Guys and Gals:
Many of us here are going through some tough times; maybe financial, maybe health, might be the condition of friends and family members. Whatever the case, these are real stressors. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been just sick, angry, frustrated and depressed since the school shooting Friday morning. I'm not a father, but I have nephews an nieces and the majority of my friends have children and grandchildren, as do my employees. The thought of someone slaughtering them in such a hideous, awful way makes me want to cry and it makes me want to take some sort of revenge. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
We ask ourselves "why" and "how?" Some of you believe it is a "government conspiracy" or a "sign of the End Times." Some of us believe it is just evidence of how "EFed Up" our society has truly become. But ALL of us are wounded in some way. Add to these a renewed push for so-called "gun control" and it is as if salt is being poured into our wounds. There are a lot of Americans who are frightened or simply not interested in guns. They are for "reasonable restrictions." They have the have every right to believe this way. Just as much right as those of that believe (to paraphrase the late Mr. Heston) that the gun is the instrument of liberty, security and human dignity.
I do not know what is going to happen with the new push for gun control. I hope I am correct in believing this is political puffery and posturing and by Valentine's Day we will be on some other news cycle, but I could be wrong. Hopefully, there are enough men and women, in Congress, who have strong enough patriotic convictions that they will prevent any legislation designed to strip us of our liberty, security and human dignity.
So, what can we do? It is so easy to feel powerless in the face of such random horror. It is easy to feel anxious when our precious liberty is threatened by misguided attempt at controlling human behavior. What can we do? We can love our families a little more. We can do our very best to protect them by being aware and trained in the extremely remote possibility we are in a situation in which we might make a difference. Mostly, we can work to educate those around us about firearms. We can explain the importance of the gun in history, particularly in the history of our great nation. We can avoid looking like conspiracy driven nut jobs. This is not meant as an insult to anyone here. It simply means that we have to work together to improve the image of gun owners, and that sort of talk immediately alienates non-gun folk.
Anyway, I certainly do not have the answers (but I won't admit that!), but I know that if we do our best to be our best everyday, we just might make a difference. God bless each of you and your families.
Many of us here are going through some tough times; maybe financial, maybe health, might be the condition of friends and family members. Whatever the case, these are real stressors. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been just sick, angry, frustrated and depressed since the school shooting Friday morning. I'm not a father, but I have nephews an nieces and the majority of my friends have children and grandchildren, as do my employees. The thought of someone slaughtering them in such a hideous, awful way makes me want to cry and it makes me want to take some sort of revenge. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.
We ask ourselves "why" and "how?" Some of you believe it is a "government conspiracy" or a "sign of the End Times." Some of us believe it is just evidence of how "EFed Up" our society has truly become. But ALL of us are wounded in some way. Add to these a renewed push for so-called "gun control" and it is as if salt is being poured into our wounds. There are a lot of Americans who are frightened or simply not interested in guns. They are for "reasonable restrictions." They have the have every right to believe this way. Just as much right as those of that believe (to paraphrase the late Mr. Heston) that the gun is the instrument of liberty, security and human dignity.
I do not know what is going to happen with the new push for gun control. I hope I am correct in believing this is political puffery and posturing and by Valentine's Day we will be on some other news cycle, but I could be wrong. Hopefully, there are enough men and women, in Congress, who have strong enough patriotic convictions that they will prevent any legislation designed to strip us of our liberty, security and human dignity.
So, what can we do? It is so easy to feel powerless in the face of such random horror. It is easy to feel anxious when our precious liberty is threatened by misguided attempt at controlling human behavior. What can we do? We can love our families a little more. We can do our very best to protect them by being aware and trained in the extremely remote possibility we are in a situation in which we might make a difference. Mostly, we can work to educate those around us about firearms. We can explain the importance of the gun in history, particularly in the history of our great nation. We can avoid looking like conspiracy driven nut jobs. This is not meant as an insult to anyone here. It simply means that we have to work together to improve the image of gun owners, and that sort of talk immediately alienates non-gun folk.
Anyway, I certainly do not have the answers (but I won't admit that!), but I know that if we do our best to be our best everyday, we just might make a difference. God bless each of you and your families.
