Laughing at some TV show, book at my side, in bed, early Sunday night, one of my nights alone at home with my aged mom. I have learned to appreciate these nights, to utilize them to unwind, relax, be at peace with myself, and the world.
The house alarm sounded, loud, screeching, alarming as they are meant to do. I shot up like a rocket, looking to grab something, a weapon of sorts to defend myself, upset then grateful my dog was not around to experience this trauma.
Armed with nothing, heart pounding out of my chest, my mom slept, of course with selective hearing, she opted not to hear this. Thank God. I checked the house waiting for the alarm company to call. No calls. Just the line lit up where the mechanism notifies the company. I picked up the phone anyway. The first number I saw, my neighbor's. I called.
By the time I opened my front door she was in the street with a flashlight looking to protect me. Another neighbor with his dog was 'casing' my property. Saw nothing. Calmed a bit I re-entered the house and saw it was the 'fire' signal. No fire. No smoke, still shaking, the phone finally rang: the alarm company. All was well. Midnight, like Cinderella, I could go back to bed. I thanked everyone but there was no sleeping for me. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest.
Years back I had been stalked, the house broken into, guns pointed at me; I had not, obviously, gotten past it. I cursed the stalker, cursed the world then looked for solutions as I am prone to do. A gun. That's what would make me feel safe. I would ask a friend who knows all about guns to buy me one. That solved I then went on a thinking binge as to what type of gun. Something I could handle easily, so not too heavy. Something that would fit in my night table drawer. I know a bit about guns from my stint as an Assistant District Attorney in New York City and I clerked at the U.S. Attorney's Office in law school. No expert, but I decided on a .22 -- would fit in the drawer, easy to handle. Case resolved, I fell asleep. Next morning I woke up laughing at myself. No way was I going to get a gun. My neighbor, 80 and proud of it, was hysterically laughing at me. Couldn't believe I called her with a flashlight to save me. Obviously I wasn't thinking rationally the night before. I let my fear dominate me, my thoughts, my action.
Today in the wake of the shooting in Colorado I wonder if that's why we allow so many guns in this country. Fear. They are readily accessible. No expert again but I think we are one of the biggest gun manufacturers in the world. Money does make it go around but I don't think that's the whole answer. I read Russell Simmon's blog. Watched Piers Morgan. A semi-automatic that could shoot 71 people in less than a minute I believe? Who needs these guns? Why do we permit it? If we want to rely on a strict interpretation of the Constitution then let's sell guns that were in use at that time. Not these semi-automatics that can mow people down indiscriminately. And let me add, the Constitution addresses bearing arms in self defense, in one's home. But I belabor the point.
I am not equating any of my experiences with the horror, the atrocity of these senseless shootings. I invoke it because I am trying to fathom why, we as a people, as an electorate, permit our politicians, our elected officials to go along with special interests who obviously just want to sell guns, and don't care to whom. Why don't we care? Why don't we do something about it? Is it fear? Is it a deep down fear that we can be harmed so we need to have protection and maybe the police can't be everywhere so what the hell, I just might need a gun someday and I don't want anyone telling me I can't have one. Certainly that is what I felt two weeks ago. I know it must be hard to have withstood or survived or avoided a violent attack yet we all know more violence is not the answer and as someone who has experienced this violence I can attest to it and I have listened to others many of whom are on the same page. Why do we equate protecting ourselves with the semi automatic and automatic weapons? There is no correlation. It defies any sense of logic, of reason. Why do we not demand strong gun control legislation? Demand rigid stringent background checks and other requirements so that these automatic and semi automatic weapons and ammunition cannot readily be bought in stores or on the Internet by anyone? Have we totally abdicated our moral duty as citizens to whomever has 'bought' us with rhetoric or emotion or plain hard cash? After each tragedy we keep saying we want to address the issue and don't. I just don't get our reasoning. I just don't get why we complain when we are part and parcel of the problem. I just don't get how we can feel so terrible for these victims then give lip service and do nothing about it.
If you don't want a gun to protect yourself, then that is your choice but realize this, there are many people whose "false alarm" is not false and they are unable to defend themselves when they are attacked.
EVERY law abiding citizen deserves the ability to defend themselves with a gun under the constitution. You don't get to choose what amendments you want and which ones you don't want and you don't get to apply rigorous and limiting conditions on one amendment but not the others.
CCWs and guns in the hands of law abiding citizens have shown time and time again to actually save lives.
People are also stupid for thinking banning guns would actually work. It wouldn't. Most people would agree the war on drugs is a waste of time and money. Now imagine a 'war on guns' LOL do you have any idea how much it would cost to enforce that? To get every gun off the street, and guns out of law abiding citizens hands? (If it didn't start a civil war first). It's an irrefutable fact that outlawing guns would cause a black market. It would disarm law abiding citizens while criminals got richer and more powerful. It would be illogical and an even bigger fail than the war on drugs.
Most anti-gun people literally know nothing about firearms, crime rates, gun statistics, gun laws and generally get their news and opinions from extremely bias sources. If you actually look at statistics, you'll see that in counties with the highest amount of open or concealed carriers has the LOWEST crime rates. You'll also notice that in other countries. Such as Switzerland. One word can be said about the epic fail of gun control. CHICAGO. It's illegal to have a gun there, but it has some of the WORST gun crime in the nation. All that did was disarm law abiding citizens allowing criminals to run amuck without the fear of getting shot at.
Fact of the matter is, theres 311 MILL people in this nation. There are over 200 MILL guns in this nation. Half the population owns a gun, and almost 35% of Colorado residents own a gun and things like this is a very rare occurance. Which is the problem, we focus on the bad then go ape shit when people don't even realize the numbers at hand. A single damn person does this then theres an outcry for "gun control" and the media blows it up (solely for ratings) then you basically have the mindless sheep Americans shrugging and agreeing. A few bad apples should not dictate and force people to change laws.
Each time a tragedy like this happens, I go through the same cycle of sadness, anger, and questioning. What I question, however, is why we don't allow more folks to carry legal, concealed, firearms. Did you know that several of this suspect's guns are already unlawful? Did you know that in almost every high profile shooting this is the case.
One well-intentioned moviegoer, with a legal, registered, concealed firearm could have reduced the horrible carnage in Colorado yesterday. It makes no sense to me to use these tragedies as a platform to pass more laws, when the suspects have proven-- in these very same events-- that they ignore any and all legal controls on guns.
Instead, let us make the bold move to arm the good folks so they have a chance to defend themselves. Texas, Idaho, Florida, and other states have done so. Gun crime in each jurisdiction that follows this lead goes down precipitously. No other method has ever proven to be effective. None.
Each time a tragedy like this happens, I go through the same cycle of sadness, anger, and questioning. What I question, however, is why we don't allow more folks to carry legal, concealed, firearms. Did you know that several of this suspect's guns are already unlawful? Did you know that in almost every high profile shooting this is the case.
One well-intentioned moviegoer, with a legal, registered, concealed firearm could have reduced the horrible carnage in Colorado yesterday. It makes no sense to me to use these tragedies as a platform to pass more laws, when the suspects have proven-- in these very same events-- that they ignore any and all legal controls on guns.
Instead, let us make the bold move to arm the good folks so they have a chance to defend themselves. Texas, Idaho, Florida, and other states have done so. Gun crime in each jurisdiction that follows this lead goes down precipitously. No other method has ever proven to be effective. None.
1. Americans, at heart, are the X-Files' Mulder...... TRUST NO ONE....... After seeing so many nice quite guys turning out to be monsters, they have reason. They don't trust the cops to come in time... to be honest or friendly... And... they don't trust the government not to become their enemy. The country was founded in armed rebellion..... We might have to do it again. Americans are paranoid, but not w/o reason.
2. Mass murderers.... and serial killers... are often VERY smart people. I fear a mass murderer w/o access to guns... intelligent enough to commit mass murder anyway. This young man had that kind of intelligence. What if, had he not had access to those weapons, those 1st gas cannisters he'd tossed had had something deadly.... and he'd managed to lock the doors? He had the scientific background... the intelligence... maybe the access.... We still don't know what he did in the apartment. It may be a fake out.... he's the Joker..... But, you know what the FBI et al are thinking.... What if it's biological? What if?????