Week 1: Am I crazy?
It starts, as so many things do, with a Facebook post.
There are Facebook friends, the ones you really only know on Facebook. And then there are people you know in real life, have known since before there was a Facebook, and have 'friended' them as a courtesy, because you already have a 'real' relationship.
They are the ones that can surprise you.
All it takes is a news item: a wicked, horrible event that caused needless suffering for too many people. And then the knives come out: you learn the truth of what a friend believes, things that you'd only sort of suspected but had mostly skirted around talking. Now they post a rant that starts by talking about the Founding Fathers and ends by declaring that the meaning of the Constitution is sacrosanct, inviolable, and clear for any and all to see.
In between, it mostly talks about the importance of the Second Amendment.
I have definite mixed feelings about gun control in my country, the United States of America. I do believe that outlawing guns, by itself, is not an adequate solution--the guns aren't going to go away that easily. I don't even know that eliminating guns completely is a wise thing to do. And I do think there are people in this land who are responsible enough to own and handle a gun, and there is no convincing reason they should not be allowed to do so. In any case, it’s not the guns I truly care about--it is the killing that I want to stop.
But I don't understand the response when what seem to me to be reasonable, responsible measures to manage that ownership--measures that really might make it harder for someone else to do this shit again--are proposed: the protests, the counter arguments, the suggestion of things I plainly believe will NOT work...the anger.
I've tried to understand the position of the gun advocates, and it always seems to come down to this: they are genuinely afraid that without an armed populace, this country will turn into a fascist state...seemingly in a matter of weeks. That our government cannot be trusted to respect the rights of its citizens unless it is mortally afraid of them.
I am not afraid of that happening. I don’t believe we are an inch away from being enslaved by our government. And I don't even think that's a healthy way for a society to function, to live in a state of chronic fear. And yet, I can look at history and see that there are cases where that very thing has happened: a country's government has ceased serving its people, and virtually consumed them.
It's at that point I ask myself: Am I crazy? Are they?
There are Facebook friends, the ones you really only know on Facebook. And then there are people you know in real life, have known since before there was a Facebook, and have 'friended' them as a courtesy, because you already have a 'real' relationship.
They are the ones that can surprise you.
All it takes is a news item: a wicked, horrible event that caused needless suffering for too many people. And then the knives come out: you learn the truth of what a friend believes, things that you'd only sort of suspected but had mostly skirted around talking. Now they post a rant that starts by talking about the Founding Fathers and ends by declaring that the meaning of the Constitution is sacrosanct, inviolable, and clear for any and all to see.
In between, it mostly talks about the importance of the Second Amendment.
I have definite mixed feelings about gun control in my country, the United States of America. I do believe that outlawing guns, by itself, is not an adequate solution--the guns aren't going to go away that easily. I don't even know that eliminating guns completely is a wise thing to do. And I do think there are people in this land who are responsible enough to own and handle a gun, and there is no convincing reason they should not be allowed to do so. In any case, it’s not the guns I truly care about--it is the killing that I want to stop.
But I don't understand the response when what seem to me to be reasonable, responsible measures to manage that ownership--measures that really might make it harder for someone else to do this shit again--are proposed: the protests, the counter arguments, the suggestion of things I plainly believe will NOT work...the anger.
I've tried to understand the position of the gun advocates, and it always seems to come down to this: they are genuinely afraid that without an armed populace, this country will turn into a fascist state...seemingly in a matter of weeks. That our government cannot be trusted to respect the rights of its citizens unless it is mortally afraid of them.
I am not afraid of that happening. I don’t believe we are an inch away from being enslaved by our government. And I don't even think that's a healthy way for a society to function, to live in a state of chronic fear. And yet, I can look at history and see that there are cases where that very thing has happened: a country's government has ceased serving its people, and virtually consumed them.
It's at that point I ask myself: Am I crazy? Are they?