Gun Control Redux

I and some friends have had an ongoing - over several years - discussion about guns and gun control.

At one point I even bought a gun to see how I felt about owning one. I didn't feel any increase in godlike power nor did I feel like the world was now my oyster. I didn't feel safer for me or my family nor did I feel any increase in hostility for my fellow man.

I should say that I'm a fair shot with a bow - I can consistently hit a man-sized bale of hay at a distance of 100 yards. I own a couple of knives and I know how to use them. So absent a team of dedicated assassins, I am fairly confident about surviving for the next few years or so.

I have also had a very fast car: E39 M5, supercharged. So I've gotten that out of my system and I have every expectation of continued longevity (my Dad just turned 94 and seems to be in good health).

That all being said, the discussion has continued.

At first it was a bit hot and heavy, then I came to understand that it wasn't a condition that was amenable to discussion or persuasion. Gun owners acted like members of a cult. No amount of logic or reason would ever sway their opinions. Well, I said to myself: "So be it."

The other part of this is... [painful truth ahead, you won't like it but...] there are some 350 million people in this country and some 370 million guns. This means two awful things:

1) You'll never get the guns away from people, there are simply too many of them.

2) It doesn't really matter anyway because: statistically speaking gun deaths are insignificant - too small to matter on the great scales of history.

I know it seems horrible to think that but the numbers don't lie. Gun deaths, whether by cop or suicide or massacre just don't raise a blip compared to how many people there are in this country.

They don't matter.

So why am I raising the matter yet again?

I had another exchange with my group - and I should say that these guys are very open to discussion and are willing to talk and explain and even consider change (sometimes).

I got a statement from one of them and gave him my response: 

K:

You miss the point about gun control.

Sure other there are other countries with much stricter gun control, but they are not committing mass murder like our government did in Iraq, Waco, etc., and they were always somewhat draconian to start with

The US is committing mass murder, torture, and lots of other war crimes.

The US is the most dangerous country in the world right now, and it is attempting to stifle any and all resistance.

So gun control in the US is a far bigger issue than anywhere else in the world.

And yes it is worth killing and dying over I think.

Me:

Ah, but you miss the point. What has been shown time and time again is just how easy it is to commit mass murder with guns... even a child can do it. No one is worried about a G..... or a K... (my friends) going out and mowing down swathes of immigrants or children.

We are all a bit worried about so-called hunters getting plastered during hunting season and shooting anything or anyone who makes the underbrush twitch.

We're a little more worried about some dipshit teenager who doesn't have a clue to how his brain works and only has to decide whether to go to Syria and join ISIS or stay here and be a 'lone wolf' and mow down some defenseless teenagers or better yet some completely innocent children or settle for a few hundred country music fans. Funny I never notice them attacking a gun club or a police station.

I'm kinda surprised that gun people haven't formed some kind of vigilante society to detect, monitor and stop these idiots. It must have occurred to some people at least that this can't go on. Maybe you've shut down the outrage for this season or this generation but the anger against you is getting louder and louder. Do you thinks those kids in Florida are going to forgive or forget? The longer you guys cling to your guns the more certain will come the day when people have had it. And when that day comes they really will take your guns, all of them - no matter what it takes to do it. You are in the process of becoming pariahs and soon no one will care about your precious individual rights because they will see you as threatening theirs.

You guys really need to wake up and smell the cordite.

So that's where I'm at these days about guns, I'd be interested in your thoughts...