|
So, did they? The answer, is no
(obviously). Spoons did not make Rosie O'Donnell fat - nor is any
utensil to blame for people who might be a bit on the unhealthily
large side. Psychologists would probably love to place the blame
there, as would half of the country these days; with our heavy lean
toward pinning responsibility for one's actions somewhere other
than the person actually responsible. It's true. In this day and
age, people are fighting hard to place blame for their lot in life,
on anything but themselves. "The devil made me do it" mantra has
been spreading across the country for years, even so far as little
Billy - whose parents juice him up on Ritalin, instead of
attempting actual discipline. Sure, I'll concede the existence of
people who have "real" problems, which don't stem solely from
themselves or those responsible for them, but these days it's
pretty hard to find. Heck, I'm not even shocked anymore when a
friend who has kids tell me that their child was just diagnosed
with <insert disorder here>. In fact, I am shocked these days
when I hear "my child is perfectly healthy". I digress. The fact
remains that firearms are blamed for the actions of those who
needed a good, swift kick - instead of placing the blame on the
individual or those who are actually responsible for them. For the
most part, aggressive actions with a firearm require action and
intent - that's a fact. I say "for the most part" because it's
not 'all' - we have to consider those morons who leave loaded
weapons in the house with kids around. On the same note
though...spoons aren't locked up either and look how fat our
country's kids are...hmmm...
What if we did that with utensils, treated
them as most do with guns? Seriously. If the country is in an
'obesity epidemic', why not ban eating utensils? The logic is
absolutely the same, and there's no matter of reasoning that
causes the cessation of that fact.
Spoons kill people. They carry food into
people's mouths. When they are used by immature people without a
sense of self worth, a loathing for life and the inability to
control themselves, spoons make them fat. Getting fat leads to
obesity, obesity leads to death. Spoons kill people. So, let's
propose a ban on all spoons to put an end to obesity. That'll
work, right? If you think so - then we need to go and clean up the
shallow end of the gene pool, because you (clearly) shouldn't be
allowed to breed. The notion should be preposterous because anyone
with any sense knows that the "spoon" didn't do it. The spoon had
to be "used" by someone. So what if we made spoons harder to get?
Making spoons harder to get will do nothing to quell the problem
since there's still knives, forks, fingers etc. Not to mention
those who know how to "get" spoons, other than the usual, legal,
way. And what about those who don't have a problem with spoons?
Those who know how to use them responsibly? Do we just forget about
them and focus on those people who can't control themselves? Most
would like to...
Is anyone noting the absurdity of that
train of thought?
Does anyone possess the capacity to be
able to logically associate it with firearms? A gun is a tool, it
takes someone to use it, to load it, to aim it - to possess the
intent to use it maliciously. Like the bumper sticker reads: "Guns
kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat." a perfect
simile that relates the ridiculousness of the notion.
Similarly, those who ride the fence of
banning "types" of guns are just as ludicrous. To draw the
association; that would be like banning soup spoons and controlling
tea spoons. Can you use a tea spoon for soup? Absolutely. Would a
person rather not? Sure - but you open the drawer and make your
decision. YOUR decision. Presently, any woman has the right to rip
a fetus from her womb and throw it in a trash can - but I can't
have a rifle with a pistol grip, short barrel and a collapsible
stock, simply because of how it looks? What are they, the
gun-fashion police?
I am all for control. Take my name, my
SSN, the serial numbers of my firearms - that's fine, I'm a law
abiding citizen, I have nothing to hide. 5 day wait time, in some
states, to purchase? Sure, I don't mind - in some cases it'll
thwart that $1500 impulse buy, LOL. Make me get a license to own?
As long as they're realistically readily available to law abiding
folks, without some impossibly attainable requirements, sure - if I
have to. I'd rather not jump through all the hoops - but if it
helps you sleep at night, and allows me to keep and purchase the
tools of my trade/hobby, then so be it. Heck, people collect
spoons, but they're not being targeted as adding to the obesity
problem :P
What I can't stomach is how firearms are
portrayed as "evil" - without any regard for the user. Does anyone
think "spoons" are evil? No? Pray tell...why not? That evil spoon
forced the obese people to eat, didn't it? It climbed out of the
drawer, dunked itself into the bucket of "make you huge" and shoved
itself into someone's unwilling mouth, didn't it? Just like the
gun loaded itself, leapt into evil Billy's hand and just started
going off, right? Okay then, why does the evil gun need a person
behind it? Seriously - if "guns kill people", why do they need
people to be operated? I'll let you answer that for yourself.
I think the real issue is fear. We all
know this to be true; people fear what they don't understand. I
teach weapons in the military and I can't tell you how many times
I've been on the line, with a brand new shooter, who just burst
into tears out of complete and utter fear (not a fear of cows, mind
you). Most often, they've been taught that guns are evil, instead
of simply being taught that they require training. Yes - that's
what I wrote. You don't have to like guns, but you'd create a
completely different mentality about them if you taught people that
they require training, rather than their evil existence. What a
different place this world would be if people taught about AIDS the
same way they taught about guns - AIDS would probably be real close
to going away, wouldn't it? But no - that runs rampant and guns
are set on the totem as "evil".
I can't think of any good reason why a
person would be against guns in such a way as to instill fear about
them into others, except for stupidity and ignorance. If people who
didn't like guns, passed them off as a "sport" they didn't like,
it would probably be different. This country didn't gain it's
independence with flowers, but I'm sure you know that. But you
don't even have to be a fan of any war after that (or that one),
not even remotely - wars and guns go hand in hand because they do,
they're tools of the trade. On the same note, there's plenty of
stabbing in the world, but no one gives Emeril any crap for his
knives, BAM! You don't have to like them, don't have to be a fan
- but spread that hatred for them like you do with anything else,
be fair. If you don't like a sports team - make sure you go after
the stores in your area for selling their gear. If you don't like
a certain food, make sure your market refuses to sell it - DON'T
BE SUCH A HYPOCRITE.
About the Author
The author is a 14 year member of the
United States Air Force, serving in the Combat Arms (CATM) career
field.
To learn more about this topic, feel free
to visit Firearms and Fundamentals
|
