I am angry. I am hurt. I am amazed. I am pissed. We, as Americans, are faced with yet another mass shooting here in the United States. Yet, we have done absolutely nothing to prevent them from happening. How many more mass shootings do we have to have to force this country to do something about the “more guns is better” mindset?

I have many friends who own guns. I have a handful of dear friends who own automatic weapons. I do not understand this. I have talked to them about it and I still do not understand the fascination with guns. The only sole purpose of automatic weapons is to kill people. That’s why they were created. That’s what they do. Civilians do not need semiautomatic nor automatic weapons – period.

I do not begrudge anyone a hunting rifle when it is used responsibly; this includes it being registered properly, locked up, separately from ammunition, and away from the prying hands and eyes of children.

I believe sensible gun laws are an absolute necessity. We have to take a test to prove that we are capable of handling a vehicle before we are legally allowed to drive. We are responsible for carrying insurance on our vehicles at all times. That’s because driving a motor vehicle is a large responsibility and a vehicle is capable of doing extreme harm when in the wrong hands. It’s not rocket science. I believe there is nothing at all wrong with having guns documented for ownership, and the owners need to prove they are capable of handling them responsibly. I also think that people who have any type of guns in their home should have separate insurance on them.

There have been thirty-three police officers killed by gunfire in 2019 alone. These police officers had weapons on them. They have also been trained in how to use the weapons they carry. The argument of having more good people with guns is flawed.

Then there’s the good guy with a gun versus a bad guy with a gun argument – which is also flawed. Too many “good guys with guns” have been killed by the police because the police have no way of knowing if the person wielding the weapon is a good person or a bad person. There is no time for them in the heat of the moment to stop and ask questions. So they see a person with a gun and they shoot – and they are taught to shoot to kill.

The next argument I hear is, “If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.” The thing is, outlaws don’t buy their guns legally. They are more often than not, stolen from gun stores, gun shows, or people’s homes. So the way I see it, if there were no automatic weapons available for them to steal, the likelihood of them obtaining them easily diminishes considerably.

Another argument I hear every single time there is another mass shooting, is the problem is mental illness. Well, that doesn’t wash with me either. The vast majority of mass shooters in the United States were white men who were simply pissed off about something completely irrelevant. They didn’t like the color of someone’s skin, or they didn’t like someone’s religion, or they didn’t like the fact someone was gay, or they were pissed off they lost their job, yada, yada, yada. The truth is, if people really believed mental illness was the problem, they would be doing something about providing more easily accessible mental health care in this country instead of continuing to perpetuate the stigma of mental illness. And another thing, if the real issue is mental illness, why in the hell do you want to put weapons of mass destruction in their hands so easily?

So, now let me ramble on about background checks. I keep hearing people whine about “second amendment rights” and “don’t take my guns away” and “I would never harm anyone with my guns”, etc., etc., ad nauseum. What exactly is your fear for the background checks? If you are a law-abiding citizen of this country, and you have nothing to hide, why are you so against background checks? Don’t get me wrong, background checks are NOT going to catch everyone who has something to hide, but it damn sure will prevent some folks from getting weapons who have no business having weapons to begin with. For starters, domestic violence perpetrators should not have access to guns. Convicted criminals should not have access to guns. This information should be available across all states.

The epidemic of mass shootings in this country is out of control. The NRA is out of control and has WAY too much impact on our politicians. Other countries do not have this problem – because they have sensible gun laws AND FEWER GUNS.

This is a quote from an article on pbs.org.

As in the United States, Canada’s national government sets gun restrictions that the provinces, territories, and municipalities can supplement. And like its southern neighbor, Canada’s gun laws have often been driven by gun violence. In 1989, a student armed with a semiautomatic rifle killed fourteen students and injured more than a dozen others at a Montreal engineering school. The incident is widely credited with driving major gun reforms that imposed a twenty-eight-day waiting period for purchases; mandatory safety training courses; more detailed background checks; bans on large-capacity magazines; and bans or greater restrictions on military-style firearms and ammunition.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-do-u-s-gun-laws-compare-to-other-countries

This is the way to address gun violence. We have to do better in this country. We used to be the country the rest of the world looked up to. Now, other countries are issuing warnings to their own citizens about visiting the United States, because of the gun violence perpetrated in this country. That is not something we should be proud of. We need to do better. We need to be better.

In 1987, lawn darts were banned in the United States after ONE CHILD was killed by them. Lawn darts don’t kill children, people throwing lawn darts killed one child. Then the lawn darts themselves were banned.

In December 2001, someone attempted to smuggle a bomb onto an airplane in their shoe. Since then, we have to remove our shoes when we go through security in the airport. Shoes don’t kill people, people who put things in shoes can kill people.

When children are fighting and start hitting each other with sticks, the parent takes the stick away. Sticks don’t hurt people, people swinging sticks at people hurt people. So we take the sticks away.

Yesterday, we were driving around Hobbs, NM, about the time schools were letting out. We saw an elementary student, he looked maybe six or seven years old. He had on what looked to be a protective vest of some sort. Our babies are having school shooting drills in kindergarten. The fact that this is necessary is appalling. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe it’s necessary in today’s gun accepting climate. I just believe that is wrong.

There is supposedly a threat on some social media about someone planning to perpetrate a shooting at the Homecoming football game in Hobbs, NM tomorrow night. I have not personally seen it, but a friend who lives here knew about it and told us yesterday. We are going to be there and I pray it is a hoax and nothing happens.

All guns, with the exclusion of hunting rifles, are made solely for killing other human beings. I do not believe we will ever be able to completely rid this county of handguns, semiautomatic, and automatic weapons. But, we can absolutely drastically cut down the number of them. Doing that alone, will eliminate MANY mass shootings. People will still have knives, and vehicles, and other means of injuring people, but that would take away their ability to shoot so many people in such a short amount of time.

We have to do something. We can implement sensible gun laws. We can offer a buyback of automatic and semiautomatic weapons. We can offer a buyback on handguns. Buybacks worked before, and it would work again. We can implement four week waiting periods on purchasing a gun. We can have extensive background checks. We have to protect our children and our families by getting so many easily available weapons off the streets. Our society, our families, our friends, our children are depending on us to do something. We have to do something to counteract the gun culture that is pervading our society. How many more deaths and injuries will be enough for us to do something?

HOW MANY IS ENOUGH??