Here’s the thing; I hate labels. I hate that their only purpose, at all, is to cause division. If you absolutely NEED to ‘Label’ me for your own agenda, whatever, go ahead. I guess I’m a “liberal.” Call me a snowflake if you want because I don’t understand how that’s supposed to be an insult in the first place. There are no two snowflakes exactly alike, there are no two people exactly alike. That’s just a fact, I have no understanding of how that can be interpreted as a put-down. The way I describe me is, “you do you.” Live your life in whatever way makes you happy. The ONLY exception being if you’re hurting someone. If you make a choice for your life that does not negatively effect the life of someone else, it doesn’t matter whether I agree or disagree because frankly, it’s none of my business. You are responsible for no one in this world but YOU. Regardless of whatever you believe about religion, an afterlife, whatever – YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. Period. Leave everyone else alone.
I’m not anti second amendment. I do, however, believe that it’s important to understand why laws were created in the first place, what was happening at the time a law was created, and if the law, by very definition, is still relevant and needs no updates as time goes by. There’s lots of laws that lost their original intent as we progressed over the years.
Why would a citizen need and/or want a gun? I only know of two main reasons. (We’ll get to the third ‘so I can kill a bunch of people’ one later.)
The first reason, is to hunt. Usually that is with a rifle. Although I personally venomously disagree with the “sport” of hunting, I have spent time in the northern midwest, and I know it is a part of their culture. I also know that poor families who live in the deep woods will shoot a deer, and use it to feed their family for weeks on end. I’ve never been in that position, can I judge someone that literally hunts to survive? I have an opinion about that, but again, not my place to judge. Not my place to tell them they can’t do that.
The second reason is protection. As a single woman who lives right in the city, I can understand why people would choose that. I wouldn’t ever choose to have a handgun in my home personally, but for some people, it gives them peace of mind. Again, I don’t feel I have a right to tell them they can’t or shouldn’t.
The question I challenge people with, is what does anyone need an assault rifle for? It is a military grade weapon that has no practical use at all for the average citizen. Let me put it this way, do you think that teenage kids should easily be able to have a functional rocket launcher in their bedroom? What about a missile? A bazooka tank? Does that sound a little bit ridiculous to you? “Those things are used in active war zones, why would my kid need a working one is his bedroom that could blow up our entire neighborhood?” ….Why, indeed?
Look, I get the knee-jerk reaction to be defensive. I’m VERY protective of my rights, and I get very angry when I feel they’re being violated. I’m not looking to take away my friends rifle who lives in Northern Minnesota. I’m not looking to take away the hand gun in a lockbox from my neighbor. But I do not think that the right to have working military-grade weapons is worth the risk.
Let me put this another way. There’s a tool called a Wasp Knife that divers use that delivers a little c02 bubble when you stab something with it, and the thing you stab literally explodes. That’s can be a useful tool of safety for a deep sea diver, but I’m not one. Say I had one in my room just because I thought it was cool and it was a nice souvenir.
If someone approached me and said, “You know, I get that you like your wasp knife and you think it’s cool, but someone brought one to my high school last year. They stabbed five students with it and I watched their guts explode. I cowered in a closet for a few hours while the person stalked the school for victims, terrified that the closet door would be flung open and I would be next to die. This is the eighteenth time this year that this has happened.” I would take a step back from my ‘My wasp knife is cool and pretty!’ moment, and consider that my admiration of such a weapon as a collector’s item may not be worth the literal loss of multiple lives, families that will never be the same, witnesses that will be traumatized with PSTD for the rest of their lives… just because I wanted to say I HAVE A RIGHT TO HAVE THIS WASP KNIFE BECAUSE IT’S PRETTY, considering that someone else may have a wasp knife because it’s an easy tool to use to express rage and demand to be noticed.
Again, I’m not anti-gun, I’m anti-needless death. Take a step back from those immediate defensive reactions and think about doing the right thing, because this isn’t just about you. I don’t want to take away the weapons available to you when the second amendment was created. I want that original law to stand. I just want to update the law according to the update in weapons. I want to prevent needless death, and you should want that, too.
Kell Frillman - Author 