Another Shooting

Another school.  17 people, as of now, dead.

I've seen all the headlines.  I've checked on facebook.  I know that the lines have been drawn.  Hell, I know which side most of my friends will choose.

You'll either be on the side of no more AR-15 type assault weapons.  Or on the side of it's a mental health crisis and that has nothing to do with law abiding gun owner.

Both are true.  And both are completely bullshit.

An AR-15 is nothing more than a semi-automatic rifle that is spruced up to look like the military version.  You can do just as much damage with any semi-automatic firearm.  The only difference would be the look.  There are currently more than 100 million guns and over a trillion rounds of ammunition in private hands.  The genie is out of the bottle, and unless you start raiding homes like a police state, there is no way to get it put it back in.  And any politician or public personality that says anything about confiscation is pandering, because they know it won't happen.  Not for a long time. 

And for all of us saying it's a mental health issue, you're absolutely right.  The shooter in Florida was adopted.  He lost his adopted father in 2004 and lost his mother last November.  He and his sibling were living with friends.  Oh, and as icing on the cake, he was put on meds to help him cope.  Do you really think that kid was evil?  I can't say that for certain, but he was dealt a bad hand from the start.  He had more trauma in his young life than most.  Is that an excuse?  No.  Because a lot of people have trauma and don't shoot up schools.  I don't know, maybe he wanted to feel like God for a moment.  At least what he thought God feels like.

So where does that leave us?  Unfortunately I think it leaves us in the same place we've been after every one of these.  People are going to try to use this to push their own agenda.  Someone will call for more gun control.  The NRA will scream about the constitution.  Same old same old.


If it really is about mental health, then why isn't the NRA putting out grants to put counselors back in schools?  Or supporting programs to help young men who are troubled.  Why aren't we doing anything but screaming about our rights?  What about the rights of those dead kids and their families?  I didn't pull the trigger, but I sure as hell haven't done anything to try to fix this.

We gun owners had better start having a conversation about this, and we had better start bringing solutions to the table.  If we don't, then someone who doesn't share our values about firearms will.  And when that happens, at some point, our voices will be drown out.