With recent events, the debate on gun control has been renewed. After abortion and gay marriage, it is probably the most hotly debated topic in America today. I’ve found my thoughts on the topic in flux over the last several years and I’ve never written them down, so I think it might be time.
I grew up in a household where guns were seen as, for lack of a better word, evil. For a long time, I was not allowed to have anything that resembled a gun and it wasn’t until I got a bit older that I was reluctantly allowed to own water pistols. Granted they were all very realistic in those days, but the idea of me running around pretending to shoot others was not something my mom was a big fan of. I did not see a gun in person until I was well into my teens and I remained very intimidated by them for years after that. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that, through the friendship of several friends who grew up in the heart of Virginia, I was exposed to guns on a semi-regular basis. I still never felt the need to own one, but I’d grown into a belief that guns were not only not evil but they had a legitimate place in a sportsman’s life. I understood that with the proper amount of training and respect, they could be a safe part of any household.
For the record, I do not believe growing up in that environment was harmful. We did not grow up around wild animals, we did not need to hunt for food and we did not have to prevent the King’s men from taking our land, so we really had no occasion to use guns. It was not a naive existence, but rather a choice to not exercise our right because all of our daily, immediate needs were provided for.
Then, I bought a shotgun. I still didn’t need a gun, but there were two main reasons why I felt I should own one. First, I’d gotten to a point where I was shooting clays with friends on a semi-routine basis and, like anything, having your own equipment helps you in more ways than I care to explain here. Second, I’d realized I had a lot in common with the Libertarian Party who, as major proponents of independent freedom, heartily supported the Second Amendment. A few years later, I learned of a shotgun floating around my family that was owned by my grandfather who’d passed 20 years prior… and it blew my mind. Guns were never something “in the family” and it was amazing to learn something about a man who’d given me my last name but died long before I could really know him. Being a recent gun owner and my dad having sold his dad’s 911 (more on that in a later post), I volunteered to take it. Not only would it double the size of my collection, it would also serve as the one true item of inheritance from my grandfather. Besides, owning a 50 year old shotgun is just plain cool.
Recently, I find myself becoming increasingly interested in being armed for my own well-being. I don’t say this because I’m afraid the world is going to hell in a hand basket or I’m afraid of the gubberment taking away my guns. Rather, I believe I’ve become more aware that I am the only one responsible for the safety of myself and those I love. I’m not talking carjackings, I’m talking Hurricane Katrinas. Anyone who knows me well knows I believe in being prepared. Whether it’s food, water or the supplies I need to get the heck outta town, I’m not interested in fighting the masses after the bad happens to get my needs met. Being prepared means nothing if you can’t defend against all the desperate hungry masses who were too busy watching Jersey Shore to prepare themselves. The police are too busy working for the greater good and the National Guard are too busy in Afghanistan to keep order, so I owe it to myself to be ready.
Protecting against tyranny? Maybe not. Protecting against crazy, whether random or as a result of an event? Definitely. Does that mean conceal carrying a gun into a movie theater or internet cafe? I’m not really sure, but I firmly believe in others’ rights to do so. I think a much better national discussion should be centered around truly caring about/for others and identifying how we’ve gotten to a place where someone can feel so alone, isolated and angry that they want to slaughter others. I cannot and will never condone harming innocent people, but as someone who struggled with the anger and isolation of being a divorced-parent-having latchkey kid, I wonder if there isn’t more we can do to identify and help those in need. Mental and emotional problems lying untreated deep within our seemingly “normal” fellow Americans are the culprits, not gun laws. I speak from experience (more than you probably realize) when I say having others that truly care about you.. and understanding it… is The Answer.