Someone shared an article on my Facebook feed earlier about a blind dude in Florida getting his guns back after shooting and killing someone. For one, I have decided I am not moving to Florida, and I may very well just stay away from the state period. Why does it seem all the crazies flock to Florida? The face eater alone is enough, but.. yeah. Yes I fully realize you could consider that stereotyping peoples from Florida and yes I realize all Floridians are not crazy, but really.. why is all the crazy news coming out of Florida, and when did this happen? But I digress...
The blind guy getting his guns back caught my attention, but the comments did so slightly more. Why you ask? All the anti-gun crazies. Now, there was a point in time where I hated guns... and I do mean I hated guns. I wanted nothing to do with them, didn't want to be around them, and even once flipped out on a friend for disassembling his gun in front of me and really freaked out on him, even though logically it'd be pretty darn impossible for me to end up shot when the gun was on the table in several pieces. Yet, I still respected his right to own a firearm, I just didn't want it in my field of vision.
I feel differently now. I want one for self defense, and I want a conceal carry permit. Mind you, I do not wish to do this until I've gotten properly educated on how to fire, handle, clean, maintain, etc... but I've changed my mind. What brought all this up of course, was something Salty Dad posted on Facebook:
I shall give you a moment to recuperate from the stupidity of that statement. Why do so many of these anti-gun people think reasoning with criminals is effective?!? Like, where do they get this idea? "Drop your gun and be reasonable"?? Let's look at a few scenarios here:
Scenario 1: Robber breaks into home.
*Robber quietly breaks into the home, and sneaks up on the homeowner with their ass hanging out of the fridge while making a ham and cheese sammich*
Robber: Put your hands up in the air and do not look at me or I'll kill you! Give me all of your valuables!
Homeowner: But... good sir, can we not be reasonable about this?
Robber: Man what the fuck you mean reasonable?!? If you turn around I'm going to paint your walls with your brain!
Homeowner: Good sir, have you asked yourself why you felt the need to break into my home? I know I have stuff here, but there's jobs and opportunities! I mean I could even hook you up with some really good job references and you could have all this stuff too!
Robber: You know, I hadn't really thought about that before. I just thought it'd be easier taking your stuff, but I sure do bet it'd feel that much better to earn it myself!! I'm sorry I have invaded your place of residence, can we hug this out?
Scenario 2: Gang stuff.
Gangster 1: Yo mfer you been on mah turf dealin yo shiz! You betta step off mah stuff man, I'll bust a cap in yo head!! Your homeboy was out dealin on mah street! Ain't nobody got time for that!
Gangster2: Hey man, let's be reasonable about this. I realize that one of my homeboys may have accidentally invaded your territory and I am deeply sorry about that. I will make sure I have a talk with him, reason with him, and make sure he knows where he's allowed to sell crack, which is not on your turf. Can we put the gun down and hug it out?
Gangster 1: You know homie, that actually sounds like a very reasonable conclusion. Perhaps we can all sit down over a nice cup of tea with our crews and discuss appropriate boundaries and prevent these unfortunate mishaps from happening again in the future! Hugs?
Scenario 3: Serial killer / homicidal maniac.
*mass murderer busts into a gun free zone about to kill 30 people*
Mass murderer: *starts aiming gun at people*
Innocent bystander1: Hey man, I mean, good sir. I realize there must have been something that deeply hurt or angered you, but do you think that killing a bunch of random people really solves anything?
Innocent bystander2: Yeah like, I feel ya man. The world is a messed up place. I'm deeply sorry for those that have wronged you or caused you harm, but we didn't do anything to you! Let us help you! Put the gun down, we'll hug it out, and we'll help you through this difficult time. You're not alone! We're all hurting!
Mass murderer: *sniffle* I... I don't know what to say. No one has really shown me compassion before, and it did not occur to me that other people may be hurting too, I just thought the world was out to get me. Perhaps we could sit down and share stories over a nice cup of joe and have a hug session after?
*side note, the first two scenarios left really hilarious cartoon like mental images in my head*
I'm sure we can come up with far more scenarios similar in nature, none of which would ever become a reality. You cannot reason with the type of people who would use guns, or any other weapon, to do others harm. Guns don't kill people... people kill people. And if you remove guns from the hands of law abiding citizens you're only leaving them in the hands of criminals or people who intend to do others harm. If reasoning with these people was a viable option, it would be done already.
Perhaps the robber doesn't know any better because stealing was how they grew up. Perhaps they fell on hard times and are trying to obtain items to pawn to feed their families. Perhaps they were never taught that in order to succeed in life you must work for what you want.
Perhaps the gang bangers simply grew up that way. They don't know anything outside the gang life and violence.
And as far as the serial killer/homicidal maniacs go... odds are pretty damn good they have an entire host of mental issues that have not been addressed or that they cannot find help for. If you even start looking at the perps behind the Colorado movie theater shooting, the Connecticut school shooting, the Amish school shooting in Pennsylvania, the Virginia Tech shooting, all of these perps have one thing in common: they had mental health problems that were not addressed or dealt with. And all these anti-gun nut jobs seem to use those incidents and other similar ones to push their agenda, when at the end of the day no mentally healthy person chooses to go murder large numbers of innocent people. Gun free zones don't work, that's just like a giant "HEY COME HERE WE HAVE NO GUNS TO DEFEND OURSELVES" sign. Logic. If you're a burglar, are you going to break into the house where you know the people do not own guns, or the one where you know the homeowner has guns? Unless you're a moron, you're going to go rob the house / business / whatever where you know no one can shoot your ass.
I grew up mostly in an area where an old neighbor of ours was yelling loudly enough we could hear him tell his wife "I'll kill you, you bitch, I'll fucking kill you!", heard him throwing her into the wall, all kinds of commotion. And even with the threat of death, it still took the police over an hour and a half to get there. He could have killed her and disposed of the body / cleaned up by then. If you don't like guns or don't want to own one? That's just fine with me! I'll support your right to not own one as long as you support my right to want to own one for my own defense.
Well said and I agree. I was very happy our neighbor didn't own a gun next door during all that or the wife , kids and US would probably be dead long ago . Imagine as I had many times how things could have been different if that MENTAL CASE neighbor HAD a gun .. many people are dead in this country now... because of allowing people with mental disorders get a hold of guns. Kudos to this blog . Sincerely, Your mother :)
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