As a typical American boy growing up in the 1950’s, one of my most cherished presents was my first BB gun. I can still remember my first whiffs of the distinctive smell of gun oil. I grew up watching Fess Parker as “Daniel Boone” and Chuck Connors as “The Rifleman” on TV. My BB gun was cock-action and I imagined myself swinging it to cock as the Rifleman did (although I never managed to actually do it).
In junior high I graduated to a bolt action .22 that even had a scope. I lived on the outskirts of our Nebraska town and I’d take my .22 down to the river and shoot frogs. My Boy Scout camp had a rifle range and I earned several “marksman” awards I had framed on my bedroom wall.
Then in high school I graduated to a 20-gauge shot gun. I could never hit moving targets, however. I only remember bagging one bird in the cold, early-morning pheasant hunts I went on with my Dad and his friends. Standing in a clump of grass only about 10 yards away looking disoriented, you could have given that pheasant a blindfold—it was an execution more than sportsmanship.
In some ways, I have those guns to thank for my life-long passion of enjoying the outdoors. By far the best meal I’ve had in the last year was a home-cooked elk steak at the home of a friend. The food was fantastic, but so were the stories he told tracking the elusive animal up and down desolate mountainsides in Wyoming.
The debate about gun control in America is too often framed by both sides as a simplistic, and false, paradox. The NRA portrays anyone in favor of common-sense gun control as urbanized, subtly effeminate wimps who want to “take away our guns.” Their liberal opponents portray anyone who enjoys shooting guns as dangerous rednecks direct from the movie “Deliverance.” Each side has created a “straw man” opponent it can easily ridicule in its fund-raising campaigns.
There is no room for me, and millions of Americans like me, in this false paradox.
We exist in the middle of this tension, in between two radical alternatives. We are marginalized in the debate, our voices consistently drowned out by well-financed extreme rhetoric. And yet I, and millions like me, represent the majority opinion in America.
This is why I hope you will take a few moments to read the article “Home Should Not be a War Zone” by US Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan and of the Joint Special Operations Command. He writes:
Last Friday, two days before the tragedy in Orlando, a new initiative, the Veterans Coalition for Common Sense, led by the Navy combat veteran Capt. Mark Kelly and his wife, the former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was announced. Those of us serving on its advisory committee come from every branch of our military and virtually every rank. We are trained in the use of firearms, and many of us have served in combat. And we all think our country must do more to save lives from being cut short by gun violence.
Again, please read the entire article. General McChrystal points out that from 2001 to 2010, 119,246 Americans were murdered with guns, 18 times all American combat deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He continues:
Today, some of our politicians and the people who back them seem to promote a culture of gun ownership that does not conform with what I learned in the military.
Here at home, many of us are alarmed by the carnage. We are alarmed by loopholes that let felons and domestic abusers get hold of guns without a background check. We are alarmed that a known or suspected terrorist can go to a federally licensed firearms dealer where background checks are conducted, pass that background check, legally purchase a firearm and walk out the door.
Here is his conclusion:
We Americans are not a uniquely bloodthirsty people. We do not have more violent video games or movies than other countries. We do not have more dangerously mentally ill individuals than other countries. We are not unique in facing down the threat of global terrorism and active shooters.
But we have uniquely high rates of gun deaths and injuries that make us stand out in the worst of ways. Our communities should not feel like war zones. Our leaders can start by doing more to keep guns out of the hands of those who cannot be trusted to handle them responsibly. That must be our mission.
As I grew up watching Daniel Boone, kids today grow up watching exceedingly more violent movies (and playing video games) that feature Navy SEALs or other special forces. Perhaps it takes a General who led the SEALs to say “enough is enough” in America. Perhaps the Veterans Coalition for Common Sense can finally catalyze a movement for common-sense gun control in America. I encourage you to find out more about them at their website.
As for me, I don’t want to take away peoples’ guns. I can easily imagine my cherished .22 still standing in my closet today. What I cannot imagine is any “recreational” use for the military-style assault weapon used to kill innocent victims in Orlando.
Question: Where do you stand on this issue? Do you also feel caught in the middle? Please share your thoughts in a comment.
In a 2013 Gallup poll, 56% of Americans said they would vote for a law that would reinstate and strengthen the ban on assault weapons that was in place from 1994 to 2004 — the higher level of support perhaps resulting from the fact that the question reminded respondents that this law had been on the books previously (a year earlier, 51% opposed an assault weapons ban).
Rich,
I appreciate your comments. We do have a problem – but it is not guns.
I see things a little differently. I have found myself becoming involved in this gun debate (debacle?) more and more. But probably for different reasons.
First my background. You and I are nearly the same age and what you wrote about your experiences as a child nearly matched mine except I never had the heart to shoot frogs or other living things (I shoot them with the camera now).
As a child and youth, we had guns in the house – especially the .22 target rifles used in Boy Scouts. They were not mine so when I got married, we had no guns. One day we had rowdy picketers in front of our home in Visalia (UFW picketing a neighbor’s home) and they were illegally on our sidewalk and front lawn around the clock for 4 or 5 days. I felt helpless to protect my young daughter and wife in my home. It gave me nightmares for years that I could not protect them if something sinister were to happen. Then I inherited some hunting rifles from my grandfather. Only practiced with them a few times, then carefully hid them away in a place no one would ever look (and would have been somewhat difficult for me to grab them quickly) but I felt I had the means to protect the family and the frustrating dreams disappeared.
Fast forward some years and I ended up downsizing my life through a divorce and the guns went to my parents for storage. Their home was broken into, the hidden and locked gun cabinet smashed and all the guns are now in the hands of someone who should not have them. Laws had no effect on their actions.
Is that an argument for or against owning guns – the bad guys might get them? I don’t own a gun now but am thinking about it. I get the nighttime calls from the alarm company about the false alarms and occasional break-ins at work. On those dark nights driving out into the country to check out a potential break-in makes me wish I was carrying one.
But here is the issue that I am becoming more passionate about: Government control over all aspects of our life and the growth of government that goes with it.
Why do we have a Second Amendment? It is not for hunting squirrels or frogs. It came on the heals of our society defending itself from government tyranny and remains there for that purpose in addition to personal protection. Our society and present government seems to be wanting to take that away.
Expansion of government. Let me share a very real example that many of us see in the Valley. Not that many years ago the State of California created an Air Quality Resource Board and a Water Quality Board. To fund these boards they added fees to businesses and other entities. Rules and regulations were created. Then staff was needed to measure and enforce these rules. More fees were added. More Regulators were added. They created more regulations. More fees to pay for the staff as it grew. Reports were needed from businesses and then more reports and even more reports. Staff added to government to process the reports. And soon bigger buildings to house them. You get the picture. Government is a self perpetuating monster that continues to grow and justify its own existence through regulation and control of those not in government. Those in government are not inherently evil – they are just trying to do a good job and endlessly fine tuning our lives to make it better. In the mean time they are blind to the long term growth and effects on our society.
Let’s go back to gun control. It did not work in the case of the killer in Orlando. He was checked and vetted. We already have bans on automatic assault weapons. The gun he used was a .223 caliber semi-automatic weapon – fired one shot with each separate pull of the trigger. Slug only slightly larger than your target rifle in Boy Scouts. It looked like an assault weapon, but functionally no different than any rifle or hand gun with a clip of shells. Nearly every hand gun from a revolver to those with clips are semi-automatic. The fire each time the trigger is pulled. So where do you draw the line banning one over another without taking guns completely out of the hands of the public?
And how much government do we add to check out and vet every potential purchaser? How many more rules and regulations? And will it work as well as the check on the Orlando killer?
You comment: ‘The NRA portrays anyone in favor of common-sense gun control as urbanized, subtly effeminate wimps who want to “take away our guns.” ‘. I guess I have not seen that. I do see them pointing out that guns don’t kill, people do. And trying to clarify what an assault weapon is or is not and where existing laws banning guns were ineffective to solve the problem. This is a heated topic but I see more irrational heat coming from those that want to ban guns and clarifying heat from those that don’t think that is the answer. I find myself generally agreeing with their presentation.
I also see many of those who want to ban guns also want to ban or blame religion for the world’s problems. And Christians are being lumped right in with “Radical Islam”. You and I know that true followers of Jesus, although far from perfect, provide healing to the world and have done so for centuries. Yet, the freedom to be followers of Christ is being threatened in our society much faster than I would have ever imagined 30 years ago.
The problem is the heart and mind of mankind that cannot see the love of God and cannot experience the healing Jesus can give to our broken spirits. A society that is in rebellion against God and denial to even want to acknowledge a higher authority will succumb to creating their own higher power of laws to control what really needs to start from inside.
Probably I will not live to see the depths of despair our society is headed for, but I really worry about my grand kids’ lives in the not too distant future. They are the ones that may need the guns to overthrow tyranny and carve out a new society that can live in peace based upon a foundation built on Christ and his Word.
Interesting days ahead….
Well said.
I feel better control of certain types of guns is necessary as well. I enjoyed hunting rabbits and squirrels years ago and I still have my 20 gage shotgun. I also have a 22 target pistol.
I obtained my concealed carry permit in Ohio in 2012, but after the class and thinking about the possible consequences that might follow even if I was totally in the right for shooting someone, I have never carried. Improbably never will. The instructors did a very good job of warning us of the negative side of carrying.
One idea would be have a 30 day waiting period instead of a 3 day waiting period. It might give that angry person time cool down a bit. If you are buying a gun to hunt, you know when hunting season starts.
I wish I knew the answer, but something needs done! I’m not for a total ban, but better control is needed.