Guns in Your Grandchild's America

This is about the future America our kids and grandkids will grow up in. If you want that future to look like the present or the past, I'd suggest you stop reading here. If you appreciate the concept of forward motion and progress in the human species, please continue.

Let us adults take some cues from these students of Parkland, Florida. It is time for the Americans who want common sense gun legislation to show that we will not sit idly by and continue to allow our kids to be executed all over the country so that a minority population of the country can continue to build arsenals of military grade weaponry.

Responsible gun policy advocates are the majority in this country, but the minority always wins these debates because they care more.

We need to care more.

So, the next time someone tries to argue with you regarding the urgency with which we need to enact proper gun legislation here are some simple rebukes to the most common gun-toting arguments.

1. "But, Hey, Like, the Second Amendment."

The Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, when one of the most common guns owned by Americans was called the "Brown Bess." It was a long gun and, in the hands of a very skilled marksman, might get off 3 rounds in a minute. In October of 2017, in roughly 7-10 minutes, a civilian marksman in Vegas shot off enough rounds to kill 59 people, and injure 500 more.

If you actually read the entire language of the Second Amendment you'll see it says, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Now, court battles for 250 years have gone back and forth arguing what the forefathers meant by this language, but doesn't it seem like they meant, "We need to all have weapons handy in case the British come back for us (like they did; see: the War of 1812)" or, probably more importantly, we need to have weapons available to be able to easily murder the Native people living in the forests to the West (which they also did)?

Well, it's 2018, we've killed or isolated to reservations all of the Native Americans, and the British aren't coming back with muskets anytime soon to take back the shores of Boston.

If the North Koreans drop a bomb on us, your guns are useless. If ISIS wants to drive a van through crowds in Times Square, your guns are useless. If Al Qaeda wants to fly a plane into your building, your guns are useless. And finally, if a teenager walks into the hall of your grandchild’s school with an AR-15, your guns are useless.

2. "Nobody is taking my gun from me, over my dead body!"

Unless you have an AR-15, or some other military style assault rifle, we don't want to take your guns. I don't give a shit if Grandma Jane wants a .22, or Uncle Joe wants a rifle to go shoot bucks. Go for it, that is a right that I can vaguely understand.

However, I believe you should have to take a written and physical exam prior to owning the weapon, you should have to register the weapon into a national, searchable database. It should be re-registered yearly to prove that you are still in possession of the weapon and capable of using and storing the weapon safely, and finally, if you are found to have committed a criminal act at any time, found to be diagnosed with some mental illness, found to be involved in a domestic dispute with family, found to have developed an addiction to drugs or alcohol, etc., then the gun you own should be confiscated and your right to purchase, own or operate weaponry stripped from you, permanently and without any exceptions.

3. "This isn't about guns, this is about mental illness."

The vast majority of mentally ill people are a danger only to themselves. Diagnosed mentally ill people are by definition of the term generally mentally disorganized, and therefore ill-equipped to pull off the type of mass-murder events we see on a weekly basis.

When the mentally ill commit violent crimes, they grab steak knives, or whatever is handy; they don't buy 10 AR-15s over the course of a year and study the landscape of a city to best decide where to set up shop for their assault. The majority of these gunmen are not mentally ill; they are emotionally ill and isolated, and if you don't understand the difference, then it's unfair for you to continue scapegoating the mentally ill for the poor decisions of emotionally stunted and emotionally sick men.

Finally, turns out there are mentally ill people all over the world, and all over the world in most developed countries, nobody else is concerned about their kids being murdered in their econ class.

4. "It's all these violent video games these kids play!"

Well, first of all, if a parent says this to you, your first questions should be: so, your kids don't play any violent video games then, right? Your kids don't watch violent action hero movies, right? The answer is probably no, or I don't know, and their kid is probably upstairs shooting a zombie in the head with a shotgun and watching blood splatter on his iPhone with the phrase "BONUS POINTS" flashing across the fragments of skull and brain matter.

So, truly, parents don't give a shit if their kids play violent video games; if they did, they'd actually do something about it, like throw the Xbox in the garbage and replace it with a guitar, or basketball, or any hobby that doesn't involve actively participating in virtual murders on a daily basis. Whether your kid plays violent video games or not, the United States is not the only country with violent video games. Of the top 10 video game playing countries in the world, we are the only country that has this type of gun violence.

5. "Gun laws don't do anything (dog whistle). CHICAGO (dog whistle)."

Australia. Japan. Norway. UK. South Africa. Brazil. Austria. These are just a few countries who took action and made common sense gun legislation for their citizens and saw an immediate decrease in gun violence. The problem with the United States is that we are united states. Without swift FEDERAL LAW, the exchange of weapons across state lines is nearly impossible to track or stop. So yes, while stricter gun laws have not been able to curb gun violence in cities like Chicago, it's not because the gun laws don't work, it's because the criminals just drive to neighboring Indiana or Wisconsin, two states with some of the weakest gun laws in the country.

I don't intend to alienate members of my family who I know own guns and that I'd like to believe operate, store. and travel safely with these weapons.

Here is what I want.

I want military grade weaponry to be exclusively in the hands of the military, and that's coming from someone who for the most part does not trust their own government to do the right thing in most circumstances. Having said that, I understand that no amount of AR-15s in my basement would actually save me from a military invasion, whether that was another military or our own.

If you want a handgun or hunting rifle, I want it to be more difficult to get than it is to get a driver's license. Once you have the gun, I want you to have to re-register it every year, to prove you still have the weapon and know how to operate and store it.

The private sale of weapons should only be done with the supervision of a 3rd party professional who can certify that the correct measures, background checks, have been taken to prove the new owner is not a criminal, etc etc. and that the gun will be re-registered with the new owner.

I want those who have histories of chemical dependance and abuse barred from purchasing weapons, because if you’re getting drunk or high all the time, you don’t have the mental capacity to be a responsible weapon owner. This is for your safety as well as the safety of others, as data shows that those under the influence with access to weapons are more likely to commit violent gun crimes, as well as commit suicide in a time of crisis.

I want ALL gun shows shut down completely and immediately, because last time I checked, we didn't have heroin or methamphetamine shows because it would be totally fucking crazy to allow all the junkies in the country to meet up together and trade a dangerous commodity with basically no guidelines in place.

I want those predisposed to violence to not be allowed the right to have guns at all. Ever. So, if someone has called the police on you because you were being violent or out of control, or you've been suspended from a school for fighting, no more guns for you. Ever. Period. You've proven, with your actions, that you believe violence to be a solution to your problems, and therefore you should not be allowed the right to own a deadly weapon.

Act right, or lose your right. America has not acted right, and its time to make rules and regulations that will allow the next generation the right to grow up in a place where they don't have to read about murdered children every week, or be afraid to go to school.

It needs to be our goal to shut down the power of the NRA, get rid of their puppets in congress and find politicians who will fight for the safety, well being, and education of our youth.

If you don't care enough to make a change for yourself, or educate yourself on the facts, then just please care enough for your grandchildren.

Your grandkids are the ones who will live long enough to see the consequences of your decisions, protect them now, because when you are dead your guns won't protect anyone, but the laws you work to put in place now might save thousands of lives in the future, and one of those lives could be someone you love.