Want to end gun violence?  End guns.  We treat guns like toys then can’t understand why they’re misused.  It’s time to take the children’s toys away.


I learned more about politics from Jesse Ventura in the year I worked in the Off The Grid Command Center than I did in my preceding quarter century on Earth.  The Governor’s direct, no-bullshit approach to expressing himself and his opinions is a quality to be envied in any man, and I’ve agreed with what he has had to say time and time again.  Until now.  Now, I have an issue to debate with Jesse: his stance on gun control.  Frankly, he’s got it wrong.

I’ll admit: I used to be on Jesse’s side of the argument when he’d expound, “I agree that gun use should be controlled, but I don’t believe the government should be the one doing the controlling.  I think control is the gun owner’s responsibility” (from his 2000 book Do I Stand Alone?).  Well, after this recent string of heinous viciousness, or the “summer of gun violence” as our Democrat Senators are calling it, gun owners have lost the right to that responsibility.  In a matter of two days, people were shot and killed in a Louisiana theatre, the seemingly safe streets of Pasadena and Studio City, and that very night, a gunman took a shot at the cops then ran through my parking lot, right below the window where I sleep, scaring the bejesus out of me.  And I can’t be the only one who is scared.

"The responsibility of owning something as dangerous as a gun shouldn’t be taken lightly, which is why the Founding Fathers included it as an Amendment."  

So, who do we turn to when we’re staring down the barrel of a .22?  The police?  That’d be perfectly acceptable if the cops weren’t also KILLING NEARLY 400 PEOPLE IN JUST THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR!  That figure may be on the low side, because the FBI asks that law enforcement agencies self-report on shootings and their justification for putting bullets into humans at high speeds, so you can assume their numbers are as “fair and balanced” as Fox News.  In fact last month, one COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND UNARMED man tried to flag down two LAPD officers in Los Feliz, and they responded by shooting him in the head, then handcuffed him on the ground as he bled to death.  In the officers’ defense, the INNOCENT AND UNARMED man did have a towel in his hand, which could have easily been used to conceal thousands up to millions of guns beneath it.

The responsibility of owning something as dangerous as a gun shouldn’t be taken lightly, which is why the Founding Fathers included it as an Amendment.  When you believe someone has earned your trust and developed to a level of maturity befitting a major responsibility, you give that person the right to own or do something grownup as a reward.  And when that someone mows down a schoolyard of children, a church full of parishioners, or a Luby’s dinner crowd, you take away their toys and their responsibility.

"For example, do you really need a gun?  Really?  Are you fending off bears?  Or the British?  When was the last time another country invaded the U.S.?  The War of 1812?"  

Yes, I am going to call a gun a “toy,” because I believe, in its modern day usage, a firearm is a frivolous, ultimately unnecessary object that has led to more headaches that any other item that could be considered a “tool.”  For example, do you really need a gun?  Really?  Are you fending off bears?  Or the British?  When was the last time another country invaded the U.S.?  The War of 1812?  So you need it for hunting animals for your dinner?  Odd choice of the word – “need” – when there’s every major convenience available to circumvent your “need” to slay living things for your supper plate.  Oh, you want your gun, because it’s “cool”?  Again… TOY!  Furthermore, didn’t every last one of you play with toy guns as a kid?  What message does that send but that THIS TOY GUN IS A TOY?

"You ostensibly become the terrorist; you're stockpiling guns to keep at bay, while you plot your own demise due to an early heart attack."

Of course, there is the worthy home protection argument, but if you live your life planning for tragedy, you prepare yourself for fear and anxiety.  You ostensibly become the terrorist; you're stockpiling guns to keep at bay, while you plot your own demise due to an early heart attack.  Anyway, if you buy a handgun to safeguard your home, the robbers will have shotguns.  So you grab a machine gun, and now they bring bazookas.  Now you have a surface-to-air missile launcher, but those tricky sons of bitches come strapped with a plutonium nuke.  Didn’t we learn anything from Dr. Seuss’ The Butter Battle Book (and also, the Cold War).

My point is this: we’re the country of gun-slingin’ cowboys, who would rather go to bed shakin’ in our boots with a revolver under our pillows rather than deal with the clear and present danger: the easy access and mass proliferation of steely death machines that fit under a pillow.  Imagine how much collective oxygen will be preserved if we just end the tired, cyclical debate on guns and make the steps toward doing something about them instead.  Or we can have it your way and just go back to blaming this all on the Confederate Flag.  It’s your choice.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ora Media, LLC its affiliates, or its employees.

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