👈 Newer

No one can seem to figure out what the problem is.

It’s guns.

People will always get angry and look for an outlet for whatever rage they have. You can’t predict or prevent that, and you damn sure can’t legislate it. Anger and violence have always been a thing inherent in the species since Cain picked up a rock and killed Abel (if you’re biblical), or since the first time our ancestors fought amongst themselves.

(Come, see the violence inherent in the system...)

All we can do, all we can ever do, is limit access to the tools used to express that rage. Given a choice between a knife, a bow, a revolver, a semi-auto pistol, and a machine gun, someone with enough anger to be driven to the point of murder is going to choose the machine gun. Every time. Because it’s the most efficient tool to accomplish the intended result. Limit the choice of tools, and you decrease the carnage. This isn’t a difficult concept.

“But, I’m a law-abiding gun owner!” I’m sure you are. So was almost every mass-shooter on record. Nice guys. Never in any trouble. Law-abiding. Right up until the point they committed mass murder.

We used to be able to carry guns onto airplanes. Then a bunch of folks with guns got onto some planes, and started hijacking them. So we stopped being able to take guns onto planes. So the next group brought knives onto the planes and used them to kill over 3000 people. Now we can’t take knives onto planes. Then some idiot tried to hide a bomb in his shoes, and now you basically have to be strip searched in order to get anywhere near a plane.

Why should you, honest law-abiding gun owner with stable mental, emotional, financial, and physical health have to give up your gun? First, no one is asking that you give up your gun. We’re asking they be regulated more. Second, it’s called “community”. Because all that stability can vanish overnight. If not you, then the next gun owner. Anger and pain make people do stupid things. Trust me, I’ve been there, done my fair share of stupidity because of it. You do it because it’s the right thing to do.

You’re not going to eliminate anger. But you can limit the damage it can do by restricting access to the tools used to express it.

Why can’t we figure this out?

8.9.19