Control Yourself

Caution, video NSFW...you may spit coffee on your key board.


In this day and age I cannot imagine why a child would have a gun.  A story in recent news reports told of a five-year-old who shot his two-year-old sister and killed her...with the gun he'd been given as a gift.  Given.  Really?  In what world does a child that age need a weapon?  Spare me the hunting argument - a child that age isn't hunting anything but trouble.  I wouldn't give a child of five a BB gun, or even a Nerf gun.  They're not capable of the thought and caution needed to responsibly use such a thing.  

The mother claimed it was God's will and her daughter is with God and in a better place, now.  Rationalize all you want, woman, but you or someone in your family gave a weapon to a child to whom the entire world is a plaything, a child of an age to still be a natural sociopath without empathy or understanding of the terrible power of the weapon you placed in his hands, and are shrugging off the responsibility of your actions as the will of your deity rather than owning that your actions caused the death of an even younger child.  You, madam, are the reason gun control supporters are frothing at the mouth, and I can't blame them.

I'm not a proponent of gun control in the "Take the Guns Away From Everyone" sense.  I believe that the second amendment clearly states that citizens have a right to have firearms, and indeed, may have an obligation to do so under certain circumstances to allow for the protection of the State (the State being our nation).

I do believe that the government is more cautious of an armed citizenry than an unarmed one, and that caution is sometimes all that stands between us and an oppressive governance.

That said - I am a proponent of gun control in the "Know Where Your Firearm Is At All Times and Under No Circumstances Permit It to Be a Toy or Held In A Child's Hands" variety.  In my mind, "gun control" means actually having control of your weapon at all times.  That's why I thought well of the PSA shared above - it makes a salient point and makes it well.

I don't want to take away anyone's firearms.  I simply want the people...ALL the people...who own them to be responsible with them.

Here at the Casa, the rules of guns are simple:
1.  The gun is always loaded, even if it's empty.
2.  Never point a gun unless you mean to shoot it.
3.  Never shoot a gun unless you mean to kill.
4.  Never take another life unless it is in defense of life or to provide sustenance.
5.  Always honor the life that you take.

At the very least, could we be certain that anyone handling a gun is capable of equally complex and responsible actions, like putting on a pair of matching socks?