Gun Rights vs. Gun Conrol: Striking the Balance

Previous rant:  http://likaslaments.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-in-world.html

Here is the continuing saga...  It's not just the economy and Walmart wanting to build in ridiculous places...  It expands past the fact that we don't have enough jobs in the first place, much less enough work to live on.  There is MORE!

We all remember the Sandy Hook school shooting.  Then there is the one up in Waukesha in the spa, where the husband shot his wife and two others, after she got a restraining order on him.  We also need to add in the Hindu Temple shooting, by an elitist who was confused and thought they were Muslim.

Then you get the gang related shootings where innocent bystanders get killed by a stray bullet.  Or a guy who kills his wife and burns down the building.  Everywhere we look, it seems as if violence involving a person using a gun is in the media practically every other day.  It's not just nuts.  It's insane.

So, here we have the downward economy, and it makes sense to me, that when people are stressed to the point of wondering if they can feed their family, or if they can make rent, or if their children need medical care, if they can even afford a $3.00 copay, that violence will rise, in all different ways.  Not just domestic violence, but ALL kinds of violence.  The sad thing is, places like the Women's Resource Center lose out, because fewer people can donate to the cause of keeping abuse victims and their children safe.

Something needs to change, to diminish the violence, because too many people are losing their lives to unnecessary loss because someone got trigger happy and decided to shoot up the joint.  We agree, correct?

Well, the conservatives want to add more guns into the whole mess.  Security guards at school.  Armed guards at churches.  Conceal and carry dads at neighborhood parks.  Moms with guns at carnivals.  Where does it end?  I have no idea.  So, the theory is, a retired police officer or military person is supposed to "volunteer" to protect the schools.  So, if they die while serving, who pays for their burial?  And what do you tell that person's children, spouse, parent, or whom ever?  Their husband was brave?  And if they are volunteering, how long are the supposed to give of their time?  It's not like these emergencies happen so regularly that it mandates daily guarding of these buildings.  It's also a fact that when we let our guard down, figuratively speaking, is when the shootings can happen.

So, if we decide not to use police and military volunteers, the other suggestion is to have teachers and what not have guns.  In the classroom?  Seriously?  So the curious first grader can find it and have an accidental shooting?  Then we decide that the gun should be locked up...  with the safeties on.  Um, excuse me.  When that gunman comes barreling into the classroom with a mission to shoot it up, there is no time to unlock safety boxes and undo the gun safety.  the shooter is already done killing the teacher, and possibly some of the kids.

Well, I just don't think that they're  necessarily a smart ideas.  A guard may end up being over powered.  Or, say if the gunman scoped out the place well enough, they may know of a weak spot, or have another game plan to sneak past the guard.  So how many people do we expect to volunteer at each school, "just in case"?  Have we pondered that?

And if we ask the neighborhood people to step up?  So we can have another incident like George Zimmerman & Trayvon Martin?  That was a shooting that should never have happened.  Zimmerman called the PD.  Got told to sit tight, they'd take care of it.  Instead, he gets in the van, and follows the kid.  Martin calls his girlfriend.  Zimmerman calls the cops again.  An altercation occurs, because it was reported that a group of young black males with hoodies stole car stereos.  So Martin, a solitary figure walking around to find a place to buy a soda and return to Grandma's, is confronted by Zimmerman.  So George gets called a cracker, after he's already labelled Travon a thug.  A fight ensues, and Trayvon gets shot to death after the fight.  If Zimmerman would have stayed home rather than confronting, the shooting would have never happened.  Duh.  Bad move from a neighborhood watch guy.

So, the liberals want to buy back guns.  Try to take some of these guns off the streets.  The intent of this is great.  It really is.  But seriously?  Who are we fooling?  Those criminal minds are NOT going to end up selling their weapons.  With the economy being so bad, it's going to be more like the people who are desperate for money.  Or maybe the druggie who needs their next hit so bad, they'll sell anything to get the money.  They'll just steal another one to sell at the next one.  The dealers themselves won't be seen, because they are intent on keeping their power.

Nice intention, but, not exactly the most logical way to go about it.  There is more to gun control than to try to reduce the number of guns on the street.  It's just that the guns aren't going to come off the streets.  Only from those who never use them.  Then we get the conservatives that will end up saying that their 2nd Amendment Rights are being violated, and that by having everyone under conceal/carry, that the "bad guys" won't know whether they can get away with it or not...  But, saturating the community with more guns raises the numbers for accidental shootings and death.  You can't legislate common sense.

So, where is the balance?  Saturating the market isn't going to do much, if you ask me.  Trying to buy back guns will help about the same.

How do we deal with this?  We NEED those promised jobs.  And no, not the minimum wage kind.  We NEED to have better jobs.  the more people we can employ, at a job that will pay above poverty rates, we will see less violence, especially because people will be working, not aimlessly trying to get attention.  More jobs will also mean that we have a larger tax base, to pump back up the police and rescue services, also.  More police means that more patrol can happen, which would put more licensed guns on the street, with people trained on how to use it.

More patrol would mean that those who are violent will be watched more, so the number of guns in the illegal world will reduce because of this.  it seems like a common sense way, but we NEED to have more jobs.  NOW.  Governor Walker, you are slacking in your promise to bring in those jobs.  For every new job being created, it seems as if Racine is losing almost the same number.  It's not getting any better.  Both sides of the isle need to shake hands, and be reasonable.