Guns

I am veteran's daughter, my father was a marine and Korean War vet, and I come from a long line of responsible gun owners. I am so tired of hearing that, “guns don't kill people, people kill people.” I agree with Eddie Izzard..."Guns help." This morning a woman at the grocery store told me her former husband, she's had three, didn't keep a gun in the house because he was afraid of what he'd do if he got mad. “You mean he'd shoot someone?” I asked. She shrugged. “Men and their tempers,” she said.
 
When did shooting someone because you're really, really angry become the response to fixing what ails you? I’ve been told repeatedly that they’re crazy, the shooters are crazy, and it’s a mental health issue. No question mental health enters into this, but the more I read and research these young killers, more often than not I’m finding they’re not crazy. They knew exactly what they were doing and precisely planned and executed their attacks. I asked a therapist I knew what he thought was under the psychology of mass murderers. Without missing a beat Dr. Joe said, "I want to kill myself because I am in a lot of psychological pain and don't think I have a future but I want people to remember me." And the movement not to speak the murderer’s name was born. Refusing to speak the name of a mass murderer feels good in the moment but it’s not going to stop mass shootings. If anything the next mass shooting, and there will be another, will be even more heinous to make people speak his name. And yes the gun lobby is that strong; if you can’t impose regulations after the slaughter of 20 elementary school children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook, when can you?
 
The text of the second amendment states:
 
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
 
I’m not quite sure when a “well-regulated militia,” became the boys- next-door stockpiling guns and assault weapons, with the goal of killing as many people as they possibly could, but clearly they are infringing upon the security of the free state and the people.  So yes, I am for sane gun control. I think guns should be regulated like you regulate driving. For people who love their guns and hold true it is their constitutional right to have a gun, trouncing the people who are calling for regulations doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The only reason millions of people are calling for regulations is because gun ownership has been abused in the most heinous of ways. Logic dictates that your anger should be aimed at the mass shooters, the people who have abused the right of owning a gun, which in turn impacts your right to own a gun, not the people calling for regulations. Logic further dictates that as responsible gun owners you would join hands with those saying enough is enough and actively engage in the creation of a sane gun policy.

 Live loud, love fierce, and suffer no fools. Katherine Manaan