Gentlemen, this turned into a lengthy essay. I apologize for being so verbose but this is what I think and why I think this way!
The NRA takes a hard stance on ALL gun rights because the anti-gunners’ strategy is to slowly chip away gun rights one at a time.
I shot assault rifles on full auto and machine guns in the Marines. It was a rush but I left those things behind in the Corps. I now own two only three semi-autos, a Benelli shotgun, a .22 Ruger target pistol, and a SIG .380. I haven’t shot the Benelli in years. The Ruger drives tacks and dispatches an occasional unwelcome critter. The SIG holds only 6 rounds but conceals easily. I shoot it well with either hand and unless I am in the wrong neighborhood at night, it should be all I need. I sincerely hope that I am never in a situation where I will need to draw a weapon on another human. Life it too precious.
Thanks to the NRA I have the right to own the above listed weapons. Additionally thanks to their unflinching devotion to everyone’s gun rights I also have the right to own a legally registered Class III weapon, i.e. full auto weapon. Oh, for the price of a good DHE one could purchase a full auto MAC 10. I personally have no use for something like that but I am very happy that if one follows ALL the Federal, state, and local laws, a law abiding citizen may purchase and own such a weapon.
A few years back while sighting in a Contender pistol at 200 yards someone was sighting in an AR-15 style weapon with a large scope at 100 yards. I asked him if and what he might hunt with it. His reply was coyotes. Okay, I would select a bolt action because I strive for one shot kills but maybe that guy thought that he could kill several coyotes at once. That shooter probably would not understand why anyone would want to shoot Damascus barreled shotguns, To each his or her own!
The killing field in Connecticut was horrible. If I was in Wayne LaPierre’s position of having to make a statement after a seemingly mentally unstable person used a legally purchased assault rifle to kill young year school children, well I do not know what I would have said. I agree with Wayne that if a legal gun carrying person had been there that they may likely have been able to stop the killing before 20 children had been shot.
I also know that being born before 1960 that as a child, when I did something bad that I got punished. A leather belt across my bare butt happened too often in my opinion. But then I did grow up to be a prior enlisted Marine Corps Officer who retired with night school earned BA and MBA degrees. The discipline that I received as a child may have repressed some creativity but it kept me from making really stupid decision that would have landed me in jail! It also was the key to any success I had in life. Today’s generation “Y” did not receive even a spanking for fear of parent going to jail!
Then there are those movies and video games focused on killing. Yes the video gams are sort of fun but if one were to play them day in and out, all that killing might find its way into one’s subconscious. My Marine Corps training is still in mine and I’ve been retired for a decade and a half. Shooting innocent children isn’t in my brain because I learned to shoot with bone support, sight alignment, and trigger control. I also learned not to point a weapon at anything that I did not intend to kill! I did not play killing whatever pops up countless times during my youth. I think that such activities would have diminished my sense of right and wrong.
Our society has evolved since I was a child but then so has the entire world. There is no corporal punishment of one’s children any more. Anything is acceptable for children to play and do. Generation Y means that their response to most requests is “Why should I?” Why should I NOT take mom’s assault and teach her a lesson? After all it’s her fault that I am depressed…
I agree with Obama that people need more access to treatment for mental health. Unfortunately in the USA there is still a stigma toward being depressed, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses that are more common than most realize.
I also think that the assault weapons ban will be passed into permanent law. We might also lose the right to transfer firearms between law abiding citizens without going through an FFL for a background check. We will probably lose those rights because of my generation loving their children so much that we allowed politicians to strip parents’ rights away for the sake of the children. Add to that our ever permissive society where anything including kill, kill, kill movies and video games are the norm. It’s our society not the guns. Unfortunately one mentally unstable person can create enough public outcries to restrict everyone’s rights.
I joined the Marines and when the time came I went to war. That changed me and not all for the better. In the Corps I swore and oath to “support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic”. My service helped to protect the Constitution which protects us all. Some may think me the fool for wasting a couple decades and risking my life for others but I'm glad I did. I am also happy that the policeman who gave me a traffic ticket a few years back was serving his community and keeping others safe from someone like me. We all do stupid things occasionally...
I do not always like the NRA’s stance and statements but it is them who are fighting the battles with the anti-gunners. I give money to the NRA so that they may continue to protect the rights granted to us by the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution. I've also contributed to Dudley Brown and his gun rights organization. Foolish, maybe but I'm "paying for others to fight my battle!" If you hate the NRA and will not even become a NRA member, then WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING TO PROTECT OUR GUN RIGHTS? Please share this with us.
If you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem! Yes, that's a line from the violent movie Die Hard but in it the hero was fighting to save innocent people!
12-22-2012, 08:09 PM
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