This afternoon, I thought of writing a letter pointing out that every gunman responsible for his share of last month’s carnage had the legal right to own a gun. The officers killed in Pittsburgh? Their shooter was a registered gun owner. The eight killed at a nursing home in North Carolina? He owned his gun legally. The family of five killed in Washington? The ten in Alabama? The shooters were all signed off as responsible citizens with full rights to their firearm.
But we’ve all heard the comebacks: guns don’t kill people, people do. If someone set someone else on fire with gasoline, do you outlaw gasoline? I thought, yah, enough of that debate. It never goes anywhere.
However, in hours while I sat drumming my fingers in contemplation, a gunman opened fire at a church camp in California, killing one and wounding four, and an Alabama man shot and killed himself and his family of five, just days before his divorce hearing. And minutes later, as if not to be outdone, a Florida woman at a shooting range shot her son at close range, then turned the gun on herself. Yes, that last one is on video, calling to mind the latest of M. Night Shyamalan’s really bad movies.
Each of these massacres actually creates more support for guns in the home, guns in the glove compartment, guns in the teacher’s desk. The idea is that if only one of those convalescent hospital employees or immigration center teachers had thought to bring their AK-47 to work with them, then the crazy shooter would have been dead after a round or two.
Which raises the question: Who are the crazy shooters? Well, those other people. Not the good gun owners. The crazy shooters are those that have trouble controlling their impulses, who wake up feeling that they have nothing to live for, who come home from work in a rage, and decide to make others as miserable as they are. You know, those misfits have a fight with their boss and wish they could do something about it once and for all.
Funny thing. I feel that way about twice a week. When that happens, I reach for my….video games, punching bag, gym membership card. No guns. I’m one of those increasingly rare people who realize that access to a firearm can only lead to trouble.
J. Heyes
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2009.
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It is not the access to guns that kills people it is the ignorance of the people who own them not putting locks on the triggers or not knowing how to use them in the first place,people need to watch people s actions and learn when someone needs help to get the help they need befor they turn to guns,knives,or suicidal tendecys….
I am responsible for gun ownership; I own a piece of metal that can be used to hurt a person. I also own a car it can do the same thing. Do you watch the news? The new craze for the Palestinians in Israel is to drive vehicles into crowds. They found another way to kill when guns were not at easy access. Did you see the article about the recent daycare stabbing in Europe, or the tourists stabbed in China. Those all killed large numbers of people without guns. Face it people will find ways to kill as long as they have a want to kill. You may hate guns because they make you feel unsafe, but it is not honest gun owner’s faults you are afraid of them. There is no way to stop rampage violence without dealing with the people who cause it. Any Psychologist will tell you that, and anyone who questions doubts mans ability to find an effective means to kill is just an idiot. Where there is a will, there is a way so to solve the problem we should try to offer help to people instead of making wild accusations, and harassing hunters.
uhh…J. Heyes,if you feel that way twice a week…acutally feel helpless or frustrated enough to actually do violence…you need help, regardless if you own a firearms or not. Instead of concluding that mere access to firearms is the issue…maybe we should examine the forces and failures in our society that marginalize or otherwise turn regular folks into people who act out of rage and frustration..and ultimately violence? The fact is, the US Supreme Court recently upheld the right for citizens to own firearms…whether or not some of us disagree with it. Unfortunately, free speech, another one of our fundamental rights can be misused and used for hate speech…but it’s still protected under our constitution and setting limits on any of our rights is a slippery slope. The misuse of firearms is always a tragedy. make no mistake, we should be looking to solutions to solve this problem. but we should be looking at how we fail to help those in society, rather than trying to abridge the rights that are the foundation of our society…hollywood glorifies violence, schools fail our children every day…the list goes on.
Ahh–
It’s the victims’ fault.
Come on–would gun locks have prevented ANY of Heyes examples of shooters from carrying through on their acts? Better education?
The bottom line is that crazies have guns and can get guns–easily! Sellers are more interested in making the sale than who they are selling to. We process paper work in a slipshod way and guns go to people who shouldn’t have them. The guns and ammunition now available are far more deadly than anything that was available to the public 50 years ago.
And tomorrow, or next week, or next month we will once again read or hear about the ‘quiet’ guy next door who just seemed to go crazy one morning and took a half dozen pistols, an automatic rifle, and several hundred rounds of ammunition into a crowded place and killed a dozen others and himself in the process.
I know–we should have armed the victims. They should have known he was volatile and ill.
Ahh…
It’s the victims’ fault.
Stephen Cramer, WTF? nobody is blaming the victims. as a society we are responsible for helping those in need. we are a society that stigmatizes mental illness or simply medicates those who seek help. we don’t do enough to help people with the basic frustrations of life, we seriously fail those who reach the end of their rope, when it’s too late. if we continue to fail, it will be because of people like you who don’t see the bigger picture and cannot enlarge the discussion beyond firearms access.
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“We process paper work in a slipshod way and guns go to people who shouldn’t have them.”
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No amount of non-slipshood paper-pushing will save people from killers intent on killing people.
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“The bottom line is that crazies have guns and can get guns–easily!”
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True. And it will forever be a true statement. No matter what anti-gun laws ever get passed (see how well the anti-alcohol laws worked during prohibition).
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“And tomorrow, or next week, or next month we will once again read or hear about the ‘quiet’ guy next door who just seemed to go crazy…”
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True. Next month, year, decade & century.
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“I know–we should have armed the victims.”
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Also true. And, look around you, the smart people are doing just that. Ammo is hard to find. People are stocking up. People are getting licensed, buying handguns and stockpiling ammo.
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“It’s the victims’ fault.”
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Wrong. It is the killer’s fault.
The smart people know that there is bad. A (sad) fact of life. Bad things do happen to good people.
So be prepared. Defend yourself against the deranged killers who are out there… and who are always out there… killing people with their knives, their cars, and yes, their handguns. Accept reality and be prepared for reality.
Which one of the crazy bastards that killed all of these people was a hunter? Are Teflon coated bullets and automatic rifles hunting weapons? Is a pistol commonly used for hunting? Harassment of hunters?!! Just what the hell are the people who own these weapons hunting, anyway?
Because there are other ways to kill people, we should not do anything about trying to control those things we can control? Apathy is the solution, right.
It amazes me that the second amendment knee-jerks are willing to tout treatment and at the same time advocate reducing the funds for the hospitals and institutions that might provide same. It amazes me that the knee jerk liberals who decry the use, sale and possession of weapons designed to kill people and nothing else, work so hard for the rights of the mentally ill who are involved in many of these incidents to keep private the records that would red flag them as a potential danger, to make sure that even the most dangerous have the right to their freedom where they can live unsupervised and decide that their medication is no longer needed, and that their right to privacy is more important than the public safety.
And we have no problem placing limits on our Bill of Rights. Originally, all men were not equal and women–fugeddaboutit! Can you incite a riot–crow fire in a crowded theater? Not lately! What’s happened to Habeas Corpus since 9/11? No, when the will exists and the concern is popular, things happen and new realities are dealt with.
Some people prefer a fantasy to reality, though…
There’s no use in arguing about this. Legal gun ownership is not highly correlated to gun crime (Canada has similar rates of gun ownership, but a significantly lower crime rate; same for Switzerland).
These crimes are horrible and every effort should be made to prevent them from happening short of denying law abbiding citizens their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Note to libs you lost this one, gun rights are here to stay. Even with a supermajority in congress, there’s no way that any sort of gun control will pass. Every blue dog dem from the west, midwest and south knows that gun control is political suicide.
Cramer…teflon bullets and automatic rifles…uh…that’s hollywood stuff, you know..teflon has nothing do with “cop killing” capabilities of bullets…and owners of fully-automatic weapons must go through even more extensive FBI background checks to own such weapons, and armor-piercing ammunition is regulated depending on the state. Oregon is one of the states that does not allow them as far as I know.
and if some people don’t understand why people choose these arms for “sporting” purposes. why do people choose cars that can go 200 mph? why do people drive monster trucks that never see any dirt? why do people play stereos so loud the ground shakes? surely there is no legitimate purpose for that stuff? how many motor vehicle deaths are there a year from reckless driving and drunk driving? do we suggest stricter access to autos because some people mis-use them? it’s because freedom is something very precious in this country and it’s very hard to take it away once it’s given. and I believe you’re the one that is knee-jerking. If you care, not all people who support the constitution are fringe right wing extremists. I advocate for better health care, more affordable health care. I believe in immigrant rights. I believe in human rights. Having said that, I have differences with the right wing, but I also believe in the Constitution of the United States of America. The problem of violence in our society is bigger than just guns. There is domestic violence, there is crime, there are failing school systems, there are violent video games. There are few support systems in place for some people to seek help. there are some people we can’t help at all. If this debate goes nowhere it’s because some people refuse to acknowledge the complexities of our society and its problems. There are no simple answers or solutions. But this is the USA, and there are law-abiding gun owners out there who span the spectrum of political beliefs,who are part of the solution and actually have a common goal…reducing acts of gun violence and keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people. Keep watching those hollywood movies and adding nothing to the discussion.
I could hunt targets with them, it is a good recreational past time. Look what the idea of gun control has done to recent gun sales. Americans do not want to give up their guns. The goverment controls drugs, and yet they are still a problem in every community in the U.S., telling people you can’t have them does not stop them from getting the weapons. It just stops any sales to people who want them for legal use.
J.T.
I can’t disagree with most of what you say. The fact remains that the handgun is designed to kill people. It has no other legitimate purpose. Shooting targets can improve one’s proficiency at doing so, but they are not hunting weapons. They are well-manufactured, beautiful, and, in the right hands, efficient killing machines. The guy who killed thirteen in York demonstrated that. How did he get those guns? Should he have had them? Did the system that was supposed to keep that from happening break down or was it inefficient?
Automatic weapons, or semi-automatic weapons that are easily altered to full automatic aren’t and never were legitimate hunting weapons. Are they needed to kill herds–of course not.
I’m not a knee-jerk anything. I hunt–have since I was a small child when my father taught me how to handle a rifle and shotgun the right way. What I am is fatigued. I’m tired of the NRA spreading fear that ANY regulation of guns and ammunition is the end of the second amendment. Let’s face it–that is not the case. We could make gun ownership more of a responsibility as well as a right and not impinge on the right of the collector, hunter, and average citizen to own a gun.
But something is going on in our society and the symptoms can’t be ignored. If every discussion of dealing with gun violence results in a reaction that ‘they’ are trying to take away ‘our’ guns, then there can be no discussion.
And I apologize for using the popular ‘Teflon’ bs as a codeword for cop-killers. I know that’s not what it does. But think about what else you wrote–FBI checks are extensive to own armor piercing and fully automatic weapons. Sorry, but what possible need could there be for having a need for either? If the market is there for grenade launchers, artillery rounds, and stinger missiles, an FBI check is adequate? When does reason–not a reason–but reason enter into this discussion? Seemingly never, and that is why I am tired of the headlines and the standard responses from parties on all sides of the argument. If reasonable measures are not taken, the fatigue will spread wider than it already has and then bad law based on emotional responses to the continued incidents we are unable to deal with will be made.
I have carried a concealed gun for the last ten years. No one knows I have it on me and most times I am armed. I do not brandish it and not even my closest friends know I am carrying one at all. Why? Well I reserve the right to protect myself and my family. Does it give me false confidence? NEVER as the last thing I want to ever do is shoot anyone. I do not know if I could live with myself killing another human being. But God forbid if I am one of those “statistics” that happens to be sitting in a fast food restaurant and some pissed off loser or nut case comes running into this place with a gun and starts shooting at random, then I will most likely use it to protect my family. God forbid that to ever happen. Lets look at the random guy who goes into Newport Market, comes out and three jerks decide they want to rearrange his face for no other reason than wanting to mess someone up to establish their high testosterone levels. This guy was beaten in the parking lot right here in the West Side of Bend, managed to crawl and claw his way to his car and grab a gun he did not have a carry permit for and shoot one of the jerks who had seconds earlier kick him in the head. The cops showed up and supported his judgement as any reasonable person would and went after the dirt bags who landed this guy in the hospital with a lot of injuries. Was he reasonable? absolutely as he fought back at first and when realized he was out manned and over powered, grabbed his gun in a last attempt to save his own life. People minimize the fact that a person can be killed by one punch to the head. It happens all the time. Would I have acted the same way? I would have probably pointed the gun at their heads before they would have had the chance to pound on me and I would have convinced them to take their testosterone elsewhere. Looking down a barrel of a gun is a very convincing statement, why else do police carry them? It sets the tone for the attacker as being crystal clear they are in harms way and should submit immediately.
More people get killed by drunk drivers in this county and no one seems to consider the car a weapon, a very dangerous weapon at that. People can easily minimize, rationalize and justify getting into a car and driving cause they are in control, they ate a burger with the six beers and turn into expert drivers after a few stiff ones. The drunks that drive are car dealer managers, doctors, garbage men, ski bums, attorneys, retail workers and everyone in our society, They all knew they got in their cars under the influence, but they figure nothing bad is going to happen while they are at the wheel. Control of this nature is a danger to all of us.
The 2nd Amendment states ” WE have the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from a hostile government” The Patriot Act and the Brady Bill were both REPUBLICAN VOTED IN RULES that essentially take away our ability to protect ourselves from leaders like Bush and Cheney, after they have stripped us of our right to work, right to education ( after all uneducated peasants are easy to manipulate and brainwash) our right to health care for all.
The focus should be to become a civilized nation where health care is free thru our tax dollars as well as higher education for our kids. Why is it that our neighbors in Canada have more guns per capita than we do, yet have only a fraction of our gun problems? Well they catch the mentally ill before they run into a MC Donalds with a loaded AK 47, they get a good education. Most of the prison population are not there cause they are criminally insane, but they are there due to having made poor choices and most are uneducated, never diagnosed with depression, dyslexia, physical handicaps and did not nor were offered any education to gain good jobs.
Guns are the least of our problems.
I must have missed the point of the original letter. Does this mean we should or should not let people legally purchase cars i mean guns?