Thirty years ago, my little brother killed himself with a gun. Law enforcement authorities said his death was an accident. I have always had my doubts.
The gun was registered, a Forty-five automatic.
He was thirty-four and a combat veteran of Vietnam. Two tours.
I have long thought his name should be etched on The Wall.
Left my shotgun – a pistol-grip gun-metal-gray Mossberg twelve gauge – at a friend’s house, carefully stored in his attic. When I returned to get my gun, it was gone.
That was years ago. Still don’t know where that gun is.
Today I am the only male in my family without a concealed weapon permit. Over a million concealed weapon permits have been issued in the state of Florida.
And we have here what is known as the “Stand Your Ground” law, which allows you to cause deadly bodily harm to another person if you feel threatened.
Even if you start the conflict.
A nearby county held a buy-back program where the local government paid citizens for relinquishing unwanted, unneeded guns.
Among the many weapons purchased were two rocket launchers.
In St. Petersburg a convicted drug dealer, a felon, was “found with 30 guns, including a fully automatic rifle, two sawed-off shotguns, various semi-automatic assault weapons, various supplies of ammunition, bulletproof vests, body armor, helmets, gas masks and a security system.”
That last item seems a trifle extraneous, but maybe he was a sound sleeper.
What? No pit bulls??
The internet is awash with folks protesting the alleged attack on our Second Amendment. Biggest concern seems to be protecting oneself from a tyrannical government.
To which I always wonder, “Have you ever seen a S.W.A.T. team in action?” I have. I worked alongside one team for a couple of days.
Trained to the nth degree. Fit as UFC fighters. Locked and loaded and live to wreak havoc on bad guys.
You have your Glock, maybe even an AK-47. They have snipers and armored vehicles and, oh, yeah, badges. Permission even.
You are kidding yourself.
Did you watch any television while Christopher Dorner was running around Big Bear? Did you see the manpower arrayed against him?
Dorner had less than no chance. And Dorner had a .50 caliber rifle along with police and military training.
I have trouble forgetting the groom in a church closet proudly showing his new pistol to his groomsmen. The gun went off, the bullet went through the wall, the bride died.
Then there was the kid showing off a pistol while riding on a school bus. That gun went off, killing a little girl in the seat across the aisle. Her father was so devastated, he killed himself.
With a gun.
Bullets, fired in celebration on a holiday or New Year’s or a particularly raucous Mexican wedding reception, land on the heads of children far distant.
The day before Valentine’s Day – as the national conversation about mental illness and gun violence threatened to dominate newscasts – the local Sheriff here in Florida held a press conference to present the Medal Of Valor to two off-duty deputies who were brave enough to shoot a naked crazy woman brandishing an unloaded single-shot pistol.
Giving new meaning to the phrase “tone deaf.”
The NRA is not a defender of the Second Amendment per se.
It is a marketing arm of the firearms industry.
Don’t believe me?
.
Oh, by the way, there is no truth to the rumor Wayne Lapierre has come out in support of North Korea’s right to have nuclear weapons.
If I was as godawful whackadoodle batshit crazy as Wayne Lapierre, doubtlessly I would be against universal background checks myself.
Well, I may be crazy but I am not insane. And ‘mentally ill’ has always seemed like a subjective term to me. Reference Michelle Bachmann. Mr. Lapierre.
Anyway, I was thinking about getting a concealed weapon permit myself.
Now I am already the most dangerous guy in the neighborhood. And my dog, a 160-lb. Caucasian Ovcharka with inch-long teeth, rarely leaves my side.
But I am old enough where I must wonder if my Combat Tai Chi would be sufficient to fight off a coterie of crystal meth addicts intent on burglarizing my medicine cabinet.
Viagra is not covered by Medicare supplements.
Yet I have had second thoughts. Since the tragic deaths in Newtown… remember Newtown? twenty-six dead, twenty children that will never see the second grade. Since that massacre in Newtown, the price of any decent sidearm has doubled. Same for bullets.
Then there’s all the statistics. Nearly 1800 Americans have been killed by guns in the first two months since Newtown.
Basically, ten thousand and more of us are murdered annually by guns. An additional twenty thousand people murder themselves with guns.
A spouse is more likely to kill his or her mate if a gun is in the house. And one of my wife’s favorite television shows is Snapped.
Is having a gun actually going to make me safer?
Ted Nugent, an avid hunter, is a strident proponent of gun ownership, a self-professed patriot taken to cladding himself in the stars & stripes, the red, white & blue, yet he dodged the draft.
Apparently he doesn’t want anybody shooting back.
Dick Cheney loves to send other men and women off to war, but he doesn’t want to go himself. Five (5) deferments.
Loves to hunt, but shoots companions in the face.
In both instances, Cheney’s response? “Oops.”
Wish I could say I was astonished by some alleged supporters of the Second Amendment.
Many of these folks don’t want the government getting between them and their doctors, but support the idea of vaginal probes.
They claim to be pro-life but want to eliminate Head Start, school lunches, and Medicaid for Children.
That’s not pro-life, that’s pro-birth.
Don’t get me started