I Am Not A Crook! I Am a Responsibly Armed Citizen
Posted on April 19 2019
Yesterday my 13-year-old son was playing with his Nerf bow and arrow in the same space that my younger girls were riding their scooters. In an attempt to impress them with a trick shot one of the girls was nailed on the lip! It quickly turned into a big teary drama. I raced out to see what happened, immediately I scolded him for being so careless with his bow. He felt awful as he marched right into the house and threw his bow and arrow into the trash. “Stupid bow, I never want that to happen again!” He exclaimed. I said, “but it’s not the bow’s fault!” He replied, “I know. I know it was the decision of the person who had the bow”. Clearly, we’ve had this conversation before. He knew that it was not the bow’s fault; but, in an emotional attempt to divert the blame and bring immediate solace he made a show of getting rid of the bow. I told him he should take it out of the trash and then we would talk about being more aware of what a safe direction looks like. He responded by saying, “Well, I didn’t really like it anyway.”
This reminded me of how our right to bear arms is challenged every time a bad guy uses a gun to harm innocent people. Those with a gun grabbing agenda are rallying the people saying that the “evil object” is responsible! However, despite this rhetoric, they are not oblivious to the fact that a firearm is simply a tool. They console the crowds by exploiting the hyped-up post-tragedy emotions in our communities. It is simply too good of an opportunity to rid us of this tool; which they just really do not like anyway.
What mos
t people do not realize is how many gun laws there already are or, how many laws the bad guys actually break when committing cold calculated crimes. There is currently every necessary law in place that “should” keep guns out of the hands of bad guys and prevent murders. Many of the current laws are not being enforced. For example, the Virginia Tech shooter was able to purchase a gun because the state failed to report his history of mental illness even though it is lawful for them to do so. Why are states not reporting mental illness cases, such as this one, that would prevent these types of tragedies? It is simple, a lack of funding or access to systems. Adding more or stricter laws instead of funding and enforcing current laws will not solve the problem, it only opens the door to new legislation like the “red flag laws “and such, which incriminate an armed citizen without due process. It is now more important than ever that we pay close attention to this rhetoric and identify their agenda; especially after a tragedy, if we are to maintain our 2nd amendment right.
Have you ever been in an ugly dispute? Maybe a nasty breakup, would you want the other person to have the power to have your guns seized with zero due process? I bet not.
Written by Anna Taylor
