Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2014 12:58:17 -0400
From: Kira Dirlik
Subject: Re: Guns
Oh heck, I’ll join the fray. First, I grew up in a home with guns. In my neighborhood of covenants with “no shooting”, I know personally of two residents and I’m sure many more who have guns. I have no problem with that. Covenants say “no shooting in the neighborhood”, not “no gun ownership”. I’m sure everyone would support 100% any of our homeowners defending their home with a gun in case of break in. I have no problem with the run of the mill gun ownership.
But l am so sick of this ridiculous argument:
“NO RIFLE fires indiscriminately at anything, never has, never will. People do this, guns don’t.”
And those who spout this., in truth, know it misses the point. If the aforementioned “people”, like the specific drunks, mentally ill, short- tempered, children, etc etc who have used guns to maim and kill, *did not have access to a gun*, of all those maimed and/or killed in the last 20 years how many would now be injury-free?
We all know the tragic story of those many murdered school children and that Aurora theater, and others that did not make such big headlines. But there was also an attack a short while back in a school where the kid had access only to knives, not guns. Injuries, but not so many and no one died.
And even from the point of view of those inflicting the harm… it is so easy to stand a distance away and wiggle your finger. To actually ponder the nauseating act of getting up close to someone’s defending hands and stabbing someone getting blood all over you…. I think would prevent a lot of violence. And before you bring it up, domestic violence is different… an escalating argument to the point of fury in a one to one situation would, yes, make anyone grab anything close at hand. A gun is faster, easier, and usually more fatal, though.Kira