Gun Control

              In the wake of the horrible mass killings of 2012, the subject of "gun control" has been a hot topic both in the media and around our house. People are passionate on this subject. Me, not so much. I am as inflamed as anybody over the massacre of the innocent children and teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary school on December 14, 2012. I believe it was an act of a seriously disturbed person, one who was off his rocker and not in control of his actions. I know some disagree with me.

              The horrific incident has caused the opposite poles of the gun control issue to become vocal and in some cases ridiculous. If raising the consciousness of the public is one of the aims of the rhetoric, mine has been raised. On the one side I've heard anti-gun people proclaim, "something has to be done," while the other side, the pro-gun people echo, "American's have 2nd amendment rights." I been amazed at the venom that has spewed forth, from gun owners being depicted as being apt to turn one day into a baby-killer to anti-gun enthusiasts being labeled communists. To me it's absurdity at the expense of the memory of innocent people.

              Fact is, and it is a sad fact, such atrocities as happened at Sandy Hook will likely happen again, because mentally disturbed people will still do horrible, crazy things.

              Personally, I do not like guns. My sister took her own life with a hand gun. I will forever be haunted by the question that if it hadn't been in her possession at the time, would she have made the hasty, rash and deadly decision she made, or could she have waited and been reasoned with. I'll never know. As I said, I do not like guns, but I know that there are people, who are law-abiding, mentally whole, and who enjoy collecting, owning, trading, shooting, and working on guns. My sister was one of them.

              So I must ask myself, should my feelings and dislike for guns out weigh another's legal right to pursue his or her own enjoyments and hobbies?

              I know that guns are deadly, but so are other things; like neglecting the mentally ill...while we argue about (and spend great amounts of money on) guns.