Sick and Tired

[wreave]

I have had it.

I am sick and tired of the anti-gunners jumping out after every shooting, rushing to condemn the guns, the gun culture, the NRA, the Republicans, the Tea Party, right wingers, Fox News, et cetera et cetera et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseum.

I am sick of lying low and waiting for the right time to respond while the media and the leftists trot out the same arguments over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

I am tired of being personally vilified. As an NRA member and an AR-15 owner, when someone says that the NRA doesn't care about shooting deaths, and that the only reason to have an AR-15 is to kill as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, I take it personally. You should too.

I am disgusted by the arguments that reducing magazine capacity would somehow improve the situation. Which politician will volunteer to knock on the door of the 15th victim and say, "I'm sorry ma'am, but if I had stood up for a ten-round limit then your son would still be alive."? Which one will visit the home of the 10th victim and say, "I'm sorry little buddy, but if I had stood up for a seven-round limit then your mom would still be alive."? However, facing the intellectual dishonesty that attempts to justify such restrictions means being honest about real solutions.

I am overwhelmed by the unabashed worship that we serve up to those who commit these atrocities. We contribute our attention as the media plaster their names and faces across every news program, newspaper, and website in gratuitously adoring entertainment thinly disguised as information. They worship these criminals through exposes and analyses and haunting programs seeking to "understand" the depraved minds of criminals who are enjoying their (usually) posthumous 15 minutes of fame. For those who are violent and mentally ill, the media provide the notoriety they seek, and the fame they do not deserve.

Finally, I have had it with defense-free zones. It is a travesty that in a country we like to call "the freest nation on Earth" there exist massive areas where individuals are not only prevented from providing for their own self-defense, but also not provided with any defense by those who create the zones in the first place. 911 response time is 10-20 minutes in the best scenarios, and "gun free zone" signs stop bullets almost as well as glass.

When a crime is being solved, police seek to prove the perpetrator had the Means, Motive, and Opportunity. These three must also be present for a crime to be committed in the first place. Regarding mass shootings: Our nation's woefully inadequate mental health care provides the Means. The media provide the Motive. Gun-free zones provide the Opportunity. Addressing any of those three elements can help. Improving them all could provide real solutions. Attacking guns and gun owners does nothing but increase the Opportunity.

America is at a crossroads. Will we blame the 99.9%+ of innocent gun owners for the actions of a few? Will we corral defenseless adults and children into "gun free zones" that provide nothing but easy targets? Will we slather sick and twisted individuals with adulation for their depraved and desperate acts of violence? Or will we stand up, stand together, and say:

NO MORE. No more mass shootings. No more unmitigated violence. No more defense-free zones. No more attacks on innocent gun owners. No more anthropomorphization of inanimate objects that are used overwhelmingly in legal and appropriate ways. The leftists are fond of asking, "When will we say Enough is Enough?" I say NOW. Enough is enough! We must solve this country's violence problem, and we must do it by refusing to ignore the destruction of the freedoms that we all hold dear by counterproductive laws that serve only to exacerbate the very problems they claim to solve. No more. No more no more no more no more no more. Enough is enough!

[wctriumph]

Nice, good job.

[sniper7]

I agree. but what is the next step?
Are we doing enough to vote in the right people? Are they listening to us and reversing the stance?
How do you control free speech of the media? If we limit that, doesn't that go against the very nature of what we value and hold the most dear?
does it start at the local level like recall elections and work it's way up to impeachments?
do we start our own news program and only run biased material like the other side does?

The good news about the liberals is they like to blab their mouths and shout from the rooftops their ideas and plans. With that info we can at least put up blockades along the way.

[BlasterBob]

wreave, that was VERY well said.

[Tim K]

Well said. Mind if I copy and paste that into an email? I'd be happy to give attribution to you...if I knew who you were.

[wreave]

Thanks!

Share at will. You can attribute to "Mark E."

[newracer]

Preaching to the choir.

[Trout Hunter]

A first step it to not support any organization regardless of what it is that supports taking freedoms away. More specifically vote with your wallet. I do it for anti motorized groups that have great product, if they support locking out one of my favorite activities then I find a product sold by a orginization that supports my rights. Get enough moving with this mind set and it impacts in a big way.

[DavieD55]

[Gman]

9.5