Gun control in the headlines again

Hi neighbors. I was watching a documentary on television this week that spoke of various cultures around the world who have learned to cope with extreme weather. There were people living in the deserts, on the high plains, in jungles and on the tops of mountains.

I was happy to hear that humanity seems capable of adapting to any environment. Maybe they are trying to comfort us about the human capacity to cope with global warming. I’m from Missouri — I’ll have to see it to believe it. Trouble is, I don’t want to see it!

Have you noticed the number of end of the world shows on television? We’re constantly bombarded with threats of impending doom. If a meteor doesn’t hit us, Mercury will! The sun will explode, a black hole will suck us up into another dimension, etc. It’s only at the end of the show that they hint it will probably be thousands of years before any of this happens, but it could happen tomorrow.

I think they should stop scaring the kids and making everyone else depressed. There are positive ways to deal with problems instead of stirring everyone up into a frenzy of anxiety.

Gun control is in the headlines again. There is no reason children should be shot at school, or have the thought of being shot at school even cross their minds. I have some ideas about violence control and gun control.

Illegal guns that are already in someone’s possession (rather like the situation of illegal aliens already living here) cannot be taken off the streets without a house-by-house and vehicle-by-vehicle search. Period. The only way to stop people having illegal guns (in my opinion any gun that can shoot more than five bullets without a reload) is to do away with gun shows that sell them. Gun clips should not be sold unless a person is a professional competition shooter. Hunting rifles — yes they will kill humans as well, but hunting puts meat on the tables of many families.

Uzis, combat rifles, 100 bullet clips, should not be sold except to the military, our military exclusively.

Gun safety should be taught in schools as a mandatory class every year. People who buy guns should have to take a class annually on owners’ legal responsibilities, cleaning, shooting and storage of any and all guns they own. Just like taking a test to get a driver’s license for that other deadly weapon we all give our children — a car — people should have to prove they can handle a gun before they get it licensed, or get a license to use it.

All bullets should be sold in packages of five only. If it takes you 40 rounds of ammo to get your deer; it’s not going to be fit to eat anyway and you have no business packing a gun. Of course, we still have to deal with legal and illegal one-on-one owner to buyer gun sales.

Another issue I’ve harped on before, gun concealment policies. Really? What is the reason for a concealed weapon? Do you think letting an attacker think you don’t have a weapon will scare them off? If you feel you need protection, let them know you have a gun. If you think you can’t use it well enough to protect yourself, don’t get a gun.

I don’t understand why more types of non-lethal weapons aren’t available to people. Most of us don’t want to kill an attacker — we want them to go away and leave us alone. A hard rubber “bullet” might leave a bruise, but should be designed not to be lethal.

Teens who feel uncomfortable and bullied at school should be offered the option to just stay home and take high school classes via a home computer.

It seems we just keep beating our heads against the wall on this issue and never coming to an agreement. Don’t you think we can resolve this issue? Just remember it’s not all about guns. Trust me, if all the guns were gone, anyone who wants to kill many people will find a way. There has to be a way to approach both sides of school shootings; prevention and intention.