I have to interrupt shotgun reloading.
The following is a letter I wrote to the editor of the
Beacon Journal prior to the NRA’s announcement and statement that to stop a bad
guy with a gun takes a good guy with a gun.
I wish I had been that distinct.
I doubt the Beacon Journal or any other newspaper would
publish this. It isn't that I want my
name in the paper, but I read the letters to the editor from people claiming
they own guns, people who don’t have a problem with the 2nd Amendment,
or just want to make children safe. All of
them hammer the gun culture. That’s you
and me.
I have try to explain it to them. It will not help, but I must tilt at windmills
never the less.
Rant mode: ON!
How could any normal person not feel sorrow and angst
following the senseless deaths of so many children and adults? My prayers and the prayers of so many go out
to their families and friends. I cannot
understand what drove Adam Lanza to ruthlessly kill so many.
In our desire to prevent these tragedies, ordinary people
get swept up by politicians and organizations who would prostitute these
horrendous slayings to serve their agendas.
In the rush to be first and capture a bigger portion of the
market, the media gets details wrong, vilifies an innocent man and uses buzz
words to grab our attention. Corrections
can be made later after the news cycle moves on.
Politicians use incorrect labels and spread fear to drive up
revenue and donations, align votes and assure snappy future sound bites.
Organizations on every side of the debate ramp
up their fundraising activities and experts crawl out of the woodwork to get
their 30 seconds of career boosting publicity.
Cynical? Yes I am!
So before we rush to judgment and put bigger locks on doors,
ban guns, or embed tracking chips in students, teachers and staff, let’s look
at what happened as best we can.
Adam Lanza broke several state and federal laws and killed
his mother. He then broke into a locked,
occupied school building getting past passive locks, signs and security
measures while breaking more federal and most likely state laws in the
process.
Clearly laws have no affect on law breakers. I suspect more laws will not remedy the
problem.
Lanza then continued to break state and federal laws with
impunity until people arrived who had the ability to physically stop him. Actually, I believe he stopped himself when
faced with the possibility that someone would stop him.
I don’t believe digital cameras cause child pornography,
hypodermic needles create drug addicts or spoons make people obese. These are tools and have no life or
personality of their own. Nor do
firearms create the evil men do.
Recent and historic data show that evil can only be stopped
when good men and women stand up and resist it.
There is no doubt in my mind that Adam Lanza would have changed his
plans if he thought someone could stop him during his rampage.
It is a strange world in which we assign armed men to guard
a pile of soft metal whose principle properties is its gold color and
softness. But our most important asset,
our children, are protected by a twelve dollar lock and a sign on the door. We must be nuts!
Rant mode:off!
More Shotgun shortly.
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