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Nothing good comes from guns
The Advocate
Three dead, one critically wounded and in a coma. This was the result of a shooting Friday night right in downtown Gresham, in MHCC’s own backyard. Two weeks earlier, on Jan. 29 another shooting occurred in downtown Gresham resulting in two people badly wounded.
When does it end? It seems as if these random acts of violence work in patterns that reiterate that people aren’t responsible enough to own and/or handle guns.
My father is an avid hunter and collector of buck antlers. He pulls out the guns at least three times a year. My brothers were all handling guns by their eighth birthday. They joined him on the hunt every time the season rolled around.
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Me? My mother’s friend stacked cans and handed me a rifle when I was 10.
I hated guns. I hated when Dad brought home a set of antlers and talked about his “kill.” I wanted nothing more than to never hold a gun. To me, guns killed and that was it. Nothing positive comes out of a loaded gun. When I was handed that rifle, I cried. I cried for no obvious reason since I was supposed to shoot at empty cans and not a living, breathing animal.
Although the reason wasn’t obvious, it was clear to me that I didn’t want to shoot a gun. Then I did. I pulled the trigger so swiftly that I didn’t even realize I had actually shot the rifle. I still held it in firing position, my small hands vibrating from the force. I had been told once that the first time you shoot a gun you feel powerful, almost invincible. You have the control and the gun gives you that control. I felt anything but in control at that moment as my knees buckled and I started to fall to the ground.
Shooting that gun was the most frightening experience in my entire life.
Another reason I hate guns is I grew up in an era where driveby shootings are in the news every other day. Sure they still happen but in the late ’80s to early ’90s, shooting someone was the cool thing to do in order to fit in. Even if it didn’t really happen, kids talked about shooting other kids like kids today talk about social networking sites.
I have never heard of something good coming out the barrel of a gun. A one-word response to that statement that I have gotten from some people is protection. Guns provide protection. There is no other way to protect you and your family from predators. There is no other way to fight a war to protect your country.
The most recent Gresham shooting involved an off-duty sheriff’s deputy who shot his wife, two of her friends and then himself. An officer of the law, sworn to protect and serve, given a gun in order to do so, instead uses a gun (not his service revolver, according to police reports) to take two lives plus his own. How is something like this explainable? I know I can’t blame the gun that expended the rounds that killed these people, but I can put part of the blame on society for putting such implicit trust in something as fallible as a human being.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that the problem would be absolved if guns were outlawed. They are here to stay and I can admit that. However, we have to somehow change how readily available they are to people. Guns are not just a commodity but instead are a tool that can either be used to destroy or sustain humanity. It’s obvious how they can destroy humanity, but maybe the way humanity can be sustained is by acknowledging our human flaws and put more restrictions on the use of something so powerful. Each and every death or injury resulting from gunfire is a lesson to be learned about the power that guns hold.
Guns are lifeless and, in turn, do not give life, but humans give guns the power to take it away. I don’t know the exact solution but I do know we should do better than proposing bills and laws that we know will be shot down just to show society we are feebly attempting to change things.
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