I Haven’t Left you

I haven’t left, only taken a break to do much needed work.  I prefer to write. Always. I became certified in CPR and First Aid this week. But… there was not one procedure that discussed saving lives from gunshots.
I’m sure by now, the world has seen the tragic shootings of the 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut. For some reason, I stayed fixed to the TV all week, often staying up till 3:00 a.m. only to watch the same repetitive stories shown an hour or two before. One piece of the story always rendered me to tears, often sobbing, feeling an empathic tie to the parents and grieved loved ones.
I thought, could this be the one ? Could this time really be different, the one that moves everyone into action, because we finally say no more ? After every mass shooting in this country, we hear something has to be done. And then nothing.. Until the next one. There have been 3 mass shootings, probably more since the end of July. The Colorado movie theatre was horrific. Just when we were catching our breath from that one, someone stormed into a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin and killed another 7 or 8 people. There was an incident at a mall. Okay, small time- only 3 or 4 people were killed there. And now, little children. Babies, really. Everyone felt the grief. There are still funerals being held.
I want to be clear. I hate guns. I don’t even want the police to have them, but they do. I think this country is back to the wild west, only then it was just a gun with 6 bullets or a rifle, that fired one at a time. I didn’t write the laws, nor do I enforce them. The problem is, no one else seems to either. People have this right and if they are responsible, and I’m sure most are, I don’t have to like it, but I respect it.
But what happened last week and over the past 6 months is despicable. Even the NRA was silenced. I couldn’t wait for the press conference yesterday to hear their response. And then I was sorry I did. I thought I misunderstood at first, but I didn’t. The executive vice president, Wayne Lapierre is a total, insensitive, delusional moron, who is
out of touch with reality. I have more fear now, than I did before.
His irrational solution to this problem, is more guns. He suggests we put armed police in every school in America. And.. the big question is, while he wants to keep any loose cannon (pun intended) free to buy guns, rifles and military weapons, he has no concept that this idea comes with an astronomical price tag.
Does he plan to pay for it ? The NRA has tons of money to throw at lobbyists and God knows, he’s making over a million a year. I don’t why. It’s certainly not for his well thought out plan, empathy or intelligence. This only proves the rest of the association is as crazy as he is.
He’s asking this country and every state, to support the NRA, instead of taking this opportunity to appeal and amend laws on the books, that might help to eliminate this type of violence in the future. He wants us to pick up the tab to keep his organization thriving.
Considering our economy is already on life support, and many educational programs have been forced to be cut, why in the hell should we pay to police our schools ? Local police and firefighters have already been downsized, so now we should take a limping force and put them in schools, instead of on our streets or at the places where there are incidents of crime ?
And if they can’t be there, the alternative is to train teachers and faculty on how to use guns. That makes sense. These guns would need to be locked up and out of the reach of children. A crazy gunman comes in, firing 100 rounds a minute. By the time they unlock the case and go for him, he’s already killed 30, 40 or more kids. Okay, maybe they save 30.
But again, this doesn’t solve the problem or stop someone in the 1st place. I had a debate the other night, with someone who said if they had a gun, they could have killed him. I’m sure that’s true, but not before he’s wiped out 10, 20, 30 or more people or children, firing 100 rounds a minute.
I know guns are already out there. Why not pass laws that make these high magazine assault rifles illegal ? Give people $100 for every one they turn in. I’m sure a lot of people would keep them. If someone’s found with one of these weapons, fine them $5,000 and put them in jail for 6 months. No trial, no jury. If it’s registered to them and they still have it, those are the ramifications. That’s the price they pay to play.
Background checks for everyone. That means felons, inexperienced kids and people, can’t walk out of gun shows with guns. No one needs a gun that immediately, unless they’re up to no good. If they’re threatened, they should go to the police or a friend’s or relatives.
A high powered weapon, only belongs in the hands of someone in military combat. This isn’t a means of defense. This isn’t hunting either. If you’re such a bad shot, the deer deserves to live. That’s not sport. And I don’t like the idea of concealed weapons either. Some nuts in a bar, gets drunk, someone says something to him he doesn’t like, he pulls out his gun and shoots.
So will all this stop ? No, not immediately, but let’s put a damper on it. Let’s make it really difficult. Make it challenging to get guns and illegal to own the type of assault weapons, responsible for mass shootings and murder. At least that’s a start.

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