America, it's time to point the guns at yourself (wait... what?)

Note: I originally wrote this article earlier in the year and then didn't publish it as I felt the outrage over the mass shooting that inspired it had subsided and the article no longer was topical. However, looking at this list of mass shootings during 2015 in the USA I can't actually recall which one inspired this article (it may have been the Charleston Church Shooting in June 2015). However, looking at the list I noticed you only need wait about a week or so for the next mass shooting in the USA.

Unless of course you follow the FBI's guidelines for classifying mass shootings, in which case data provided by Mother Jones: A Guide to Mass Shooting in America is far more pleasing to the eye with only four mass shootings in 2015.

Either way, people rampaging with guns is always topical in America. It happens so often they only seem to report the ones with unusually high casualties or particularly unusual locations. Anyhow... on to my article...

The coup has flown when it comes to gun control laws in the USA. Gun owners, who support tighter gun controls, probably would turn on a dime if the new criteria suggested in any way shape or form that they're no longer suitable candidates for gun ownership and should hand in their guns.

Gun owners who don't support tighter controls, and believe current laws are just fine, or in some cases lobby for even more gun ownership, usually have an answer for every argument supporting tighter gun control laws. Whether their answer is right or wrong is moot. Their political power appears to be just too strong against any kind of further restriction on gun ownership.

Regardless, no matter how much you try to legislate for tighter controls on legally owned guns, there's always someone who points out that a considerable amount of gun crime occurs using stolen guns. Usually this will be pointed out by a pro gun activist who rarely mentions that a large percentage of those guns are stolen from legal gun owners during home burglaries. (Secure your guns people).

The argument is that Americans need their guns for self defense (once you get beyond the people who own guns for legitimate reasons such as their job requires it or they're an active participant in a sports shooting association for example). The idea that somehow carrying, or at least owning, a gun makes you feel safer and somehow lessens the chance of being attacked. The more people who own guns the more likely it is a criminal will encounter someone with a gun - hence it's not worth the risk trying in the first place. Yet they do. Here are some examples that demonstrate gun ownership can reduce deaths provided citizen public is pro-active.

Personally, I don't feel any safer knowing people have guns and I wouldn't feel more safer owning one myself. People who walk into a school randomly shooting are expecting to die, or at least haven't thought much about that as an outcome. Time and again people don't see this type of crime coming. Even if you carry a gun how pro-active do you think you'd be against someone that's shooting anyone in their line of sight?

A sniper shooting randomly is going to be very hard to take down by Joe or Jane Public. It's fortunate that sniper shootings are less of an occurrence because that would be my choice of random killing spree (wait... what? no, think about it... if you just want to see the world burn why make yourself an easy target? Stick around to enjoy the outrage and pain you're causing.).

In my opinion, the only self defense you need to know is how to keep a cool head along with strategies to disarm someone with a gun if you're in immediate danger and, strategies to get you and others to safety if the threat isn't immediate. Leave any actual shooting to law enforcement - it's much less complicated if they deal with whether opening fire was justified.

Gun ownership in America seems less about protecting people from terrorism than it is about protecting yourselves from each other. Terrorists tend to prefer bomb attacks over mass shootings anyway. No amount of gun ownership can protect you from a well concealed bomb. Note, if you're a terrorist using guns openly in the USA, you're doing it wrong.

Americans are more likely to become victims of domestic crime than they are a terrorist attack. That's what people feel they need to defend themselves against. Americans are already pointing guns at each other and, if you haven't and you own a gun for self defense, you're at least thinking you may have to some day.

Perhaps it's time to point the gun at yourselves gun owners? Well not literally. Regardless of the arguments for or against guns one fact is indisputable: There is a death toll from gun related crimes that is causing a real concern in many communities. Just like any other type of crime that toll needs to be reduced rather than just accepted as the norm. Who better to tackle it than responsible gun owners?

It's not enough to say you already have gun control laws, gun safety and education programs. Or even that there are gun education and safety programs for kids. All of that only targets people who have every intention of being responsible gun owners. What are you doing to reduce the number of illegal guns and illegal gun owners? What are you doing to prevent emotionally unstable people from using their legally obtained guns to lash out at the world?

I really think the onus is on gun owners to practically demonstrate that an armed country is a safer country - because that's their logic.

My question is, if a gun owner is in a situation where they could've saved lives by using their gun and they don't... can I hold them accountable for not taking action?

That's right. If you're carrying a gun and you don't take a pro-active stance to save lives in a hostile situation can I sue you? Can I hold you accountable since you've embraced gun ownership as a way to make the country safer? Or is your argument just lip service?

Or worse yet, if you do take a pro-active stance and actually put lives at risk because you didn't disarm the hostile person but instead provoked them into firing shots, can I sue you for putting lives in danger?

At this point I feel like I'm just musing possibilities. The list of What if it all goes wrong is always longer than the one where it all turns out okay.

My point is, if you want to own guns without the backlash then you need to be doing much more than just teaching people how to handle and fire a weapon safely. You need to get actively involved in reducing gun crime or at the very least supporting organisation who are.

It's not good enough to point to your right to own a gun and say that makes the country a safer place because 36 years ago I don't like Mondays happened. I'm pretty sure there are more gun owners now than there was then and mass shootings still happen quite frequently depending upon whose stats you believe.

Comments

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Guest Post: New Novel - Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return

A lmost a year ago I featured Go West Girl , Book 1 of author, Kit Mackenzie's Alias Jeannie Delaney series. Now, the next book in the series, Alias Jeannie Delaney - Book 2 - The Outlaw's Return , is soon to be released in August, and is available for pre-order on Amazon. If you love a powerful female lead in a traditional western packed with action and adventure, this is the novel for you. The story centers on Cowgirl Jeannie Morgan who grew up in Coyote Creek, Wyoming, where she became persecuted for her lethal gun and a sexuality that swings both ways. Tomboy beautiful and tough as the nails in a miner's boots, she is on the run with a bunch of boys who would die for her. Her snake strike gun, soul-slicing gaze and dangerous magnetism leaves a trail of intense emotions, killings and would-be death threats in her wake. Heading south, she finds herself becoming a legend. She's in deep trouble, but her home town demands her return and they pin a badge on her. It'

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch

Robot Uprising Update: Robot Waiter, Fasta Pasta, South Terrace, Adelaide CBD, South Australia

On the second evening of my partner, Enigma, and I's weekend stay in Adelaide we decided to have dinner at Fasta Pasta . Strangely enough our hotel staff, at the Alba, had not mentioned Fasta Pasta as an option for an evening meal while their restaurant is closed for refurbishment, even though it is literally next door on the corner of South Terrace and Pultney Street. You may be aware that Fasta Pasta is an upmarket Italian restaurant franchise with its beginnings in Adelaide. Currently they have 19 restaurants Australia wide (with the majority in South Australia - we even have one in Gawler, our home town). I've never had bad food at a Fasta Pasta, and their food never looks like a franchise meal. You always feel you're at a restaurant that's a little bit more quality than your typical hotel/motel meal. Maybe it's because you don't see as much pasta based meals on an Aussie pub menu. Despite the name, it's not all pasta. I went with a basic plate of fish a

Four Years into a Post Pandemic World and Secondary COVID-19 Might be a Thing?

Social distancing 2020 style. A fter not being too far from COVID-19, potentially patient zero in Australia back in 2020. Four years later my partner finally tested positive for the virus. Then I inevitably caught it as well. You might think, so what, but I'm honestly surprised we've lasted this long. My partner works at an aged care facility that has fought off numerous outbreaks over the years, and continues to do so. Workers at her facility take RAT tests daily so you know pretty quick if you test positive. Workers then have to isolate at home for at least seven days until they're clear. COVID-19 symptoms can vary in intensity and you may not get the full range (at least to my knowledge and experience). My partner seemed to get it fairly bad with tiredness, aching joints, loss of taste and smell, along with cold and flu like symptoms (sore throat, congestion etc). While we did try to social distance, keeping our distance, hand washing, and not sleeping in the same room

The First US Presidential Debate 2024 - America You're Standing In It

M ost of the time I get my fill of American political news from clips of The Daily Show , which I know many people accuse of being more political left leaning than balanced with its humour. As such it was my first port of call when looking for commentary on the recent, first US Presidential debate for 2024. I say first because I don't know if they'll do another one. I'd strongly advise they don't. Getting your news from a comedy show isn't ideal, even one as arguably intelligent as The Daily Show, because they're focussed on what can be laughed at, more than serious analysis. As such their coverage very well could be making both candidates look more foolish than they may actually be. As such I decided to watch the full replay of the debate so I could get more of a sense of who both candidates are and how they come across in, what should be, their ideal platform - debating the opposition. Before Donald Trump became President I was a fan. I watched every season o

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog