Frustration. That is the word that best describes my feelings in regard to this recent act of insanity. There is no other way to describe the atrocity in Orlando. I'm frustrated that there is nothing than can be done. There is no way to know the mind of another. I'm frustrated with the rhetoric about gun control. It is not the guns, it is the person wielding that gun that is to blame. That is the frustration. To think that we can just " ban " guns or restrict their purchase would have any significant impact is just ridiculous. It is estimated that there are 270 million legally owned firearms in America today. I'd say the horse was out of the barn ! How many are illegally held ? What can be done ? Nothing, and that is the frustration. To enact legislation as a knee jerk reaction to the acts of the insane is equally as foolish. Shall we leave only the mentally ill armed ? Or the criminals ? It has been said that God made man but Samuel Colt made them all equal. Yes, it was an advertising campaign but the truth of it can't be denied. The core of that statement is not that the gun made men equal but rather the ability of the person using it. That is the central message there. It doesn't make any difference how big or small you are, it doesn't make any difference how skilled you are, the only thing that makes a difference is the willingness to pull the trigger. That is the issue that needs to be addressed. That is the frustration.
It is that willingness to kill that is the motivator here. The method employed to accomplish the task isn't really the problem. If guns are not used there are plenty of other methods. Just happens that guns are convenient. You don't really need to know much about them. Just point and pull the trigger. That is what Samuel Colt in his advertising was saying. It requires no skill to be effective. This premise that it is worse to kill forty nine than to kill one defies logic as well. Is not the willingness to kill the problem here ? Is it going to solve the problem if we only allow the insane or criminal one shot ? Certainly not to that one person it isn't. But it will make some feel better. They can use the logic that, we tried. We did something. I can understand that logic although I don't agree with it. To just do something for the sake of action makes no sense. Acting out of frustration is not the answer.
I am like everyone else, I have no solution. I will not grasp at anything in an attempt to regulate the actions of madmen. I will not attempt to disarm the innocent to punish the criminals among us. Posting signs that say " gun free zone " is like an advertisement. The insane aren't obeying the signs ! Oh, if it were only that easy. You might as well post a sign saying, I don't believe in banks. Expect to be robbed. Personally I don't own a gun of any kind. I don't feel the need for it. Should that day come, I will be armed. It won't be a single shot pistol either, I'm not going to shoot you a little bit ! It's all or nothing.
I'm frustrated. Like the rest of America I am also infuriated. How can this stuff happen ? Why does this stuff happen ? Well it is not because of the guns. It is because of the willingness of people to kill and maim each other. The guns may be the primary tool being used but they are not the cause. Even if you could magically make all the guns disappear, those that wish to do harm will find a way. It was a realization that famously haunted the widow of the Winchester arms company. The means to kill more effectively had been produced and there is no taking it back. When we dropped the first nuclear bombs on Japan the world was shocked. Death and destruction on a scale unprecedented to this day. We are still trying to " ban " those weapons.
Each time something like this happens a further division takes place in America. Many are getting angered about gun control, pro and con. The one camp believing that we can somehow legislate peoples actions by regulating a tool. The other camp believing the only defense against that tool is to have the same tool available to them. Both sides are looking for answers. Answers where there are none. There is no logical answer for mental illness. The fact that we can't even agree on what constitutes mental illness adds to that frustration. Is the willingness to kill mental illness ? If that were true everyone that ever fought in a war was mentally ill. Is doing what you perceive to be a necessity a mental illness ? That depends on the perception of others doesn't it ? That is the frustration here, there is no answer.
It is that willingness to kill that is the motivator here. The method employed to accomplish the task isn't really the problem. If guns are not used there are plenty of other methods. Just happens that guns are convenient. You don't really need to know much about them. Just point and pull the trigger. That is what Samuel Colt in his advertising was saying. It requires no skill to be effective. This premise that it is worse to kill forty nine than to kill one defies logic as well. Is not the willingness to kill the problem here ? Is it going to solve the problem if we only allow the insane or criminal one shot ? Certainly not to that one person it isn't. But it will make some feel better. They can use the logic that, we tried. We did something. I can understand that logic although I don't agree with it. To just do something for the sake of action makes no sense. Acting out of frustration is not the answer.
I am like everyone else, I have no solution. I will not grasp at anything in an attempt to regulate the actions of madmen. I will not attempt to disarm the innocent to punish the criminals among us. Posting signs that say " gun free zone " is like an advertisement. The insane aren't obeying the signs ! Oh, if it were only that easy. You might as well post a sign saying, I don't believe in banks. Expect to be robbed. Personally I don't own a gun of any kind. I don't feel the need for it. Should that day come, I will be armed. It won't be a single shot pistol either, I'm not going to shoot you a little bit ! It's all or nothing.
I'm frustrated. Like the rest of America I am also infuriated. How can this stuff happen ? Why does this stuff happen ? Well it is not because of the guns. It is because of the willingness of people to kill and maim each other. The guns may be the primary tool being used but they are not the cause. Even if you could magically make all the guns disappear, those that wish to do harm will find a way. It was a realization that famously haunted the widow of the Winchester arms company. The means to kill more effectively had been produced and there is no taking it back. When we dropped the first nuclear bombs on Japan the world was shocked. Death and destruction on a scale unprecedented to this day. We are still trying to " ban " those weapons.
Each time something like this happens a further division takes place in America. Many are getting angered about gun control, pro and con. The one camp believing that we can somehow legislate peoples actions by regulating a tool. The other camp believing the only defense against that tool is to have the same tool available to them. Both sides are looking for answers. Answers where there are none. There is no logical answer for mental illness. The fact that we can't even agree on what constitutes mental illness adds to that frustration. Is the willingness to kill mental illness ? If that were true everyone that ever fought in a war was mentally ill. Is doing what you perceive to be a necessity a mental illness ? That depends on the perception of others doesn't it ? That is the frustration here, there is no answer.
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