Gun Control Part 2

About two o'clock this morning, I woke up with a brilliant idea to put in today's blog. I spent several minutes thinking it through, and broke it down into three main points, and got some idea what scriptures I would use to support the three points, and then drifted back to sleep, comforted by the idea that all I had to do was to type these things into the computer and be done for the day. I sure wish I could remember what it was about. Past experience indicates, however, that what seems brilliant at 2:00 AM is usually utter nonsense during daylight hours.

This morning, though, I find a very interesting comment left by a Christian and former police officer named Frank Taylor about my posts on gun control last week. My post was, by the way, a classic example of bad timing. I spent some time Thursday ranting about gun control, and just a few hours later, and not many miles away, there was a shooting at a college campus. Had I but known, I'm sure I could have come with some other example of things that frustrate people (which was, really, the point I was trying to make). Anyway, Frank tells me he comes from a "slightly different viewpoint." From what I can tell by his comment, it's very slight. He lives in Connecticut, and has a carry permit; I live in Illinois, so I don't (in Illinois, only police officers and security guards can get carry permits). To be honest, I wouldn't carry a gun if I could; I'm a veteran, so I'm not uncomfortable with guns, however, my weapons training has been military--I don't know all the legalities of what I could do if I did carry. I'm not comfortable carrying a gun in a civilian community. With my luck, I'd stumble onto a movie, shooting on location, without realizing it, and end up shooting Bruce Willis.

At the same time, does it worry me that Frank Taylor carries a gun? Not at all; his comments make it clear that he knows when and where he can carry, and that he is a responsible individual that uses whatever tools he has available to him responsibly. I saw G. Gordon Liddy on a talk show once, and the host asked him about his gun collection. Liddy's response? "I don't have a gun collection. I am a convicted felon; I am not allowed to own a gun. My wife has an extensive gun collection, some of which she keeps under my side of the bed." Does it worry me that a convicted felon has guns available to him? Most felons, it probably would; Liddy, not so much. There are certainly things in his past that would cause me to question his judgment, but none of them involved misuse of a gun.

Gun owners have for years made the statement, "Guns don't kill people; people kill people." Gun control activists like to add the phrase, "with guns." That is, sometimes, the case. Frank makes the statement, "remember you can be run over by a car, too, and no one is trying to take THEM away." Quite frankly, if someone wants to kill you badly enough, they can probably find a way to do it, even if they can't get their hands on a gun. The problem, of course, is that the situation does sometimes arise where one individual is angry enough, momentarily, to kill, and if there is a quick and easy way to do that (like a gun) they will. Of course, it doesn't have to be a gun; it could just as easily be a knife, an ice pick, or, in the case of a particularly strong individual, bare hands.

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need any gun control, because no one would ever try to kill anyone else. In the real world, no amount of gun control will ever stop people from killing. Frank also makes the statement, "As a Christian AND a former cop, this one man resents the fact that so many in government would disarm me, and therefore prevent me from protecting myself, my family, and others in an emergency. Just the gun? I hear you ask. No, I carry a fairly complete set of tools, rope, chains, electric extensions, blankets, first aid equipment, flashlights." This, by the way, is the expression of frustration that I was trying to get across in Thursday's post. I mentioned before that I would not be comfortable carrying a gun in a civilian community, but I don't like the idea that the state of Illinois thinks it has the right to tell me that I can't (even though I wouldn't if I could). Frank also goes on to say, "Make the gun laws work for the Law Abiding. Take the fear out of carrying one and using it.... then the next time someone decides to 'express his rage' at an innocent person or group of people-- let there be someone there able and WILLING to return fire to STOP him/her from hurting anyone else." Exactly. I believe that is what our founding fathers meant by the second amendment.