(The cartoon image at left is by Lalo Alcaraz.)The post below is from Patheos.com. It was written by David Smalley in 2016, but is every bit as valid today as the day it was written. I think everyone should read it -- especially gun owners.
I grew up in Texas. I’m a gun owner. I have a concealed handgun license. I’ve taught my kids how to fire weapons. I also understand and appreciate our Constitution. I’m fully aware of the 2nd Amendment, and how its authors wanted to prevent government tyranny. Considering what they had gone through, they had every right to demand such a thing. I know enough about weapons to have a near perfect score on my firing test, to know that the “c” in SR9c stands for “compact” to make the weapon easier to hide; and to know that the AR in AR-15 doesn’t stand for ‘Assault Rifle,’ but ‘Armalite’ after the original company who made the gun. Am I a gun nut? Maybe. But I like to keep myself skeptical and informed. And that includes realizing when I’m being illogically influenced by my culture, and taking necessary steps to correct it. You see, one thing that’s more important than situational knowledge, patriotism, tradition, or protection, is common sense. At this nation’s beginning, it made sense for the citizens to be armed similarly to the government to prevent tyranny. Today, that’s ridiculous. The very concept is outdated. Some have said to me; the point is for the citizens to be “as armed as well as the government.” For starters, today, the military has fully automatic M-16s. Citizens can’t buy that without very specialized licensing. For the most part, you have to get a tamer version: AR-15. You can’t have flame throwers, bombs, bazookas, Z10 attack helicopters, bradleys, fighter jets, tanks, nuclear reactors, or a plethora of other secret military weapons you don’t even know exist. So even today, with the 2nd Amendment in full effect, we don’t have the rights to be “armed as well as our government.” Secondly, what if you were? I could hand you 50 M-16s, give you 1000 illegal bombs, steal you a couple of tanks, and smuggle in some bazookas, and even let you fully train 500 of your closest friends. If the government wants your shit, they’re going to take it.
You still wouldn’t be a match for even a single battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Not to mention the Air Force, Army, Navy, National Guard, Secret Service, FBI, CIA, and Seals. So stop acting like your little AR-15 is going to stop tyranny. Just be honest. You like it because it makes your pee-pee big, and when you fire it, it gives you a tingle in your no-no place. Trust me, I understand. The only reason you want to protect your second amendment now, is to justify buying an AR-15 or weapons for your home. I get, because I have them. But is it worth it? Does it really make you feel safe? If it does, it’s a false sense of security that statistically puts you and me both in more danger. As a fellow gun nut, I’ll take this journey with you. But let’s stop lying to ourselves. A collection of studies from 2012-2013 found that having a gun in your home significantly increases your risk of death—and that of your spouse and children. If you have a gun (regardless of how it’s stored), everybody in your home is more likely than your non-gun-owning neighbors and their families to die in a gun-related accident, suicide or homicide. Gun owners and their families are not more suicidal than non-gun-owners, research shows. Nor are they more likely to have a history of depression or other mental health problems. But they—and their families—are at significantly increased risk of successfully taking their lives with a gun.
The reasons: 1) Guns are more lethal than other methods attempted & 2) When guns are more readily available, there isn’t time for a cool-down period, and impulse wins. The weapons we can purchase today are useless against our government. However, they are extremely useful in the hands of people who want to do harm to others, and inflict damage beyond our imagination. And they are rarely shown to be effective in protecting ourselves from those people, again, shown in this study. Let’s play a little research game. Google: “man fights off gang of bad guys with AR-15” and the first thing that pops up is a video of criminals shooting at a moving car with handguns. Why didn’t we get tons of results of bad guys being taken down by gun-toting good guys? Because that only happens in the Kick-Ass Roadhouse Chuck Norris dreams of gun owners; not reality. On the entire first page of results, there’s only one story of a person being saved by an AR-15, and it was a 15 yr old boy; who by law, was not supposed to have access to firearms without an adult present. And, this same outcome could have happened with a shotgun or even a .22 long rifle. It didn’t have to be an AR-15. Your fantasy of wiping out those 14 burglars, like Rambo spraying bullets from your AR-15, just isn’t going to happen. It doesn’t happen. Period. I know what you’re thinking… “But if does happen, I’ll be ready!” If the safety of your family is truly your primary concern, you’ll research the statistics, and take a step back. You being the town hero someday, and being featured on a 2 minute local news segment for your 15 minutes of fame, just isn’t worth the daily risk to you and your family. I’m not advocating for you to lose all your guns. Even aware of the statistical dangers, I struggle with what to do with mine. I want my kids to be educated on the dangers, but I don’t want to act like guns make me safer. At least if I’m being a true skeptic. But we have to draw the line somewhere. The bottom line is, we just need common sense. And we need to stop lying to ourselves. I detailed my proposal for gun legislation on PodcastOne, in my episode titled: Dogma Debate #211: Guns & Atheists. But here’s the gist of it: Treat guns like cars.
Mandatory licenses
License renewals
Mandatory training
Mandatory insurance
Operating laws
Operating age limits
Restrict some models
Require safety inspections
Mandatory registration
Background checks With this, the manufacturers of guns are never held accountable for the actions of people who abuse their products. Do we have a deal? Let’s stop acting like there are only 2 sides of this argument. We’re killing each other. Literally. Please, for the love of logic, stop using outdated ridiculous concepts of tyranny to defend the dying dinosaur that is our 2nd Amendment. Like it or not, it needs an update.
