Sometimes this world offers us a situation that rocks our world because evil has shown it's face, and we struggle knowing we have very little power to keep it from showing it's face again.
The knowledge that some madmen shot and killed 20 precious little kids last Friday in Connecticut is devastating. Yesterday at work, I was browsing some news articles during a quiet moment, and clicked into an interview of one of the little girl's parents. How I thought I could handle that, I don't know, but the next thing I knew I was in the bathroom unable to stop crying. Reading about a parents worst nightmare come true will do that to a lot of people.
This situation immediately brought up the debate of gun control. I don't have strong opinions about the matter. But, my life
has taught me a few lessons concerning guns that I implement into my own life.
Being raised in Montana has put me in close personal contact with a lot of hard core hunters. I was raised in a house that had lots of rifles, and other guns. My parents always had a giant handgun that Dad kept under his side of the bed. As a child, unbeknownst to my parents, I always knew about that gun. I used to go lay on the floor by their bed and take it out to examine. It wasn't like they hadn't talked to me about the dangers of guns; they had. I knew I was forbidden from even touching the hunting rifles that they kept downstairs. But I was very curious about the forbidden and hidden hand gun under the bed. I remember holding my finger on the trigger, but I never had the guts to actually pull it. It probably wasn't loaded, but it just demonstrates how easily something could happen when a gun is in the house.
When I was about six, I used to play with the grandchildren of a lady who owned the little cafe in Paradise; a litte boy and girl about my brother and my ages. I wasn't super close with them or anything, but if I was out wandering through Paradise looking for an adventure (at six I'm pretty sure I wasn't "allowed" to just wander either, but I did pretty often- consequences always waiting for me when I returned) and they were out, I would play with them. One day I overheard my parents talking about the grandchildren at the cafe. The little boy had been playing with a gun and accidentally shot and killed his sister.
As I grew up, there were other times I heard about kids playing with guns and having horrible consequences.
I went to hunters safety when I was around fourteen; sort of a rite of passage for all Montana kids. Even though I was never to be a hunter (I have never shot a gun at anything more than a beer bottle, not for any bad feelings about guns but because I don't like the taste of wild game, or any red meat for that matter), I at least learned to really respect guns. As far as having guns for hunting, I have nothing against it. Every year I do hear about hunting accidents where someone has been accidentally shot, but to me that adds up to there is some risk to almost any activity, and a hunter has made the conscious decision and decided the risk was worth it.
When I see people talking about their "rights" to bear arms, it usually has nothing to do with hunting. It is always toted as self-defense against the bad guys. The thing is, in all of my 36 years, I have rarely heard of a bad guy getting shot by the good guy in a moment of self-defense. I have, on the other hand, heard of lots of innocent people being accidentally shot by their own (or their parents) guns.
I have absolutely NO IDEA why anyone would need an assault rifle. The mother of the guy who shot all of the kids actually ENCOURAGED him to practice shooting her guns at a shooting range because she thought it was good for him to handle something that "required so much respect". It wasn't in SPITE of his mental instability that she did this, it was BECAUSE of his mental instability that she chose to do this. As some sort of mental and emotional therapy. Okay, where was the disconnect between her brain cells in this situation?
Personally, I hate guns. As an adult and a parent, I have never wanted them in my house. Derrick "inherited" a hand gun from his brother, but it stays locked up in a safe where my kids will never be tempted to touch it. It DOES have a purpose for us, however. We take it with us whenever we go on our long hikes in the mountains of Montana. But it is a weighed decision of what danger to us is greater, the bears or the gun. I'd rather never have that gun with us, but I'd also rather not be eaten by a bear. So, obviously there are times when guns are good for self-protection.
When my kids are old enough, I want both of them to take hunters safety. I don't know if either of them will ever choose to be hunters, but I feel the same way about hunters safety as I do about swimming lessons. I want them to have the knowledge it takes to keep themselves and others safe (as far as they can help it). I may not be able to control other people's opinion about how to manage gun safety, but I can control my attitude towards it, and also help my children know HOW to be safe around guns.
Do I think there should be government enforced gun control?
This article talks about other countries who have used different gun control tactics with good results. Evil isn't so easy to control, but making tools of mass destruction harder to come by would be a good start. It isn't the permanent solution, but it would add a little more safety in the meantime.
It was hard sending the kids to school yesterday and today. It is a knee jerk reaction to never send them to public school again, and to start them in home school. I may actually decide to home school my kids someday, but if I do, it's not going to be a fear based decision.
When I go to the mall or the movies, I always try to find escape exits and I scan the crowd looking for weirdos. But I am not going to stop going to those public places.
My job makes me nervous these days as well. Yesterday, a guy came in and stood at my counter. He held his hands below the counter awkwardly, and I kept waiting for him to put them where I could see them. It scared me; I completely visualized a hidden gun. I work at a government funded office, and because of the nature of our programs and the help they offer, the people who walk through those doors are not always mentally or emotionally well. Also, people don't always get the financial help that they think they deserve in some of our other programs. We have all dealt with angry (and unbalanced) people there. We have a protocol to follow if anyone ever comes in to cause mayhem; hopefully it would help most people stay safe. However, I am at the front desk. But I am still going to go to work there.
Every day I have a choice. I can choose to live every day in fear and let my world get smaller and smaller or I can choose to LIVE in spite of the danger. I hope I always choose to really live, even knowing that this world comes with no guarantees of safety.
