it would be a safer place, even though that’s never going to happen, and although it seems intuitive I seriously doubt that it’s true.

 

For now, with one side calling firearm owners “a bunch of inbred rednecks” and the other side labeling everyone as “gun grabbing liberals” there hasn’t been much in the way of rational discussion. I can't stand the anti-government, partisan rants, and one sided arguments found on some radio stations, so I listen to National Public Radio and Catholic Radio; but although I agree with most of what I hear I don't agree with their positions on gun control.

 

Lots of people on both sides of the aisle own firearms, or don’t, for reasons that supersede their broader political and cultural affiliations. The Obama Administration’s proposals make him sound responsive following the horrific shooting at Newtown, Connecticut, but I don’t think there is much he can do without Congress and with Congress things are not going to change much. Most states, like California, already have very tough firearm laws that are ignored by the criminal element, and more laws applied to law abiding citizens are not going to help. These proposals may be a good starting point for a rational discussion, but so far the proposals in California are simply an attempt to push the limits of gun control “while the issue is hot”.