Last week’s horrific tragedy in Parkland, Florida has made me reconsider my own views on gun control and gun ownership. I grew up in southern and central Kentucky where it wasn’t unusual to see gun racks hanging in the rear windows of pickup trucks with a couple of guns on them. Farmers used them for killing or chasing away varmints, hunters used them for hunting, and typically, kids used them to shoot cans, bottles, or whatever other inanimate objects they could find. In stark contrast to today, guns were not considered a great danger to society and had a very useful and specific purpose.
As children, we were taught that guns were part of our American culture. Boys were, and still are, oftentimes given guns as a rite of passage for Christmas and/or birthday gifts. We played cowboys and Indians, held mock battles with toy soldiers, and built forts where we pretended to defend ourselves from invaders. Even as kids, we understood that more powerful weapons meant greater odds of winning. So naturally, because they had guns, most kids wanted to be the cowboys instead of the Indians. Ironically, I always wanted to be the Indians. I thought it was more interesting playing the Indians and was determined to eventually beat those darn cowboys even without guns.
My Exposure to Guns.
Like a lot of Americans, the first gun I ever shot was a Daisy BB gun. I couldn’t believe how many BBs it could hold. It was great, you simply poured them in, cocked it once, aimed, and shot. After shooting at trees, cans, and bottles, I soon became bored and began looking for more interesting things to shoot. I aimed at birds, squirrels, fish, frogs, chipmunks, bugs, and, when no one was looking, the occasional light at the top of telephone poles. The BB gun wasn’t powerful enough to do any real damage and the BBs were more of an annoyance than anything to the critters on the receiving end. After a while, like most things, it wasn’t enough. Inevitably, the BB gun was set aside for a pellet gun. The pellet gun was even more fun to shoot because it could shoot both pellets and BBs. It was also an air gun that became more powerful the more you pumped it. Since the pellet gun was more powerful than the BB gun, it could actually kill small birds and animals. To a young boy, the ability to kill anything brought with it an enticing and unnatural sense of power. It felt like you could conquer the world with just a pellet gun. Once bitten by the gun bug, there was no going back.
Naturally, the older we got, we continued to be exposed to other, more powerful guns. The .22 caliber long rifle followed the pellet gun, the .410 gauge shotgun followed the .22, the 20 gauge followed the .410 gauge, and the 12 gauge followed the 20 gauge. Along the way, we were also exposed to hunting rifles like the .270, the .308, and the 30-06. Then, there were revolvers and pistols. Most households had at least a BB gun or a pellet gun, a .22 long rifle, a shotgun, a revolver or pistol, or some combination of these. They were all fun to shoot but I personally enjoyed shooting long guns because of their ability to shoot accurately at much further distances.
Guns for Sport and Hunting.
Up until my late 20s, I had only hunted a few times in my life. For whatever reason, the hunting bug didn’t bite me until my adult years. Initially, I only bow hunted. After several years of bow hunting, I decided I wanted to try gun hunting. In Maryland, where I lived at the time, the only weapons legal for hunting deer (depending on the time of season) were either a bow, a crossbow, a shotgun, or a muzzleloader. As my interest in hunting with other weapons grew, I went to Bass Pro Shops and purchased both a shotgun and a muzzle loader. Eventually, I decided to try crossbow hunting so, I bought one of those too.
Each of the bows and guns I’ve owned served the specific and practical purpose of hunting. That said, a few years later, I returned to Bass Pro Shops to purchase a pistol. This time it was different. Instead of hunting, my justification for owning a pistol was home and personal defense. Clearly, I hoped I would never have to use it for that purpose. After a background check and mandatory waiting period, Bass Pro Shops called to let me know my pistol was ready to be picked up. Soon after purchasing a pistol, I joined an indoor range and began shooting regularly to both improve my marksmanship and for sport. It wasn’t unusual to go through 100-200 rounds each time I went to the range. It was fun and I enjoyed it.
Although I spent five years in the U.S. Marine Corps where I learned how to respect and safely and properly handle, combat weapons, I’d never spent time shooting or practicing with a pistol. Nearly all of the shooting I did in the Marine Corps was with the M16 (nearly identical to the AR15 used in several school shootings). The thought of someone using a weapon designed for combat, such as an AR15, to slaughter completely vulnerable and innocent children, and in school where they should be safe, is shocking and extremely infuriating. There’s no excuse for it. None.
Gun Control and The Second Amendment.
I don’t recall ever hearing about a mass shooting when I was young. Of course, there was the occasional news of someone who had committed suicide or someone who was accidentally shot while hunting or handling a gun. Such news always stunned us and would generate discussions around what might drive a person to suicide or the circumstances of a particular shooting incident. Fast forward to today and we’ve become numb with news of suicides, accidental shootings, and even mass shootings. They have become a regular occurrence and even expected.
My experience with guns, shooting, and hunting are not unique. Like millions of Americans, I have owned or been around guns for most of my life and while I’m a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,” I do not adhere to the idea that the Second Amendment allows for every type of weapon and certainly not for anyone incapable of safely, responsibly, and legally owning and operating one.
I enjoy hunting and shooting as much as anyone but we (myself included) really must reconsider the way we think about guns and gun control here in America. It’s astonishing to think that we’ve already had several school shootings this year and it’s not even March yet. It’s also astonishing that the types of weapons being used are literally combat weapons. This is not something we can ignore. This is not something we can continue sweeping under the rug or kicking down the road. Kids shouldn’t have to go to school every day and wonder if there will be a shooting or if they will make it home alive. School must be and feel like a safe environment for children, parents, and teachers. Parents shouldn’t have to worry about the safety of their children at school. It’s shameful that we’ve failed to protect our children and that our government has failed to provide the resources and legislation required to really make a difference. It’s just as shameful that many lawmakers have allowed bipartisan politics to come before the safety of our Nation’s children.
Making a Difference.
The time for change is now. I’ve been inspired and moved by the passion and determination displayed by the thousands of students across the country in response to the Parkland shooting. It’s only been a week since the tragedy occurred but if the last week is any indication of their will and determination to affect real change, we may finally start seeing some real results. I’m hopeful and cautiously optimistic that this is the case. It’s imperative that each and every one of us, as voters, use the power of our vote to elect people to office who will address gun control issues head on and who will not pander to the NRA or the pro-gun lobby groups. It’s absurd that we’ve allowed groups like the NRA to become so influential that they’re able to decide which gun control measures become law and which ones don’t.
It’s literally up to us, the American people, to either continue allowing them to hijack the gun control debate or to use our votes to completely remove them from the equation. If we continue allowing the pro-gun lobby and the NRA to control the gun debate, we will never find our way back to a world in which our children are truly safe. You want to make our world a safer and better place? Vote and vote wisely. It’s on us… each and every one of us.
James
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