AOM - III - What Do We Want?

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'The beast sleeps deeply
it is only the demons
that lie deep within
that can unleash
the chaos
that you rightly fear'

~ ki ~

Anatomy Of A Massacre - III - What Do We Want?

GUN CONTROL ? WHAT DAT?

What do we want? GUN CONTROL! When do we want it? NOW!

It is sooooo easy to say it. But it is important to ask the question, what does it mean exactly? As just mentioned, toy guns are banned. Finger guns are punishable offenses. Paper guns are outlawed as well. Any type of conflict game is banned or at least frowned upon. My god, there are those that even prohibit dodge ball! We do not teach conflict resolution. We teach hiding from reality.

We teach diversity, but single out certain individuals for derision. We teach inclusion and yet exclude those that do not fit our ideology and have the temerity to question our motives. We scream for freedom of speech and shout down those who disagree. Our children are watching. Closely. They are not as stupid as you were expecting, or possibly hoping. We are teaching our children, but what we teach them is not what they need. It is not what we need either. We teach hate. Throw in some developmental shortcomings and a gun and you have a perfect recipe for. . . . . . a massacre.

Are we really looking for gun control? When you say gun control what is it exactly that comes to mind? Are we talking about controlling the gun itself, the weapon? Or is it more the person that is behind the gun? Perhaps we think about controlling the environment where the gun and the person will interact with others? I recently mentioned ramifications. Does anyone understand what that is? Does anyone really care?

THE GUN

A gun is an extremely dangerous invention. Life-saving and life-threatening, as we all know. It is a weapon. It is a tool. Many of us would NOT be alive today without the inventive genius that gave us the ability to protect ourselves from the animal and criminal element that exists in nature and life in general. Many of our ancestors would have died without the introduction of almost all weapons, but today we talk of guns. They are known as the great equalizer, and indeed they are.

A woman would be at a great disadvantage against a man in most circumstances. Not all by any means, but most. A woman with a gun, on the other hand, would easily be equal or superior to another person, man or woman. A TRAINED individual could possibly hold her own against three or even more. And the differences between male and female disappear when the competition is not physical, but psychological and intellectual. I would choose an armed and trained woman behind my back over an Arnold Schwarzenegger under any circumstances.

The reality is irrefutable. Most people do not understand guns. They are intimidated and fearful. They do not use reason to reach this point. They allow emotion to control their every action and their every thought. They do not respect guns. They do not understand the reason for their existence nor their usefulness. And they should. They wish the guns would all just go away. Then the world would be a happy place. How naive. How ignorant.

We could control guns. We could confiscate them, and many people, primarily liberals, would love to do so, but can we get just a little bit real, for just a moment or two? Not gonna happen. And we all know it. Except for those that live in what is known as 'La-la' land.

First of all, America does not wish for that, and would not give up their guns willingly, even those that do not own guns. The concept itself is un-American. There would be a bloodbath, and a lot of innocent, simple good folk would die. I realize it would be a nuisance as well, but that pesky Constitution would also get in the way. And anyone who thinks differently is truly and certifiably insane and should be treated accordingly. So please let us not talk of confiscation.

So we migrate to regulation. On the surface, it seems like a reasonable request. There are issues of freedom at stake here, and they should NOT be dismissed summarily out of hand. They are fundamental freedoms upon which this country is supposed to operate by. The freedom to protect property and family. The rights of privacy. The freedom of choice.

It is curious that those very same people that vilify our police want us to give up our guns so they can protect us. If I listen to you about the 'cops' why would I ever entertain the possibility of giving up the only thing between myself and the tyranny of those very same officers? Not on your life! And again, the same people who believe they have an inherent 'right' to kill an unborn child by some perverted logic want me to abdicate my own personal right to protect my life, my wife and my children from inarguably a less than 'innocent' criminal element that means me harm.

I see no effort being made to disarm those with evil intent, only those individuals that stand between themselves and chaos and anarchy. Add to this the FACT that most legal gun owners ARE registered. Most of our shooters bought the guns legally, or took them from someone who did. Many had background checks and passed easily. You want gun control? You've already got it. It ain't workin' baby! The guns that need to be registered are the illegally gained weapons. And there is no law that will accomplish that. No wish. No hope. No prayer. No way. Not a chance of the proverbial snowball in hell. And yet the chant remains: What do we want? GUN CONTROL! When do we want it? NOW!

And the fact remains that we already had a ban on semiautomatic ‘assault’ weapons. Ten years. No evidence that it made the slightest difference in any known statistic. And the automatic ones are already banned. And yet being used on the streets by those stubborn unregulated gun owners. You have to give those liberals and communists credit though. They do NOT give up easily. But they have beat this horse to death long ago. Give it up! Move on to something that may actually work.

Remember, all of the great atrocities of the last hundred plus years came about through the introduction of a single concept: disarm the citizens. There are many out there who would disagree that gun control made any difference in any of the cases but it is hard to argue that they were irrelevant. It certainly made it easier. It seems they think it is coincidence that disarming the citizenry caused the atrocities, so I do not make that claim. I simply restate my comment that there is cause and effect in life. This seems to be relevant information.

In 1911 Turkey instituted gun control. Within a few years, almost 2 million Armenians were killed.

In 1929 the Soviet Union established gun control. Over the next 20 years over 20 million were killed.

In 1935 China created gun control. It was not for another ten years but in the years following that time another 20 million were killed.

And of course in 1938, Germany finally got around to gun control. 13 million Jews and 'others' was the price for this one. Detractors say that it was not real gun control. It was really only for the 'Jews'. I guess Jews don't count in their calculations. I will let you be the judge. Use your own reason as to the validity of gun laws and cause and effect.

Would having a gun have prevented a single death? I am not so sure it would have. When governments want to kill it is difficult indeed to do anything to stop it. Evil has no conscience. But I have a feeling there would have been a lot more death from the 'other' side. If I was going to die the way all of those people eventually did, I would have wanted to die with a gun in my hand, and a bullet from my gun in at least one of my adversaries.

THE PERSON

As with most things in life, I believe that the answer to the problem actually lies in the person, not the weapon. To say that 'Guns do not kill, People kill' may be a bit simplistic and it opens oneself up to criticism, and yet it is difficult to argue the fact that a gun is an inanimate object, and is quite safe and benign all by itself.

It is all about potential. We like to think that there is potential in all people. 'All men are created equal'. Unfortunately, it does not take anything more than a person with a small amount of intelligence to discern that such a statement is not true in any respect. I would like to say that we are all 'potentially' equal but even that is simply not true. There are genetics, and environment, and the simple luck of the draw as to where we start out in life, and possibly where we end up as well. I believe that what we all want is for every person to be given an opportunity to be able to develop and evolve and grow into the best person possible. A great hope. A difficult task.

The gun will never be inherently evil. It can be dangerous. It certainly makes it easier to harm or to kill, but that remains true for any number of items. Knives, rocks, bats, hammers, cars, the list is endless. The ultimate use of an item, such as a gun, ends up being the decision of a second party, a person. A good person will never use a gun as a weapon to harm someone, unless it is a great accident. Someone trained in its use even less so. No, the only time a weapon is used to kill it is through self-defense, or through the workings of an evil or drastically deranged or damaged individual.

There is no compromise or negotiation with evil. It cannot be contained. It cannot be reasoned with. It must be terminated. It must be destroyed. Anything less will ultimately result in only more pain and suffering. The deranged and damaged is another story. They can be helped. Sometimes. You may be tempted to not even try, but first, we must all make an attempt to discover and understand, before any kind of a decision can ever be made. We need to exercise care. Like a gun, these individuals are a weapon, and can be used to kill at any time, without warning, with disastrous results. It is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

It is so easy to blame the gun. It cannot defend itself. Ironically, it is defenseless against the onslaught. But I fear it does not bear the burden of responsibility for the finger on the trigger. Rather, it is the parents and the teachers and society, in general, that must step up and assume their rightful place at the forefront of accountability for those they have chosen to instruct and protect. It is the parents and the teachers that interact with our children on a daily basis. It is they that have chosen to have and to hold these little lumps of clay in their hands and to form them into their images and likenesses. It is they who accept the accolades as successful parents and 'teacher of the year' when the results are positive. It is they who refuse accountability when things go drastically wrong. It is they who SHOULD be paying attention.

They are our first line of defense. They are our final and only hope to diagnose and treat the myriad of issues that confront our youth and turn them into the unthinking killing machines that they may someday become. They are all woefully unprepared for the challenges that confront them at every turn. While they may not be responsible for each and every action a child may ever take in the future, THEY are the ones who have CHOSEN to bring life into this tumultuous world, for what reason we do not know. THEY are the ones who decided to instruct our children and show them the way into the future. Fair or not, it is THEY who have accepted the mantle of accountability and duty when it comes to educating the children. Ultimately, they are responsible for the final product. If not our parents and our teachers, then who?

That is not to say that the rest of us do not have at least a small part of the responsibility and obligation involved in education. Our politics, our media, our entertainment, our music. Our behavior. The examples we set with our language and our actions. The way we all lead our lives. The protests. The violence. The disrespect. The pure animal hatred. The lack of thought. The lack of discussion. The lack of integrity. The lack of common sense and common decency. The lack of like. The lack of love.

We enjoy the greatest level of knowledge and education that mankind has ever seen, and yet we continue to squabble like animals in the street. We live like animals. We act like animals. We produce animals, and then we lament when the animals we produce self-destruct and we cry because our poor little sensibilities have been hurt. And we never accept or even acknowledge that we are a part of the problem.

We turn and point to the lump of metal on the table and scream that "it's not my fault! There's the problem! It’s the gun! Gun's kill!"

Guns are not the problem. They have never been the problem. Damaged human beings are the problem, and in most cases, we caused the damage, or at least ignored or dismissed it when it made an appearance. We continue to hide from reality. We refuse to use the mind we were blessed with. We reject reason. We don't talk. We can't decide. We just can't accept that we don't know everything. We can't stop ourselves from hating that which we do not understand, and we understand so very little of the world around us.

We refuse to THINK, and reject even the concept of philosophy in our lives, in our politics and especially in our schools. Ask yourself why that is. That is the great tragedy. When you figure that out we just may be able to turn this thing around. There will be no resolution to our problems without philosophy, and we shall have no philosophy while we continue to embrace the hatred and reject the power of thought. People cry for alternatives. Philosophy is not AN alternative. Philosophy is THE answer. Until the time that we realize that, there will be no resolution. And more children will die. You can bet on it.

THE ENVIRONMENT

The loudest proponents of 'Gun Control' bring to mind the reality of the chicken that runs around the yard after its head has been cut off. I have personally never witnessed such a spectacle, and if truth be known, I am in no rush to do so. But I know that it is a reality. I do not wish to make light of such a thing, and it is certainly not something I would term as 'funny' but I have worked with various people over the years who have related to me stories of just such an event.

One, in particular, was memorable. We were discussing the fact that he raised chickens and I am always interested in how people, especially children, interpret and understand the realities of the foods we eat and the food chain and the circle of life. He had just processed a particular chicken when it fell to the ground and proceeded, sans tête, to run down the driveway in an erratic manner, for obvious reasons, with his six-year-old daughter frantically chasing after it so it would not run into the street. The protesters remind me of that story. The chicken is not making decisions. Technically it is not even alive anymore, and doesn't even realize it. The brain is no longer connected and it is not even instinct. It is involuntary muscle contractions and 'memory' more than anything else. Unfortunately, that is what comes to mind when I see the protesters. I'm sorry but I just can't help myself.

I fail to realize what they are trying to accomplish. Oh, I KNOW what they want. Fundamentally I am looking and hoping for the same thing. But I see no results from their frustrated efforts to bring about change. They are accomplishing absolutely nothing. And the primary reason for that is because they have no plan. They have no strategy. Well, that's not completely true. They have a strategy, but it is to force the government to take actions that will in no way ever solve the problem. From my perspective that is the same as no strategy at all. They have no real alternatives. There are no options. They have no ideas. There is no thought. I see only emotion. I see no flicker of intelligence. What do they propose? What do they really expect to happen? I do not believe that they even know themselves. Some mystical 'fix the problem'? Some imaginary 'make the world a better place'? The reality is they do not have a clue. Not a single one.

So it will be a long time before they come for the guns. It may happen at some point, and I expect I will be but a memory before that eventuality. And a good thing that is, because I do not really wish to die in a gun battle with the police. But then again, it would be preferable to wasting away in a hospital with a bedpan glued to my butt. Life does sometimes present alternatives. We do not seem to be giving much weight to fixing the damaged individuals or dealing with education or philosophy, so what then remains? Our politicians and the protesters' rhetoric, therefore, turns to the only area left, and that would be trying to control the environment where guns and man may come into play.

I acknowledge that we may be able to deal with the subject of guns without trampling on our rights without too much 'infringement'. It may be inevitable and needs to be considered and discussed. Not protested, but debated, with reason and thought. But our main concerns should be with the damaged humans. Nothing else really matters if we do not deal with them first. But the environment will be the only area they can ever hope to make any headway. Unfortunately, it is as much a dead end as their other ideas. Not that it cannot mitigate the possibility of future carnage. Only that it will ultimately simply be a minimal stopgap and fail to solve the issue. And it will eventually cost upwards of trillions of dollars that could and should go into alleviating the issue of damaged humans.

There is an increasing demand for metal detectors and armed guards at every door and entrance to every school in our nation. There are at least 125,000 elementary, high school, college and university campuses in the United States. At a cost of 2k to 5k per detector that translates to a minimum of 1 BILLION dollars for the purchase and installation of the items. And that is for a single instance at each school. How many will need multiple installations?

The detectors are rather inadequate and ineffective if there is no one to man the unit. The demands will assuredly include the posting of at least one SRO, or School Resource Officer, at each install as well, maybe two, in addition to others who will be necessary to patrol the campus itself. With an average SRO salary of $63,000 per officer, a single officer positioned at each school campus would work out to a YEARLY price tag of just under 8 BILLION dollars. We haven't heard anyone talk of such a cost to this point. I think we can guess why.

Please do not tell me that 'if it saves but one child it will be worth it' speech. That doesn't hold water when I want to own a gun to protect my family. The fact is that we simply cannot afford it. And this will not resolve the issue in any case. The ONLY thing that is self-evident is that the next shooter will obviously shoot and kill the officer before he continues on with his plan in whatever form. If the officer is doing his due diligence with the detector, he will be easy prey for someone who has no compunction to kill. Hence, the need for 2 to 3 officers will be a REQUIREMENT. The cost will skyrocket to 16 and probably 24 BILLION, per year, and our children will be learning in oppressive and armed stockades, by police that are being demeaned and demonized with every step they take as racist and homophobic and likely to kill innocent civilians. So the idea is to put those very same officers inches away from our most treasured possessions, our children, all day and every day.

Is this what we really want? It just makes my head spin. There is a huge intellectual disconnect going on here. Am I supposed to hate cops or entrust them with the well-being of my little Johnny or Susie? It is all very confusing. If I cannot trust them to do the right thing on the street with minorities and gays, how can we trust them in our schools? Am I missing something here? You do understand there are minorities and gays in our schools, don't you? And illegals and Muslims and transgendered? And the sad part is that they don't even listen to themselves as they say these things. But I do. And it is very, very hard indeed to give them any credibility at all when they cannot connect their own dots. Do you really believe that these officers will be SUPERIOR to the mainstream police departments? Is it not realistic to believe that they will be those that couldn't cut it as a regular cop? Do we really want those that washed out to be put in a position to protect our children?

It is only a matter of time until there is an incident and then a need for even more police to police the police which becomes a new necessary evil. Like I said, I can't help but envision thousands of headless chickens running rampant across this once great country. They find it impossible to focus on anything else but the immediate protest in front of their faces. I sometimes think they bring signs to their protest just to remind themselves exactly what it is that they are protesting today. These people have absolutely no answers to our issues. If they are ever right, it is simply by chance, and never intentional. Our shooters are individual crazies, and if you have been watching the protesters over the years, they represent the group crazies and are every bit as violent and destructive as the focus of our discussion today. But they are a psychosis to analyze on another day. Today we are trying to focus on gun control.

We need to make this country great again. Hell, we need to make this country SANE again! Are we ready to DOUBLE or TRIPLE our property taxes, and our income taxes? Are teachers prepared to forego raises as well as agree to cutbacks to achieve these noble goals? Possibly forever? Sure they are. I expect to see the offer as soon as hell freezes over. The protesters will be all for it. They don't work anyway. They don't pay for anything either. They live off the government or their parents. They don't care about 'cost'. They don't think about 'cost'. They don't think, period. Maybe they could start a go-fund-me page and raise 30 billion? I would love to see them try. Let's see some real cause and effect and then revisit the debate.

There are increased demands for more gun-free zones. Schools are already gun-free zones, and we have seen how well that is working out. So now they want to extend the number and scope of the phenomenon. Can we please acknowledge that the existence of these zones does nothing, absolutely nothing, to deter someone from entering the zone with a gun or using it against innocent people? Unless we start posting even more police at the 1000 foot perimeter of every school and start searching people indiscriminately, without probable cause we might add, it is irrational to think that a request to not be a bad person, at least while in one of these zones, is in any way a realistic expectation. Insane actually. I see nothing but more and more chickens.

These zones may or may not be inviting the carnage that we are experiencing, but it certainly does not deter it. Parkland had an SRO on campus. Still 17 dead. He was not shot during the event. Because he never went anywhere near the shootings. There is a good chance his presence would have made no difference anyway. The shooting was over in 6 minutes. The shooter actually walked off the campus and was arrested an hour later. He is alive today. 17 innocent individuals are not.

There are suggestions that we train and allow armed teachers into the schools. The outcry against this is deafening. The cost would be minimal. The benefit would be potentially great. Three teachers died at Parkland. What would have happened if they ALL had the ability to fight back and protect themselves and the children? If we could have saved but one child then ......... excuse me, my mind was wandering. That is only relevant when it entails billions of dollars and liberal agendas.

The national teachers union says the teachers do not want such a thing, and yet I read of teachers who would be willing to take the responsibility. You just have to respect someone willing to actually stand up for the children and are willing to put their life on the line. That is the teacher that I want with my child every day. Someone who backs up their words with their actions. Someone of courage and integrity. Not words we hear of much anymore. In Washington or at the protests. The words, as well as the concepts, do not exist in their lexicons.

There is a growing number of schools that are allowing their teachers to be armed. The trend is not definitive, but to this point, I know of no shooting that has taken place on a campus with armed teachers. Parkland had an armed SRO. It didn't help much. The towns and states across this great country, or what's left of it, that promote gun ownership and allow citizens to carry have a dramatically lower incidence of gun violence and gun death.

Why the opposition? Why the hysteria? Why the vile hatred? You will have to answer such a question for yourself. All of the statistics tell us to try these things. It is the same few over and over again that refuse to even try. There is a concerted effort to keep programs alive that have been failures for decades, and yet they will never entertain a single trial period for anything that does not dovetail with their rigid agendas and ideologies. The fear of losing power and votes is unconscionable. They do not care about our children. They never have. When will you see that this is the sad reality? Nothing but chickens. And inevitably, more dead children.

I don't have the answer. What we have been doing is not working. What they are talking about will not fix the problem. Our politicians are concerned only with getting through the next election. We have to take a step back. We have to do something completely different. We have to look at things from a different perspective. Maybe we can try something unique and innovative for a change. Maybe we can even try to think. To use that pesky mind and philosophy for its intended use. To fix things. To determine the real problem and work on a real and workable solution. A lasting resolution.

And we will.
But first, we have to round up all those damn chickens.

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Anatomy Of A Massacre - III - What Do We Want?  

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