It’s been awhile since my last blog, lots of excuses, not many good answers as to why. Writers block, too much life going on, not setting a time for writing. I don’t know, sometimes you just don’t feel like it. But here we are, the day after another mass shooting, this time at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. This will not be a discussion on gun control, I am a 100% supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Shoot (sorry), you kidding? Hell, I sell guns for a living at my straight gig at local nationwide sporting goods store and I can tell you there are some folks who have no business having access to a firearm. I’m not talking about bat-crap craziod loons. Some, a lot, a bunch, but not all people who buy a firearm from me and my cohorts behind the gun counter have done more research on the sneakers they are wearing than on the firearm they think they need (or someone told them they “need”). “It’s crazy out there, I need a gun, what should I get?”, we hear this all the time and just shake out heads. Everyone would be driving Corvettes, Mercedes and Cadillac’s if we had the same attitude going into a car dealership as some do when purchasing a firearm. Let us as reasonably sane people discuss this for a moment.
Why do you think you need this firearm? Self-defense, security, protection, hunting, sport shooting, the old “that’s cool looking I want one”, and of course the ever popular “I saw this gun on “Call of Duty””. Is it for home only, do you plan on carrying? Where do you live? Single family home, apartment? How many people in your dwelling? Other adults, small children, the dreaded teenager? Any one with a mental illness and yes depression is a mental illness, in your home? Where you planning on keeping it? You ask for my recommendation, then immediately ignore said advice because it doesn’t match your preconceived thoughts, “that makes sense, but I was “told I needed” a $900 .45 acp 1911, I want to see that”. That firearm you “think” you need is NOT going to do you a bit of good in an emergency when you can barely hold the thing up. Oh yes, and I know you’re not going to practice with it because you only wanted defensive hollow-point (read expensive) ammo instead of the cheaper “range ammo” I suggested. While we are talking about recommendations, I know that $200 Maverick 88 12 gauge pump shotgun I suggested isn’t as sexy as that $600 Glock with the 17 rd magazine. But with a shotgun, you don’t aim, you point, and it makes that glorious noise when one works the pump. People will recognize that sound even if they have never heard it and the possibility that they will RUN from said noise is increased exponentially. A defensive shot may never be required. But if it is required your point will be made in spades!
Look around your home, how far is it from one wall to another, in a defensive situation, the average distance will be about 12 feet. In that distance a shotgun loaded with #5, #6, #71/2, (not slugs) will make a horrifying mess, while at the same time minimizing the possibility of your shot going thru the wall behind your target. You do know who is behind that wall don’t you? That 9mm, 40 cal, or 45 that you “needed” can and could go thru your target, thru the wall or door behind them and possibly thru the next wall or door. Who is back there!?! Oh yeah because you haven’t practiced you will probably miss which means you will fire another round starting this process all over again.
Now let us address the elephant in the room. Yet another mass shooting, this one involving young children. The shooter being an 18 year old kid himself. It is said he had 2 “AR-style” rifles which he could legally purchase at 18, and a handgun, which was illegal for him to possess. How did he get access to that handgun? Now what are we going to do about it, I admit I don’t know. I don’t think that adding more laws to restrict access to firearms as that only affects us law-abiding citizens, not the under-aged or crazed loon nut-balls who are going to go around the law anyway. We have background checks, age limits, laws of possession who can and who can not possess a firearm. Remember if an item was legally purchased by a legal person with proper documentation, then that purchase was at that time legal. What do we do when after the purchase that same individual melts down? I personally liked the “License to Carry” we used to have, this way if someone has a handgun on them, we know immediately whether that person is legal or not. I am not going to argue the merits of “constitutional carry”, it is as it is. Let us change our perspective on how we draft laws regarding firearms. So many times when a terrible crime is committed we want to in-act laws that limit everyone’s access to whatever the thing of the day is, guns, knives, thermo-nuclear devices. Rather we should place ALL the blame on the perpetrator by placing laws designed to punish the criminal, therefore acting as a deterrent to other folks. Some ideas to ponder, 1). 20 years mandatory for providing a firearm that is used in a crime, 45 years mandatory if that firearm is used in a murder. Might make you think a little harder about loaning your gun to someone. (I’ll bring it right back) 2). 45 years mandatory if a criminal uses a firearm in a crime, if a death occurs during the commission of a crime involving a firearm, then I suggest a mandatory death penalty, if your particular state allows such. I would also suggest that if a death occurs during a crime involving a firearm, then that death penalty should be by hanging. Hanging would only be used if the crime involved a firearm and a death occurred. There would also be a streamlined process so the penalty is carried out in a reasonable short period of time, not twenty years later. You wanna get really hard-core, then this law could be instituted to perpetrators as young as 16. Sound barbaric, well bummer, no more so than some other countries for lesser crimes, i.e. check out N Korea, Russia, any middle-east country, or any African country. Am I suggesting we should be like other countries, absolutely not, but I feel a few years of implementing serious penalties on those who commit gun crimes would eventually deter future events.
My thoughts are my own…..
Make a JoyFul Noise,
dave