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Gunning for Perspective
Author: Raine
Date: 12/03/2012 14:50:13
During last night's Sunday Night Football Halftime show, Bob Costas spoke of the horrific events that happened in Kansas city. This is the article Costa referenced, written by Jason Whitlock.
Nobody knows if Jovan Belcher would still be alive had he not had possession of a firearm. At the very least -- I wish we could talk about the gun culture in this country. I'm fairly sure I am not alone is this desire. Ask the victims of Jared Loughner. Ask the victims of the Aurora shooting. Ask the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre. Ask Trayvon Martin's family. Ask Jordon Davis' family. Ask the many families who have been witness to PTSD related suicides. Ask the mother of Jovan Belcher and then ask her to speak on behalf of her orphaned granddaughter.
Not all handguns owners kill. Most do not. Not all are psychologically impaired. Not all are vigilantes. Some are liberal; some are conservative. they are black & white; male and female. I believe that is of little comfort to victims of gun murders.
"We’ve come to accept our insanity." Indeed we have.
We shouldn't have to. It is time for responsible gun owners in this nation to allow for this discussion. This isn't about self-defense - it is about responsibility. Such responsibility isn't solely personal: it's also communal. It is about being rational enough to say that, perhaps, some people should not have guns. The Second Amendments fails when innocent people die. It fails when people take the law into their own hands. It fails when people who are clearly sick find themselves in the company of a gun. It fails when people purchase a gun illegally. It fails when owning an object is more important than the lives it takes. The second amendment is the only amendment that talks about an object as right -- and that object has become fetishized in our nation. To reasonable gun owners I say: No one wants to take away YOUR gun. Gun owners need to figure out how ensure those among them that should not have a firearm do not get access to one.
The right to own a gun fails when people who don't know how to respect a gun kill innocents. Until every responsible gun owner in America is willing to accept this and discuss our violent gun culture -- more innocent people will die.
Gun deaths are 100% preventable. They may not be 100% avoidable. That should, In my opinion, be the discussion. Until we can discuss how to avoid gun deaths we will have -- once again -- learned nothing.
Albert Einstein is attributed to having said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
Something is broken here, and it is time to at least discuss ways to fix it. This isn't about personal liberty - it is about how we care and nurture our society. "Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.'
Albert Camus wrote in his book Resistance Rebellion and Death:
and 
Raine
Update: 12/14/12: Ask the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Until we have a real discussion about mental health and radicalism in this nation, we will see more murders. Responsible gun owners need to be a part of solving this epidemic in the United States.
Well, you knew it was coming. In the aftermath of the nearly unfathomable events in Kansas City, that most mindless of sports clichés was heard yet again: Something like this really puts it all in perspective. Well, if so, that sort of perspective has a very short shelf-life since we will inevitably hear about the perspective we have supposedly again regained the next time ugly reality intrudes upon our games. Please, those who need tragedies to continually recalibrate their sense of proportion about sports would seem to have little hope of ever truly achieving perspective. You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article.
"Our current gun culture,"Whitlock wrote, "ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead."
"Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?"
"But here," wrote Jason Whitlock," is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today."
I would argue that your rationalizations speak to how numb we are in this society to gun violence and murder. We’ve come to accept our insanity. We’d prefer to avoid seriously reflecting upon the absurdity of the prevailing notion that the second amendment somehow enhances our liberty rather than threatens it.
How many young people have to die senselessly? How many lives have to be ruined before we realize the right to bear arms doesn’t protect us from a government equipped with stealth bombers, predator drones, tanks and nuclear weapons?
Our current gun culture simply ensures that more and more domestic disputes will end in the ultimate tragedy, and that more convenience-store confrontations over loud music coming from a car will leave more teenage boys bloodied and dead.
Nobody knows if Jovan Belcher would still be alive had he not had possession of a firearm. At the very least -- I wish we could talk about the gun culture in this country. I'm fairly sure I am not alone is this desire. Ask the victims of Jared Loughner. Ask the victims of the Aurora shooting. Ask the victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre. Ask Trayvon Martin's family. Ask Jordon Davis' family. Ask the many families who have been witness to PTSD related suicides. Ask the mother of Jovan Belcher and then ask her to speak on behalf of her orphaned granddaughter.
Not all handguns owners kill. Most do not. Not all are psychologically impaired. Not all are vigilantes. Some are liberal; some are conservative. they are black & white; male and female. I believe that is of little comfort to victims of gun murders.
"We’ve come to accept our insanity." Indeed we have.
We shouldn't have to. It is time for responsible gun owners in this nation to allow for this discussion. This isn't about self-defense - it is about responsibility. Such responsibility isn't solely personal: it's also communal. It is about being rational enough to say that, perhaps, some people should not have guns. The Second Amendments fails when innocent people die. It fails when people take the law into their own hands. It fails when people who are clearly sick find themselves in the company of a gun. It fails when people purchase a gun illegally. It fails when owning an object is more important than the lives it takes. The second amendment is the only amendment that talks about an object as right -- and that object has become fetishized in our nation. To reasonable gun owners I say: No one wants to take away YOUR gun. Gun owners need to figure out how ensure those among them that should not have a firearm do not get access to one.
The right to own a gun fails when people who don't know how to respect a gun kill innocents. Until every responsible gun owner in America is willing to accept this and discuss our violent gun culture -- more innocent people will die.
Gun deaths are 100% preventable. They may not be 100% avoidable. That should, In my opinion, be the discussion. Until we can discuss how to avoid gun deaths we will have -- once again -- learned nothing.
Albert Einstein is attributed to having said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
Something is broken here, and it is time to at least discuss ways to fix it. This isn't about personal liberty - it is about how we care and nurture our society. "Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it.'
Albert Camus wrote in his book Resistance Rebellion and Death:
There are means that cannot be excused. And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want just any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive.
and Raine
Update: 12/14/12: Ask the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Until we have a real discussion about mental health and radicalism in this nation, we will see more murders. Responsible gun owners need to be a part of solving this epidemic in the United States.
