1) The US Constitution did not intend to protect the rights of mentally deranged individuals to own modern weapons with massive firepower.
2) The only possible way to effectively address gun violence is to repeal the second amendment. Anything else is a band-aid.
3) I have been a NRA member and gun owner but now support disarming the population. More people are coming to this same conclusion.
4) The political possibility of 2nd amendment repeal happening within our lifetime is slim. The New York Times calls it “political mission impossible”.
5) Eventually old gun technology (hurling little pieces of metal through the air with the intent to cause harm) will be obsolete and we will have far more dangerous threats in our lives. God help us.
These are the five conclusions I come to after everything that I’ve read on the gun topic over a lifetime.
I’ve owned guns from a BB gun at age 7 through a few shotguns used on the farm and a handgun for protection as a young adult. Now the only gun I own is a family heirloom fept more for sentimental purposes. We now protect our houses and businesses with other non-gun equipment but I occasionally find the legitimate need for a gun at the farm or marina (to put down an injured or possibly rabid animal, for example).
I was trained in gun safety through a NRA course as a child in rural Pennsylvania in the 1960s. Back then we believed that responsible gun ownership was the most important factor affecting guns’ role in society. The use of guns to create terror wasn’t a credible possibility in our thinking back then. But I recognize that this is no longer the world we live in today. Many, perhaps 40% to 50% of us, still live in this outdated perception of the role of guns in the world.
In the end, I expect to see much argument but little actual change in gun violence impact in my lifetime.
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