On Reality and Perspective
I'd like to say things aren't going to get worse than they are, but given the determination of our President and Congress to drive the economy into the ground and surrender our national sovereignty to foreign wealth, with little hope for recovery in any of our lifetimes, I can't.
Things are going to get much worse, before they get better. And, it's not helping anyone the way the people committing these heinous and cowardly acts are given front-page photo spreads and 24-hour TV news coverage, complete with fancy graphics, special effects, and dramatic soundtracks that rival those of the Lord of the Rings movies.
Thus, we wake up today to news of another senseless and tragic mass-murder in America.
Murder of 5 children shocks Wash. trailer park
Let's be clear.
The gun didn't kill these kids.
The gun didn't make him kill these kids.
The ex-scumbag in question didn't kill these kids, because he had a gun.
The sad truth is these kids were dead the minute that guy woke up on Saturday and checked himself out of Hotel Society with mass-murder on his mind. It would have made no difference had he not been able to acquire a firearm.
Whether by bludgeoning, burning, stabbing, or poisoning, he was going to kill these kids, and himself.
Period.
The fact that such behavior is against the law was not going to deter him.
Another sad truth is that this incident, and other recent incidents like it, will be used by our "leaders" as justification for infringing the right to bear arms of the tens of millions of gun owners in this country who have never and will never use their guns in an unlawful fashion.
Do not confuse 24-hour media saturation of these incidents with the actual number of unlawful actions involving the use of firearms and its relation to the number of lawfully owned, and responsibly used, firearms in this country.
While the senseless death of a child is the most tragic and horrific event I, as a parent, can think of, the reprehensible actions of the person bringing that event to a nightmarish reality should never be used to cast aspersions on the morality of our nation as a whole.
To paraphrase what I wrote in December 2006:
Yet, President Obama and our elected representatives (for lack of a better word) in Congress have a whole bunch of new gun control laws looming on the horizon, which, as usual, are inspired by the illegal actions of a miniscule percentage (n) of the population, and will be obeyed by only the remaining (100-n)% of us.
Millions of Americans own cars for commuting purposes. Some Americans get drunk behind the wheel and kill people.
Millions of Americans own or use swimming pools for recreational purposes. Some Americans fail to apply common sense in their daily lives and drown.
Millions of Americans own kitchen knives for culinary purposes. Some Americans take these knives and slaughter their fellow man.
Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every day. Some Americans do so to excess and endanger their own health in the process.
Millions of Americans engage in lawful, consensual sexual behavior that some people find objectionable. Some Americans do so in a reckless fashion and in doing so, pass on a virus that brings about a fatal illness for which there is no cure.
A free society is a society, wherein the rights of the many are not taken away based on the unlawful or reckless behavior of an amoral minority.
Note: I said "free" society, not "civil" society, for I know of no such place.
Geek With a .45:
I invite my readers (and anyone else who stumbles across this post) to leave their additional thoughts and comments below.
Things are going to get much worse, before they get better. And, it's not helping anyone the way the people committing these heinous and cowardly acts are given front-page photo spreads and 24-hour TV news coverage, complete with fancy graphics, special effects, and dramatic soundtracks that rival those of the Lord of the Rings movies.
Thus, we wake up today to news of another senseless and tragic mass-murder in America.
Murder of 5 children shocks Wash. trailer park
GRAHAM, Wash. – A quiet mobile home park nestled among towering evergreens reeled Sunday in the aftermath of an unthinkable crime: five children slain in their own home, apparently by their father, who took his own life with a gunshot miles away.
Let's be clear.
The gun didn't kill these kids.
The gun didn't make him kill these kids.
The ex-scumbag in question didn't kill these kids, because he had a gun.
The sad truth is these kids were dead the minute that guy woke up on Saturday and checked himself out of Hotel Society with mass-murder on his mind. It would have made no difference had he not been able to acquire a firearm.
Whether by bludgeoning, burning, stabbing, or poisoning, he was going to kill these kids, and himself.
Period.
The fact that such behavior is against the law was not going to deter him.
Another sad truth is that this incident, and other recent incidents like it, will be used by our "leaders" as justification for infringing the right to bear arms of the tens of millions of gun owners in this country who have never and will never use their guns in an unlawful fashion.
Do not confuse 24-hour media saturation of these incidents with the actual number of unlawful actions involving the use of firearms and its relation to the number of lawfully owned, and responsibly used, firearms in this country.
While the senseless death of a child is the most tragic and horrific event I, as a parent, can think of, the reprehensible actions of the person bringing that event to a nightmarish reality should never be used to cast aspersions on the morality of our nation as a whole.
To paraphrase what I wrote in December 2006:
Yet, President Obama and our elected representatives (for lack of a better word) in Congress have a whole bunch of new gun control laws looming on the horizon, which, as usual, are inspired by the illegal actions of a miniscule percentage (n) of the population, and will be obeyed by only the remaining (100-n)% of us.
Millions of Americans own cars for commuting purposes. Some Americans get drunk behind the wheel and kill people.
Millions of Americans own or use swimming pools for recreational purposes. Some Americans fail to apply common sense in their daily lives and drown.
Millions of Americans own kitchen knives for culinary purposes. Some Americans take these knives and slaughter their fellow man.
Millions of Americans eat at fast food restaurants every day. Some Americans do so to excess and endanger their own health in the process.
Millions of Americans engage in lawful, consensual sexual behavior that some people find objectionable. Some Americans do so in a reckless fashion and in doing so, pass on a virus that brings about a fatal illness for which there is no cure.
A free society is a society, wherein the rights of the many are not taken away based on the unlawful or reckless behavior of an amoral minority.
Note: I said "free" society, not "civil" society, for I know of no such place.
Geek With a .45:
In a truly civil society peopled primarily by enlightened, sober individuals, the carriage of arms might be deemed gratuitous, but it is nonetheless harmless.
In a society that measures up to anything less than that, the option to carry arms is a necessity.
I invite my readers (and anyone else who stumbles across this post) to leave their additional thoughts and comments below.
