Guns

I try to keep things light on this blog and just have fun with my inane hobbies of cartoons and video games, but this past week has seen events that I can not in good conscience ignore. Last weekend there were two shootings in Orlando, Florida. One of thses shootings resulted in the death of one girl, the other was a mass shooting that led to many deaths, none of which can be explained with any reason whatsoever. Normally I kind of shrug this off and accept the sd truth of how horrible our world is that these things happen, but this time I found it take on a new dimension. Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton took politcal action calling for gun control in sympathy for the victims. By Monday, my Facebook newsfeed became filled with propaganda from gun rights supporters who were afraid Democrats would take their guns away. It took about twenty four hours for a violent attack to go from tragic deaths to second ammendment rights. Victims had yet to be buried let alone was there enough time for their next of kin to mourn, and already we're more concerned about protecting our guns than protecting each other. I have never seen anything so obnoxious or selfish as gun nuts feeling they need to protect their own guns than take a moment to express concern for the shooting victims.

I have friends who even went so far as to make arguments for the second ammendment by comparing them to other ammendments as if there is nothing anyone can do to possibly violate this sacred ammendment for gun rights. Let us be clear, if you are a civilian you really only have three possible purposes for it, to hunt, to defend yourself, or to commit a crime, and I'm really only giving you credit for the first two. If you want to hunt, there are several guns that you can use to hunt that are at least as good as any automatic or semi-automatic weapon, if not better. If you are defending yourself or your home, you should go with a handgun similar to what the police use. If you get an assault weapon, this only has one purpose, to kill someone. The second ammendment was written at a time when the U.S. was new and so were guns, so they were difficult to use, but worth it to fight against a corrupt system. Now if you want to do that with a pair of assault rifles, one for each hand, good luck facing off against tanks, drones, and nuclear bombs. Military grade weapons simply don't belong in civilian hands, there is no purpose except to kill people. Don't give me bull about putting it on display or shooting cans in your backyard, you don't need an assault rifle.

Someone once asked me "what's the difference between our president and a king?" He was trying to make a point that our system is failing, but I was ready to answer without hesitation "we can replace our president once every four years without a bloody coup." We take our democracy for granted, but in reality, kings have oppressed us unopposed for centuries until we instituted democracy, before that, royals had to be killed in war to be replaced. Now we just wait four years and we can get a new guy, every eight years we get a new one anyway with no war. This is actually a pretty big deal, and to protect this right, the second ammendment was put in our constitution because civilains owning guns was enough to make the Revolution succeed. The world has changed and no civilian needs guns, it won't make a difference.

If you want a gun for hunting or defending yourself get the appropriate arms, but for the love of god, admit that there is no way any law abiding American citizen who is not on active military service has any right to carry a weapon meant for a soldier. And if you aren't going to concede on guns, at least give me equal rights to carry around a sword so I can defend myself from the gun toting crazies out there.If that suggestion sounds absurd, then you know how I feel when I hear gun enthusiasts cry about their guns might be taken away after a politician suggests we increase gun control so assault rifles will no longer be available after a mass shooting. I challenge anyone to explain to me how a civilian has any use for such a weapon other than to commit mass murder.