Guns, sleek and sexy steel…providing a potent courage and air of confidence when held in one’s hand. Power emanates forth just by the touch against the skin. Finite power beyond any other. The power to take life in a second. The power to put fear into the minds of others and manipulate their actions by simply pointing this piece of innate material. Simply intoxicating and seductive to many.
Guns…so succinctly we exterminated the native Americans with these weapons. Guns…so deftly we have fought world wars protecting our freedom and the design of democracy. Guns…beloved by hunters in the woods and those fed by the success of the hunt. Guns…now worn by many to protect themselves in the park, the grocery store and other carry concealed friendly places. Have we so evolved that we now must carry guns to live our daily lives without fear? Or is it the fear we live with that makes us carry the gun? Me, I fear those who carry the gun and carry the fear.
These past few years we have often been reminded of the US Constitution drafted so many years ago by our forefathers. Today constitutional rights are levied around the conversation with a concerned heaviness of pending doom. I feel it in others and see it in their words yet I do not understand their language There is much talk about second amendment rights…Talk is always good. Talk can make change and compromise. But talk is not easy when it is heavy stuff like guns and the right to bear arms. Issues that are held dear to the heart of many a man and woman, filled with emotion and deep belief and desire for self-preservation.
With due respect…I am tired of the senseless killings of rage, the devastating accidental shootings and the malevolent massacres of the many innocents. I am tired of being told that the right to bear arms is in jeopardy when the talk is of gun control, better registration and shutting off access to automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. It is a complicated problem and involves more than the metal “piece” and issues of mental health must also be discussed. But honestly, I must ask who needs an AK 15 to hunt? Who needs a Bushwhacker rifle to protect their home/family? Must we all become doomsday preppers to protect ourselves from each other?
I ask you…when we are all in the grocery store and someone draws their gun…and then the next one does in response….and the next one….and so on….who wins this battle or do we all die in the fight not knowing who was the “bad guy” with the gun. I digress. But I admit it is hard for me to understand all of this.
But talk is important. Listening is important. Change is important. Compromise is essential.
My whispers in the wind - Charlsey Jane 