shots fired

I don't really like guns. I know how to fire one, though. I learned how to fire a gun years ago when I lived with someone who had a gun. He is (was? I lost track of his whereabouts a long time ago) a second amendment supporter and as a Libertarian, I believe he thought that he had the right to bear arms and was agains laws regulating them. So there was one in the house and I decided to learn how it worked and how to use it. One day I'll tell you about my stint with the Pink Pistols.

I find guns extremely intimidating. Weapons, in general, make me feel uncomfortable. Not only because they are potentially dangerous, but because they bestow another person with the power or life and death over others and themselves. And that is a very unsettling thought. We are not gods. We don't decide who lives and who dies and have the weapon to prove it.

The idea that civilians would own guns is not something I would oppose. I believe everybody should have the option to own a weapon in order to defend themselves (if they live in an isolated spot, for example) or to hunt, whether for sport or for sustenance. But owning a gun should be just as owning a vehicle: you would need to prove you are mentally and physically capable to operate it correctly and without endangering yourself and others, you should know the rules that apply to taking part of society while owning one, you should pay insurance for the privilege of owning one and you should  make sure that it doesn't fall in the hands of someone who would harm themselves or others while using it.

In America, the gun lobby has made it appear that the Second Amendment is in danger. This, from my point of view, is done solely to promote sales of weapons, which benefits of course, gun manufacturers and the NRA. But whenever there are mass shootings perpetuated by terrorists who have used the Second Amendment to procure themselves automatic weapons used mainly in war settings, gun manufacturers and the NRA remind silent.

The gun lobby has also attacked gun violence survivors and has helped spread conspiracy theories related to the dissemination of information concerning gun violence. What once were fringe voices like crisis actor and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, have now become validated by the government. What was once an underground movement has become more and more mainstream, validated by the acceptance of their theories and lip service given by shady characters.

Amnosexuals are, from my point of view, the product of a society that constantly looks for ways to find an 'other'. A society that seems unable to function without a source of fear and danger, mostly imagined, that allows it to both create a sense of false of security and at the same time create a source of revenue for big companies. All the money spent in amassing weapons surely doesn't go to improve the lives of the people who buy them. As in that commercial at the top of the post suggests, many of those lives are broken by the same guns that were bought to protect them.

Want a gun? Go ahead and buy one. Even Wal-Mart sells guns. But please don't try to tell me you are buying it to protect yourself from somebody/something (the government, your neighbors, people you think will attack you) when you are buying a semi automatic rifle that you really don't need. In order to secure the safety of your home and / or family, you really don't need to run out and buy some bump stock just now.

Be safe.

xoxo