This might not be a popular blog post. Normally, I make an attempt to be
lighthearted. Face it, there’s too much
unhappiness and tension in the world.
However, today, I’m having a hard time being funny.
Yesterday there was another high profile shooting spree—the third
in a matter of a few short weeks. Colorado. Wisconsin. Texas. Three different parts of the country. Three different reasons for taking a weapon
and firing on his fellow man. Three
people who should have never been allowed to have a gun. But because they had one (and in fact they
had many) people died.
After the Wisconsin
shooting, friend and fellow writer Chuck Wendig tweeted that the time was fast approaching
for us to start a serious conversation about guns. Perhaps in some part we can start that
conversation here. We are writers that
love humor. We love mysteries and often
use guns in our writing, but, in real life, guns are a serious business. We need to find a way to get people talking—really
talking—about what should be done about them.
There is a slogan that says “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” It is hard to argue the fact that a gun by
itself will not pull its own trigger.
But take the gun out of the hands of a man whose own parents say was out
of control and several people who died yesterday would still be alive. Their
families would not be grieving or asking questions to which there will never be
answers.
Guns kill people.
I’m sorry. No matter
how literally correct that slogan might be, I believe guns kill people. Does that means that I believe that people
would not kill if they didn’t have access to guns? No. But I think the numbers killed would be
smaller. The choice to kill would be
harder.
Maybe I’m wrong. But
yesterday a man with a gun killed people by shooting out of the window of his
home. In Wisconsin, a gunman opened fire in a
church. In Colorado, people watching a movie were
gunned down while eating popcorn.
Men killed those people.
So did the guns those men used.
Three horrific incidents in 22 days.
I’m not writing this post because I know what the answer
is. I don’t. Not a clue.
But I do know that something has to change.
The constitution reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of
the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
I have found 4 definitions of militia:
1. A body of citizens
enrolled for military service, and called out periodically for drill but
serving full time only in emergencies.
2. A body of citizen
soldiers as distinguished from professional soldiers.
3. All able-bodied
males considered by law eligible for military service.
4. A body of citizens
organized in a paramilitary group and typically regarding themselves as
defenders of individual rights against the presumed interference of the federal
government.
The second amendment was written at a time before the
national armed forces were created.
There wasn’t an Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps. The National Guard didn’t exist. The only chance for the country to defend
itself was if every day citizens answered the call of the government to fight
off whatever threat was eminent to the nation.
Once the national government founded the branches of military, the need
for a militia was dissolved.
Does that mean I think citizens should be forbidden from
owning guns? Again, I have no idea. But I do think the second amendment doesn’t
provide the answers that some people would like it to. This debate would be easier if it did. It doesn’t.
The answer lies with us…the American people. It is time to have a debate that doesn’t wield
the second amendment and catchy slogans like a bulletproof shield.
Guns kill people because people use guns. End of story.
Not all people commit murder with them, but enough do that we need to have
the conversation. We need to table our
emotions about whether we love or hate guns.
We need stop asking what the founding fathers would do because I guarantee
you they never imagined the possibility of a movie theater let alone the horrendous
mass murder that would occur there.
I have no answers.
Only questions. But I believe
that what we are doing now isn’t working.
We need to find better answers because I think the one thing we can all
agree on is that the people we love in our lives are more important than the ownership
of a gun that might one day be the cause of their death.
And to the families of all of the victims…my heart and
prayers are with you.
