Gun Rant

[lantairvlea]

If you don't like hearing about views on guns and gun violence scroll past and don't click the cut.

I admit it felt more two weeks ago when the thoughts first started rolling around, but here it is.

I don't think anyone could argue that gun violence in this country is completely out of control. Easy access to firearms is one thing and the mindset that actually allows you to shoot another person or to think that guns solve problems is another.

I own guns. I used to have more, several were gifted to me by my mother and I sold them when she fired Chris in 2016 to help make ends meet (that and I never shot any of them and didn't really want/need them and you get tired of saying "no" when "this is a really nice, expensive one!" Yeah, sure, you're preference, not mine, it'll just sit in the safe...). I own a bolt action rifle and a Beretta Tomcat, which is a .32 caliber sub compact pistol. I used to carry regularly when I rode trails in the desert, but I don't do the long distance hard-to-access riding I used to. I don't think I have shot a gun since before Tristan was born.

I grew up with guns. We would go out in the desert and shoot, pick up brass and try to leave the place tidier than we found it (why are people such slobs?!). I grew up having high respect for firearms, what they could do, and knew how to handle, load, fire, and clean them. Guns were a thing we had and used for target practice, but it wasn't a huge thing and didn't define the family identity.

The year before oldest child was born a shooting range opened within a mile of my parents' house. My parents invested/became lifetime members and my mother went through the NRA instructor certification program. I was commissioned to do illustrations for her presentation and to be used as posters around the classroom. I was also a guinea pig for her initial presentations as she put them together. At this point my mother still seemed fairly normal about guns. She was an empty nester and needed something to occupy herself with, cool. What it morphed into was her becoming a part owner at the range and also becoming a crazy gun collector. Note prior mentioned guns I was gifted. Now, it wasn't just a "they have a lot of guns" crazy gun collector. I do not know how many guns my parents have now. But I DO know my mother set up a trust and has a tax stamp that allows her to have stupid things that your average person DOES NOT NEED like suppressors, short barreled rifles, fully automatic guns and whatever other thing a tax stamp allows you to have.

I know there are people who think All The Guns All The Time with no restrictions. I think that's stupid. NO ONE needs a gun TODAY. Anyone can wait two weeks for a handgun. I'm sure there are people who would say "but I feel endangered." There are police. "I'm afraid of police." If you shoot someone you are going to have a whole lot of police up in your business anyway and they will be much less sympathetic after the fact.

You still have the giant gun show and private sale loopholes that should be stitched up. Background checks and fingerprint cards.

I'm all for red flag laws too. Someone suggests shooting up a school or coworkers or whomever? No gun purchases, full stop. Getting someone to forfeit guns they already have is a lot trickier, especially if it is on grounds of mental instability than being a threat to the public.

The Uvalde shooting was horrific. The inaction of the police and them handcuffing parents who were trying to go in to save their kids just rattles my brain. So many people failed to act.

I don't think gun manufacturers are to blame per se, but there is a whole lot of tactless advertising. Suing the gun manufacturer isn't going to do anything. How about suing the NRA that continues to perpetuate reduced restrictions on firearm acquisition? The person who actually did the crime? The person's family who failed to see the signs or willfully ignored them?

It all makes me angry, sad, still shocked, even after all these years and events. I don't know why the USA is so stupid about this. It's like the abortion "debate." The legislators are too worried about their pockets and reelection that we get crap legislation that helps no one.

Comments

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Didn't read the middle, but agree with the end.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

It's mostly my background and the short of it is my mother has become a right-wing gun nut, but the cut is there for a reason.

It makes me want to scream.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

Dang. Sorry about that. I live in Texas, and see a lot of that mindless gun worship. It's very frustrating and sad.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Arizona is much the same and it is!

[edgeofthewoods.livejournal.com]

It’s amazing to be looking in from outside the US, bc it’s crystal clear that guns, and that easy, unregulated access to guns IS the problem.

I’ve shot lots of different guns. It was fun. I’m glad we don’t have any guns in our home. My family’s hunting guns are locked in a safe. Any ammo is locked in a different safe. That’s how it’s done here in Canada.

It’s scary even being attached to a gun-happy nation by a shared border. Some of these attitudes are creeping north. No, sir — I don’t like it.

Did you happen to see this?

Using my vintage gun icon — which I’ve retired as distasteful in light of all the gun violence in the US.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

You know what would also help? Regulating ammunition. I know some people reload their own (pretty sure my parents own a reloader), but it would help. I don't get why someone would need a 100 round snail clip. Changing clips every 10 rounds might be annoying, but I'll take the inconvenience if it means some psycho with a gun has to pause and there is a chance to stop them.

I did see that post and it makes me a little sick. There is no reason to have that many weapons. The government isn't going to take the guns people already have. One, people would be stupid about it and two I'm sure there are a crap ton that are not registered/no longer with the original purchaser which makes tracking them all down impossible.

The gun culture went from "I need to hunt/protect my home from wild animals/invaders" to "I need to be able to singlehandedly take down my local government." Yeah, our country was worried about the British coming back and the government didn't have the funds for an actual military to start, but we really don't need an armed uprising to change government ... people are nuts.

[ms-eclectic.livejournal.com]

I'm "right wing" but I despise guns and was all for America being gun-free but it's never going to happen. 20 yrs ago my neighbors former son-in-law bought a rifle at Walmart took it to his car and went right back in and bought ammo claiming he had a squirrel problem. He killed his wife that day and left his two small children motherless and fatherless as he is doing 40 yrs for murder. People will have guns regardless in America but my biggest issue are the school shootings and how our children are considered "soft targets" so something needs to change to protect our children first.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Dang, I'm so sorry for your neighbor's family. Wait times would probably cool off many of the people having such terrible thoughts or give time for the potential victims to file for protection, leave, etc.

Yeah, we'll never get rid of all the guns in this country, but we can at least slow it down and make a better effort to keep them out of the wrong hands.

I remember Columbine, I was in Jr. High and it was unfathomable then. It still feels unfathomable, but it keeps happening and it seems to be more frequent despite all the supposed precautions.

[ms-eclectic.livejournal.com]

I think better efforts are pretty fruitless in a concrete jungle but what do I know other than criminals will have guns. I oppose ARs even being manufactured and I know nothing of guns outside of the results Columbine ripped the heart from America IMO.

[geminiwench.livejournal.com]

I live in Washington State,... in its second-largest metropolitan area... first is SeaTac... Seattle/Tacoma... and ours is Spokane/Coeur d'Alene... two places you probably never heard of unless it was about some crazy bad news.

Seattle has 2 seasons (Wet, and Less-Wet), lots of rain, fern forests, and a declared democratic socialist city council member.
Spokane has 4 seasons, lots of sun, is half-scrub-desert and half-mountain and has a city council run by openly racist Republican land developers.

They are 300 miles apart, on opposite sides of the state.
Coeur d'Alene is across the border in Idaho and is a resort town for neo-nazis with hooded Klan marches through town.

My brother is military, but I've never been "into" guns... but I did used to work at a pawnshop, inspecting, selling, buying, and loaning against guns. I was working there when the Assault Weapon Ban ended in 2006. We went from having a gun locker that... looked normal to me. Shotguns, hunting rifles, hand guns. It looked like an example of guns being used for reasons that made sense... and I got over my fear of being around them and handling them.

Note: Washington as a 5 day waiting period and background check for the above-board purchase of guns in the state. This is for ALL gun sales, including gun shows. We also have a red flag provision that passed recently. When you store a gun at a pawnshop, get a collateral loan on your gun, or buy a gun at a pawnshop.. these are all considered "purchasing" and you need to go through the background check and waiting period to reclaim your weapon and register you as the posessor of that serial number/model.

The DAY the ban was lifted... we took assault rifles ALL DAY LONG. What I mean is, people who had them in their homes and could legally use them.. but could not change possession/ownership of them since 1996... brought them in to sell or loan on. We got a ROCKET LAUNCHER that day. A real actual ground-to air bazooka.

Within a month, our gun cabinet went from being a collection of guns you'd EXPECT to be used... to a fanciful cabinet of AKs, ARs, Uzis, and all sorts of crazy military-grade weaponry. Grenades, land mines.. like CRAZY gear that was manufactured explicitly to kill as *many* people as *quickly* as possible.

I stopped dealing with the gun side, completely. I didn't want to handle them *at all*... if I had to handle THOSE kinds of weapons.

But also? I didn't want to handle THOSE customers, either.
There was an ego, a swagger, a certain kind of bravado and aggression that would underpin the interaction. My femaleness was a problem, my lack of awe was a problem, my job (to haggle) was a problem, my lack of enthusiasm for hateful slurs-as-banter was a problem... it was just... gross.

The assault weapon ban was SUCH a good idea.... just stopping the TRADE in military-grade human-killing machines while allowing people to have them for sport and personal protection. Background checks and registration and training certification seems like.... the absolute most simple thing we can do, as a society to keep guns AVAILABLE to citizens who feel they are 'necessary' as a personal option, while protecting society from citizens who wanna go on a killing spree.

With guns around, there WILL be gun violence... and gun accidents.
Gun owners... generally accept that fact is a possibility in their life, and likely know that their ownership raises the chance of that happening in their own life.

But it's wild to me that things like... registration, waiting periods, background checks, and training... (pretty much exactly like with driving and owning a car) would be seen as negative things by responsible gun owners who wish to protect their sport or their home/family.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

Chris served his mission in the Spokane area and spent some time in Coeur d'Alene as well so I have some familiarity with the area, even if it is just second-hand (one of these days we'll make it up there).

Holy crap, a ROCKET LAUNCHER? There's just no reason. We don't live next to Russia or China, though I'm sure some would argue they're just being prepared for the coming apocalypse.

Background checks and registration and training certification seems like.... the absolute most simple thing we can do, as a society to keep guns AVAILABLE to citizens who feel they are 'necessary' as a personal option, while protecting society from citizens who wanna go on a killing spree.

Sensible, simple things just seem way too hard and I don't know why. It's so frustrating.

I guess you could partially blame the two-party system which leads to natural polarization on issues, but really, how hard is it to get behind things that prevent mass murder?!

[geminiwench.livejournal.com]

That's the thing... the MAJORITY of Americans are for... sensible thinking and action. Americans WANT basic gun control. We WANT freedom of choice. We WANT body autonomy. We WANT the rich to be taxed. We WANT green energy. We WANT to end war...... and yet, our politicians have something else in mind for us.

Come on up! Spokane is horrible... but it is also wonderful!
I love it here despite its many (many) problems.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

The politicians know best, though, don't they?

Ick, politics in this country has shoved people so far left and right, or more correctly, into an us vs them mentality it makes it impossible and near suicide to attempt to compromise. All or NOTHING! if I can't have EVERYTHING I want you shall get nothing too.

Isn't that just about everywhere? Great and terrible, hoping the great outweighs the terrieble.

[kudosirony.livejournal.com]

The views of these gun zealots make me want to leave the country. Between that and the abortion stuff, Todd and I have legitimately looked at what it takes to leave; I've thrown out some applications half heartedly to see if I can get sponsorship. In OH, we passed permitless concealed carry last Monday. Teachers need 24 hours of training and they can carry a gun in class now. Meanwhile, our capital city has declared gun violence a public safety issue because of the increase of shootings.

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

It is pretty insane.

Wasn't it originally 70 hours of training or 700? Chris pointed out the other day "why does it have to be a firearm?" Taser, rubber bullets, mace, a flare gun?

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide!

[kudosirony.livejournal.com]

It was 700 hours, same as police recruits.

There are definitely other options. I just don't understand it when I hear people with the argument "you can't expect cops to risk their lives" but apparently teachers are?

[lantairvlea.livejournal.com]

I thought it was 700, which is admittedly a lot, but less than 5% of what they initially were asking? No way.


I very much would have expected cops to risk their lives in that situation and not be handcuffing parents trying to save their kids.