Sunday, December 23, 2012

GET YOUR GUN

Okay folks, time to get armed. Let’s all get a Permit To Carry, buy a gun for your holster/purse, another one for your car, one for desk at work, and several for your home. Don’t forget the ammunition. Buy the kind that pierces flack jackets. Kill, kill, kill. It’s the ol’west once again. Be careful how you look at a person, let alone what you say or do, they just might shoot you down.

Of course, I am being glib. How utterly ridiculous for the NRA (National Rifle Association) to publicly announce that the only way to “stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” That wouldn't of helped in Sandy Hook Elementary school. Oh yeah, let’s all strap on a holster and shoot at will. No prosecution since all shootings will be determined to be self-defense. We’ll be popular with the morticians and those involved in the death industry. What absolute bullshit!

I am a small town kid. I was taught to use firearms at a young age and attended gun safety class. Guns serve a purpose. A very limited purpose. They should only be used for hunting for food, to kill a domesticated animal that is suffering (such as a horse with a broken leg), or self-defense. Self-defense is a gray zone. Most people will run away after a warning shot. I was taught to wound a person instead of killing them. Rarely, and I mean extremely rarely, does the aggressor have the intention to kill you and then and only then do you have the right to defend yourself.

It is wiser to run away or hide because by the time you realize that you are a target your adrenaline is pumping and your aim would be horrible. That is why only trained personnel should be allowed to have weapons. I’ve assisted with Live Shooter Training of law enforcement. Even with years of experience, they need training to maintain skills. I volunteered as a pretend victim, screamed a lot, and got pelted with plastic bullets, which do sting and leave bruises. It was a rather jarring day but I know that it will help to keep the officer safe as they deal with the worst-case-scenario. I hope that they never have to use that instruction in reality.

I was at my grandmother’s farm when she fired warning shots out the window at people who drove into her driveway a couple days before Christmas. The visitors didn’t have a phone so they weren’t able to call and tell her that they were coming over to sing Christmas carols. After she found out that it was the Mennonite neighbors, they were invited in for cookies and coffee. It was all very surreal for me to switch from handing my Grandma bullets for her shotgun to serving up refreshments.

Violent people are cowards. As I stated before, any type of negative behavior only proves that the perpetrator has a weak personality. They aren’t able to resolve their dispute in with a dialogue but want to pummel their victim(s) with words, fists, bullets or other types of harm. Fools. They only prove how stupid they are when they hurt others.

Everyone is capable of violence. I choose not to be mean and nasty like some members of my family. I stay away from negative people because they make me more prone to pessimism. It is difficult to remain optimistic or at least neutral. Some days it requires all my strength not to slide into the pit of cynicism. I refuse to let other humans or life’s situation to pull me into the dark. I choose to walk in the light. I’m no Pollyanna, I don’t ignore that the negative is there and that life can stink at times. I just make the choice every single day to be positive and help others.

Volunteer, donate to nonprofits, teach your kids to care about others, and get to know your neighbors. Build a positive world; it’s our only hope.

Ho-Ho-Ho!
© 2012 Ima B. Musing

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