Thursday, December 20, 2012

Gun Control

GUN CONTROL: What can I say?  I have had a few things in my mind to post on my blog for the past few days, but feel to offer a few things about gun control.
With the events of last Friday, in Newtown, Connecticut, as I watched the news reports, and while feeling sick to my stomach for the atrocity that was unfolding, I new in my mind that gun control would be a topic that would come out of this tragedy.  I also knew that they would miss the point, according to me.  While I am not a member of the NRA, I support most of what they stand for.  I also strongly support the 2nd amendment to the Constitution.  I strongly support any who owns guns.  I do not necessarily support private citizens having assault type weapons.  I feel that they should be reserved for military use.  
Having said all that, I want to offer a few things that have came to mind as this past weeks events have unfolded.
In a speech at a memorial for those killed, President Obama said that he would use the power of is office to see that these mass shootings would not happen again.  And I said  HOW?  The NRA finally released a statement that their organization would use their influence to prevent these types of thing happening again.  And again I said HOW?  I like the sentiment of both statements.  I just don't see how that can be done.  And here is why I think like that.
Even if gun control is enacted by the government, and assault weapons are banned, there are still thousands of this type of weapon available for any to get if they want them. Legal or not.  And if the government is successful in banning these weapons, how long will it be before they think to ban all weapons, one type at a time.  It might be tried, but I don't think it will happen.  Too many people support the 2nd amendment, even in the government. And banning guns is not the answer any way. 
Some talk has come out about keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.  That is a start, but that too will be difficult.  Family's need to be alert to family members who may be involved in this type of action. Unfortunately, in this day and time, more security may be needed.  But you can't secure every school, every mall, every movie theater, every place of public event.  You can't secure every rental truck and every bag or barrel of fertilizer. 
So, a solution:  In my uneducated opinion, bring God back into the schools. Bring family values back into the public spectrum.  Movies, music and TV. Say Merry Christmas at Christmas time instead of Happy Holidays.  Will this stop the types of things that happened last Friday.  No, even I am not so naive as to think it will.  But it would solve a lot of this country's ills. And trying to control guns and throwing a lot of money at the problem, and starting a commission to study how to control guns and the mentally ill will accomplish little.   And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.       

1 comment:

  1. I still think it's worth banning assault weapons. Will it stop everyone? No. But it still should be done. As should stricter processes on owning a gun. It's much more difficult to get a driver's license than a gun. That's not right by any stretch. We need to look at the mentally disabled. At the guns we already have here and any more that want to be purchased. No one think we should do away with the second amendment, but its high time to look at it through the eyes of today instead of the eyes of the 1700s...

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