I own guns and have most of my life. I grew up on a farm, so I shot squirrels with a .22 rifle, pheasants with a shotgun, and hunted deer with a slug in a shotgun. Much later when I had my ranch in north Texas, I had two shotguns, a deer rifle, and several pistols. I no longer have the ranch due to health reasons and no longer hunt for that reason. I have held a CHL (Concealed Handgun License) for as long as I can remember.
So, first get over the myth that Liberals don’t have guns, though we are not fanatics about it like most right-wingers, survivalists, white- supremacists or the NRA. Secondly, get over the GIANT MYTH that Democrats want to take away your guns. That’s not true nor has it EVER BEEN TRUE. Beto O’Rourke from Texas, who was recently a presidential candidate, wanted to take away assault rifles. It is my belief that only the police and military should have assault rifles, but I guess they’d be OK if everyone turned them in to be accommodated with stops which prevented them from having high capacity-round magazines.
Since I mentioned the NRA, let me add that they used to be a great outfit, with gun and safety education. Today, they still do some of that, but mostly they are a rabid support group for the likes of Donald Trump and vehemently oppose gun laws even after so many mass shootings, even adding white supremacists. The only thing I have seen accomplished is the outlawing of bump stocks which allow a more rapid firing than a conventional semi-automatic rifle.
In 2019 alone there were 41 mass killings, a mass killing defined as four or more people killed excluding the perpetrator. Of those 41, 33 were mass shootings as opposed to stabbings, axes, etc. 2019 was a peek year, and increasing even though general homicides, overall homicides are decreasing. The database, taken by the Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University did not include the many more who were wounded. And Lord, the toll it all takes on surviving family, relatives and friends. Another study, counting two or more stated that there were 319 mass shootings in 2019 as of December sixth. Brady Campaign and GIFFORDSPAC both stated that each year 36,000 people die from gun violence in the U.S.
The increase of shootings was attributed to “the angry and frustrated time” that we are living in. The majority of killings involved people who knew each other, family disputes, drug or gang violence, youngsters playing violent video games, or people with beefs who directed their anger at co-workers or relatives.
The NRA and gun manufacturers donate heavily to Republican congressmen who refuse to act. There are some things you can do. First, VOTE THEM OUT. Secondly, donate to lobby groups who fight for gun laws and against gun violence. “Everytown for Gun Safety” is one of them. You remember the Democratic congresswomen from Arizona, Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head. Donate to the “GIFFORDSPAC”. By the way, her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, joined the cause after the Sandy Hook school shootings, and is running for senate in AZ. Remember when Reagan was shot. Well James Brady was with him and was shot in the head then. Donate to the “Brady Campaign” which also fights gun violence.
Most of the above groups fight to have criminal background checks for all gun sales, to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous domestic abusers and stalkers, to give law enforcement the tools they need to crack down on gun trafficking, to fight gun lobby efforts to force guns into sensitive places like bars, parks and college campuses.
The Readers Digest, Dec, 2019-Jan, 2020 issue, printed something interesting from several polls taken by other outfits: 94% of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun sales, 86% favor banning those with a history of mental illness from buying a gun, 84% favor prohibiting anyone on the no-fly list from buying a gun, 83% support limiting gun purchases to those 21 and older, 80% think there should be a mandatory three-day waiting period before someone can take a gun home, 77% support requiring a license before buying a gun, 73% support banning high capacity magazines. Democrats have introduced gun control bills in the House but bills never made it to the floor in the Republican Senate as Trump and his GOP listen only to the NRA and gun makers. Presidential Candidate, Senator Amy Klobuchar, sat in the White House across from Trump. Nine times he said he wanted universal background checks. Then, the next day he met with the NRA and folded!
Now remember, guns are not allowed for the average citizen to carry into courtrooms, federal government buildings, banks, and anywhere you see it posted. After so many church shootings, some churches have allowed trained personnel to wear guns. When I say “trained”, that doesn’t mean having a CHL or gun license. It means extra training because it has been shown in cardboard cutout shootings that ordinary folk carrying guns will shoot many more innocents than the gunman if they hit him at all. The same training applies to school gun trainees.
My local newspaper published a cartoon with two frames. The first showed an assault rifle and said “Las Vegas shooting spree: 58 dead.” The second frame shows a knife with the saying “London stabbing spree: 2 dead” The bottom caption read “And yet some people think gun control doesn’t work.
Republicans have argued that this is all because of a mental illness, but psychiatrists and psychological institutes have shown that mental illness is only a small bit of the problem.
In 2017, there were 47,173 suicides in America, 23,000 died by firearm suicide. Mental illness was a part of it, but so were loss of jobs, loss of a mate, and on and on. If you know of ANYONE contemplating this, get them to counseling, and for God sake, get them far away from guns.
This concerns me about the right wing. A major league baseball umpire said that he was getting an assault rifle, that if you impeached his president, there will be a civil (sic) war. As published in the May 17, 2019 issue of “The Week” magazine, Washington State Representative, Matt Shea, told an audience at a “God and Country” event to prepare for a civil war with “communists”. Another speaker said Christians should buy an AR-15 and plenty of ammunition. Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa posts a meme warning that red states have eight trillion bullets in case of a civil war. There is a fanatic right wing Republican in the west who is training teenagers with assault rifles for the Christian holy war.
There is thought that if Trump loses the election, he may not leave the White House willingly and these kooks are willing to start a civil war over it.
God help us.