When it comes to the second amendment I've come to the conclusion that there are not exactly two groups. However there are two groups that garner the most attention from the media, and of course to induce fear they make those who favor the second out to look like raving lunatics and those oppose to be the guardian angel of the country. Lets all agree on one thing firearms are stacked deep in the history of our country. It's not exactly like we had a series of boxing matches with the British, they shot at founding fathers and we shot back. Many men died on both sides and in the end we had the freedom to be our own country. Many times firearms have been used in this country and by this country and her citizens. For war, for protection, and for law enforcement.
Now before I get into the heart of the matter let me break it down how I see the people split over the topic of firearms and ownership by the average citizen. Lets start on the far anti side of the topic. These are the people who would love nothing more than to remove the second from the Bill of Rights, take all weapons away from the average citizen and leave them only for law enforcement, the military and federal agencies. My counter point is to look at what has happened with the bans in the UK and Australia. Sure death by gun is down, but overall violent crime is on the rise. Wait lets look at this last sentence again, or rather a small portion. In two countries with strict bans in which the people had their firearms confiscated there is still gun related murder. No guns allowed in the country, yet there is gun related murder. One more time people no guns, yet gun murder. Certainly I'm not the only one who goes well that certainly worked out well huh.
This is were you start hearing them go "Well we only want common sense laws." If you are the type of person who requires a law for something that is common sense, maybe you need to reevaluate how your living your life and the way in which you make your choices. To try and make laws for common sense means it was not common sense to begin with. I see this as a major problem within our country today, people do not want to think for themselves and would rather be told what is okay by the government, but then complain that their rights are not being respected.
My second group as we move away from the hardcore anti-gunners are those people who don't like them for one reason of another. Bad experience with one, taught to fear the gun instead of respect it, or any number of reasons. This is the not in my house crowd as I think of them. Now honestly as I view this group they don't care if honest citizens own firearms for hunting, protection, or should the need ever arise for the unorganized militia to be called on in a time of state or national emergency. They just don't want them in their homes. I work with a person like this, she explained it fully one night as we talked about many issues. Others owning them does not bother her, but she'll never allow one in her house. I can respect that choice, as she respects my right to keep and bare arms to protect myself and the people I care about.
Next are the average gun owners as I dub this group, and i place myself in this category as a man who only recently purchased is first firearm. We make a carefully informed decision about each firearm we purchase, some are just to collect for one reason or another. Others we actually have a purpose for, these could be hunting, self defense, competition shooting whatever the cause it is done with a reason. Personally I own for the purposes of self defense with the idea to maybe start hunting and competition shooting in the future. Some of the things we are sure to do is learn how to properly handle and care for our firearms. We handle them with care and always take the time to practice on a range before we may have to use them to protect ourselves or fulfill their purpose.
The next group heading down the second amendment line are you men and women who have been involved in the use of firearms from a young age, it tradition and they are the ones willing to speak out as they are well educated on the topics before us. These are the people we can all learn from and as such I'm willing to listen to and hear out. They own multiple firearms and advocate for having the restrictions that have been placed on our rights with thought out arguments using verifiable facts that are more current to the times. Additionally they will back it up with historic references to prove how such restrictions have failed the people in the past.
The last group includes those who shout and yell at every chance to be allowed to get what they want when the want no questions asked. They'll say just about anything to get attention on themselves, and some of it comes off as if to make them seem nuts to others. How stable or unstable a person may be is not up to me to judge. This group comes off looking like bullies from the other direction and these are the types of people that the media puts in front of the cameras as much as possible to push an irrational fear into people about firearms ownership. When someone like this is not available they will chop the footage in such a way to make anyone seem like an overzealous type.
As I begin to wind down from that let me try to get one point clearly across to anyone who reads this. Everyone wants their rights respected and to me that is not a problem. What does become a problem for me is when the rights of one group are attacked by another group. Let us all understand the Bill of Rights was set forth to reaffirm the God given rights every man, woman, and child. Now we all have heard the shouting from both sides and the misuses of information that go on. Anti-gunners point to a report that is almost 20 years old and had less than 300 respondents if memory serves me correctly. This is before the national background check system went into place, so these calls for background checks like it doesn't already happen are ridiculous in my eyes and the eyes of many firearms owners. The 40% everyone keeps pointing to is sadly an out of date number, and considering that mainly liberals are the one toting it around like their personal savior they don't know what to do when you point out the two facts above are resort to name calling instead or continuing a rational discussion.
Anti-gunners will do whatever they can to try and prove the average citizen should not be allowed to own a firearm. They will say in the name of common sense here is what we should do, and they even go so far as to say look here I bought a gun doing only what was the minimum legally required of me. Case in point can be read here.
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/12/my-month-with-a-gun-week-one/
Now to my fellow Americans and anyone around the world who doesn't want to read it, or only glanced at it I'll give you the short version here. The author freely admits she does not like firearms is a member of the Brady Campaign who was in a shouting match with gun owners over Starbucks policy towards firearms owners. She gets her permit to concealed carry and probably carry in general, I'm not sure where she lives. I just hope its no where near me after what I read. She buys a firearm without difficulty, well there is a real duh moment if you have no criminal past why would you expect a hold up on NICS, after all it is the (National Instant Check System). She leaves the gun shop and for whatever reason believes it is loaded, as a matter of fact her paranoia is such that because she doesn't know how to clear her weapon, or load it she panics and heads back to where a cop was preforming a traffic stop. She never once mentions taking a class or going to take one, yet one of the premises of her experiment is to be ready to use it if needed. On top of all this she then say she is writing the article from her local Starbucks firearm in her possession, and almost comes off as if she wants to jump out of her seat and start shooting right there.
I've carried in different places and been around people acting in various ways, and honestly I've never been tempted to just pull out my gun because I didn't like someones behavior. In my honest opinion the people who are crying the most for these common sense laws are the ones who have it the least to begin with. I honestly believe the time has come for a return to critical thinking, and self accountability. Time to stop blaming tools for your actions, time for others to stop blaming the actions of others on a tool.
My firearms sit loaded and ready to be used if necessary, and you know they are so lazy they stay were I put them. They don't run out the door and start shooting people, they don't slap people, they don't rob banks, 7-11s or liquor stores. They just sit there, they are a tool that I control, they don't control me. Anyone who believes guns control the person needs to visit a shrink and try to figure out why they think guns can function on their own.
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