Focusing on the Wrong Issue

One thing I want to say is all of you who speak about how we shouldn't turn this into a talk about gun controls or bans because of what happened today... I want you to go and tell that to the families of the people who have lost their children. Face to face. Go ahead, tell them it's not guns that murdered their child, that a person did and see how much solace that gives those mothers and fathers. And those who say we need guns in the hands of innocent people to protect themselves from this sort of evil are delusional. Not one person inside or outside of law enforcement with a gun was able to prevent this horrific tragedy. NOT ONE.

There is one particular heinous Facebook post this afternoon that said we might as well ban machetes and chainsaws (lay off the horror movies buddy) if we start legislating stricter gun control. If somebody is coming at you with a knife you at least have a chance to run or shield yourself from an attacker and have a greater chance of surviving. Plus there’s less chance of a knife (or chainsaw?!?) attack turning into a mass murder. And chainsaw attacks – wouldn’t you hear the chainsaw being revved up before the-would-be attacker got close?

Second amendment arguers can also step back. The founding fathers could never have foreseen the invention of the semi- automatic weapon. Check your history books and ask some experts about the time it takes to actually load a Revolutionary War Era musket with powder and a lead ball. Accuracy of muskets? Ask yourself why the troops were told not to fire until they saw “the whites of the eyes” of the British. It’s because they couldn’t waste a shot.  Today’s weaponry is just heinous.

 

I wrote that yesterday with tears streaming down my face. I stand behind these statements today. I don't want to read or hear the mass murderer's name or why he did it - or how focusing on mental health issues could have prevented it. Truth is it would take more tax dollars which no one is willing to give up right now. Since the 1970's this country has systematically dismantled any mental health programs that may have kept someone like this man off the streets and away from our children. I'm not even sure that he would have been locked away. Did anyone think he was a threat? Right now though, the story needs to focus on the monstrosity of this act and others like it in the recent past. I don't care to see reporters pushing microphones in the faces of the families who are dealing with grief. I don't want to see news trucks surrounding funerals and disturbing these families at what rightfully so should not be a public spectacle. I almost didn't publish this post because of that. However I do feel that it is more than past time to have a real and honest discussion about gun control.