Weapons, Guns, Firearms
Hunting
I had been a hunter since childhood. I started when I was about twelve hunting squirrels or rabbits on my dad's farm with my dad and brothers. I have been on pheasant hunts with friends in snow covered fields in the midwest. I have shared the comradry of a group of hunters sitting around a field waiting for doves on the opening day of dove season. I have camped with my brothers and dad, got up at 4:00 in the morning, made breakfast, then been dropped off in the woods to sit waiting for the sunrise and possiblility of seeing a deer, met for lunch, and then for the ride back to the camp and the preparation of the evening meal, and the shared stories around the campfire at night. Hunting, to me was a good excuse to be with my family or friends.
One thing I recall someone telling me after my son used a firearm to take his life was that it would take time but I would enjoy hunting again.
The Immediate Aftermath
At first I could not stand the sight of a gun. I would be watching television and as soon as a gun came on the screen, I would switch channels. It is amazing how many guns one sees on television. Try that sometime. Click through the channels and watch each channel until the image of a firearm appears on the screen. You will be amazed at how difficult it is to not see a firearm.
I recall that I would see magazines at work that had photos of firearms on the covers. At first, I just picked them up and tossed them in the trash, but later I simply turned them over or covered the image with something else.
At first, I had no thoughts of ever going hunting again. My own rifle and shotgun were stored at a friend's house and I had no desire to see them. However, after a year or two, I did get the urge to have the companionship of my family that hunting had always brought. I decided to take my rifle and shotgun from my friends house to my dad's house so that when I was visiting, I would have the option of hunting as I did when I was a boy. I did that a few times and as with many things, the dread of holding the shotgun was worse than the actual thing. After, I got into the woods, the instinct of hunting and the solitude of being alone with your thoughts took over. There was no undue focus on the weapon in my lap just as a hitter in baseball does not think about the bat in his hands.
My Wife's View
My wife however did not want to have a gun in our house ever again. I had to respect her feelings on this matter. I hinted several times that I would like to get back into going hunting with my brothers as I missed the companionship. However, the thoughts of me holding a weapon in my hands was an image that she could not bear. I tried several times to convince her that hunting was not about killing but was really about companionship. She felt that one could get the companionship without having a deadly weapon involved.
Children Killing Children
One can hardly watch the news without hearing a story of a teenager shooting another teenager. Instead of wrestling in the school yard to settle differences, the kids today meet on some vacant lot with guns and shoot each other or simply drive by where they live and shoot them or some innocent bystander.
Then there have been the murders on school yards where kids have opened fire on their fellow schoolmates. We have all been shocked by these instances. We ask why and how this could happen? Then some idiot proposes a solution that the teachers should all be armed and the answer of why it happens becomes obvious. We have become a nation that turns to firearms to solve its problems.
Mental Disorders and Guns
There have been many cases of a patient being disharged from a mental hospital, going straight to a gun store, buying a gun, going to a shopping mall, and opening fire on a defenceless crowd. There is the case of the family who was dealing with a delusional son who suddenly felt he had to go kill the government before they killed him and the result was the death of two capitol police officers and a shocked nation.
Gun Control and Movie, Video and TV Violence
Everyone looks for warning signs of some person who is going to use weapons to murder. I think people who want to own excessive guns are over a line. I can understand hunting and self defense and even collecting antiques and maybe even gun collectors who are doing something with them but these people who get all these weapons because they are planning to fight a war or something should be considered abnormal and excessively paranoid I think.
If I had my way, all movies, TV programs and video games would carry an X rating if they show a close up death. I believe the film industry could portray the subject matter they need to show with deaths shown maybe no closer that 20 feet. I see no reason to expose children to close-ups and slow motions of violent deaths in programs or even on the news. Death should never be glorified even in war. Any person who takes any life should be portrayed as showing sorrow and remorse. If the theme of the story is that he enjoys killing, then he should be shown to pay the penalty in the end.
Alienation
I was recently watching a television show about three teenagers who started doing destructive acts in a small town in Florida. They thought they had been found out by their teacher and decided to murder him. At the time of the show, one of the boys was awaiting appeal on his death sentence while the other three were appealing their sentences of life imprisonment.
At the beginning of the show, they interviewed a handful of their classmates. They mostly talked about how "normal" all the kids appeared to their peers. One of these kids said about one of the killer kids, "He was just a fat little nerd with glasses and buck teeth". There was no analysis of this remark. No one contested it or questioned why someone would say that about another human being.
I think sometimes the "fat little nerd with glasses and buck teeth" might feel bad about himself and take his own life and sometimes he just might think it is ok to take the life of some of these others who are not "fat little nerds with glasses and buck teeth". He did. People who do not get picked on do not know how much it hurts.
The Conclusion
What is the answer? I think the answer is to work toward a society where there is some form of conflict resolution that does not involve a gun or a weapon of any kind. Work toward a society where everyone is accepted for what they are and people are not judged by their appearence. I know this is idealistic. There have always been wars and rumors of wars as it says in the Bible. But it seems so obvious to me that the pervasive number of firearms in the possession of our society and the easy access by kids and mentally disturbed persons has to be taken into consideration as a major factor in all the killings. It is true that people kill people and the gun could not do it without the person pulling the trigger. But why is that an athlete shoots at a person he feels "dissed" his girlfriend rather than simply punch him out using his fist. Instead of one dead person and another up for a murder charge, you you would have two guys scuffling, maybe a black eye and then a handshake and a parting of the ways.
I think our society needs to do everything it can to eliminate firearms from the consciousness of its members. Eliminate the sight of them on television. Eliminate their images from magazines. Eliminate them from video games. Teach everyone the responsibility they have if they own a firearm. Teach the sellers of guns that they too have a responsibility similar to a person who serves drinks to someone and then lets that person drive. They must assure themselves that a gun is being sold for legal purposes.
Once a life is gone, it is gone forever and ever.
 |
   |
 |
Page created August 16, 1998.
Last updated Aug. 41, 2007 @ 11:05 A.M..
All Rights Reserved.
