Might Be Time to Give up Your Guns
By Ed Kociela
Once you get the taste of blood in your mouth it is impossible to turn back.
The taste of blood has been so common now that the United States has become a very dangerous place where we eye each other warily and circle like hungry wolves stalking prey.
Between the time I write this and you get to read it, God knows how many wolves would have thinned the innocent herd.
They will continue to fall.
They will continue to fall as long as we have fear, the kind of fear that results when people stop seeking truth and fall in lockstep with the barrage of lies we have been fed for decades now. No, this did not start with Donald Trump, but he surely had an impact as we have seen his minions go as far as to break into the halls of Congress in an attempt to overturn the Constitution and try to kill those who respect and hold it dear, as we saw that cold, gray January day when a group of misfits attacked the Capitol.
They will continue to fall as long as there is hate. We have done this to ourselves, you know, hating people of different colors, cultures, and beliefs. This translates into a loss of respect for life in general, the understanding that we are all here on borrowed time doing the best we can to survive. Things go wrong, so we end up looking for a scapegoat. Must be “those” folks because they have dark skin, follow Allah, or, perhaps, identify as somebody who seeks sexual comfort in somebody of the same sex. Maybe, just maybe, we are responsible for many of our own failings, our own shortcomings, you know? Maybe we have been horribly, tragically, and criminally mistreated and are working through issues, not of our own creation. These explosions of rage and anger, however, are almost never directed at those who have caused such pain and emotional suffering.
They will continue to fall as long as the politicians place their own interests and desire for more and more and more power ahead of the good of the nation. To do so, they go down to the crossroads and carve their own deal with the devil, sacrificing all that is good in their heart for a reelection bid, selling their souls to blocs like the National Rifle Association, Big Pharma, Big Oil, the corporate farmers, and the others who pervert the system and culture for their own gain. It is ruining our spirit, our collective conscience, our once-gentle souls, and, in the end, a nation that once was a refuge for the downtrodden, the weak, and the hopeful.
They will continue to fall as long as we have guns. Nowhere else on the planet do we see such a scale of random murder.
We are chastised for talking about the gun issues because it is “too soon” after one of these horrible events, or, if we wait to engage in working towards a solution, the impact and raw emotion of the event has passed, leaving almost a sense of ambivalence. Except, of course for the families and friends of the victims. Their pain is never eased.
And, each time we experience one of these murderous events, we hope it touches people enough to demand change.
The killing in that Texas elementary school is a prime example, bringing raw, bare-bones emotions to the surface.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pleaded with the chamber to pass meaningful legislation to combat the gun violence that continues unabated in the U.S. “What are we doing here?” Murphy said from the Senate floor upon hearing of the Texas massacre. “This isn’t inevitable. These kids weren’t unlucky. This only happens in this country and nowhere else,” he continued. “It is a choice. It is our choice to let it continue.”
Murphy destroyed the predictable Republican response that it can all be chalked up to mental health issues before they could slop the spin from their porcine mouths.
“Spare me the bullshit about mental illness,” Murphy said. “We don’t have any more mental illness than any other country in the world. You cannot explain this through a prism of mental illness because we’re not an outlier on mental illness … We’re an outlier when it comes to access to firearms and the ability of criminals and very sick people to get their arms on firearms. That’s what makes America different.”
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., called out Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with a pair of posts on his personal Twitter account.
“Fuck you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun (alluding to his 2021 trip to Mexico when Texas suffered power blackouts after a winter storm). You are useless.”
He followed it up 21 minutes later posting: “Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer.”
Of course, the response from the other side was predictable as both Florida Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott insisted there is a need for the public to have access to AR-15 assault weapons and that there is no need for expanded background checks. Rubio did promise, however, to force a vote to tighten school safety “in other ways” without elaborating.
President Joe Biden did his best at consoling a weeping nation, saying “… we have to ask when in God’s name we’re going to stand up to the gun lobby. We have to act and don’t tell me we can’t have an impact on this carnage.”
But, so far, that is it.
What we need is for Biden to start issuing Executive Orders banning assault rifles, demanding deep background checks, placing tighter restrictions on gun show sales, and placing liability on not only criminals who use a gun during the commission of a crime but the seller as well if there was no background check.
Actually, no.
What we need is to collect all of the guns and impose mandatory life sentences on anybody who uses a gun in the commission of a crime and a ban on selling ammunition and the brass, lead, and gunpowder used to make it.
Yeah, it is time to take all of your guns.
The 2nd Amendment, ratified Dec. 15, 1791, was never intended to allow the sale of assault rifles. In fact, when it was written, it was against the law for the public to own cannons or other weapons that could take out a large number of people.
The founders did not intend the Constitution or amendments to be set in stone. Instead, they created a living, breathing document written to take into consideration the needs and changes of a growing nation and its culture.
But, somewhere along the way, the U.S. lost its spine, lost its common sense, lost its raison d’etre.
We can fix this you know.
All it takes is courage.
You can help by phoning or writing messages to your representatives — local and federal. Let them know you are sick of this senseless killing and that they must do everything possible to stop the carnage.
Most importantly, live a life of being an example.
Don’t let hate or racism or jealousy take over your emotional well-being. Don’t give in to that because all it does is create more rage and anger, which we already have plenty of in our world.
If that does not work for you, think of all the innocent men, women, and children who will sit down tonight for the last time with their families.
They are worth the effort.
Oh, and by the way?
Save your thoughts and prayers.
Unless they are followed up with the effective implementation of stringent laws, they are as useless as Ted Cruz.
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In reference to Mr. Kociela’s opinion piece about canceling 2nd amendment rights and that the first 10 aka the Bill of Rights are not inviolable. The old altruism that the pen is mightier than the sword being true means that the amendment that needs regulation also would be the 1st. Will you subject yourself to the background checks and harassment of your right because another’s use of that right vis a vi someone who alters others’ lives with profane and misleading communication causing injury, death or suicide. Will you allow your free speech to be regulated because someone else abuses it by their use? When was the last time a journalist was arrested for lying, misleading or plagiarizing? You are so prepared to force others to give up their rights and yet hold your own sacrosanct? The reality is that the majority of this county is falling victim to the tyranny of the minority who seek to abolish our rights. Why don’t you talk about responsibility and inculcating it, instead of removing rights.
What’s funny is that we only know what was written. We do not know what our forefathers thought and what they were feeling. We just know facts. Fact number one is that the constitution was written. Fact number two written was our right to bear arms. Fact number three whether you agree or disagree it does or doesn’t matter to me.
The UK gave up their firearms and now their Subjects, (slaves), can be sent to jail for posting wrongthink on facebook.
Wanting only the government to have firearms is what fascists want. We are armed to the teeth and they were brave enough for force our children to take phony shots for a phony disease, shut down our lives for two years, and put people in jail without a trial for two years for simple trespass.
If the powers that be are so brave as to do all that WHEN we are armed, you had best believe they will be utter tyrants should we lose the ability to fight back against tyranny.
Learn from history or die repeating it. What did Mao do when he took all the guns? He slaughtered millions, of course. Stalin slaughtered tens of millions of his own people too. And what did that runt dictator from Austria do when he took the citizen’s right to fight back? He annihilated 6 million Jews.
We won’t stand for it. Keep boiling the frog and see where this goes. It won’t go in your favor, that is for certain.
only the weak give up their guns
I say this as your friend, Ed. It’s not going to happen. Save your breath. Individuals who understand their rights, claim them, use them and are willing to defend them will always trump those who lust to take those rights away.
The answer is no. Your only remaining option is to initiate aggressive force against people who have harmed no one. Lethal aggression of this sort may rightly be resisted as a moral duty. You and those who think like you will never be as unhappy as the day that this line is finally crossed. So please don’t go there.
What a moron this guy is!!!No its not time to give up your guns in fact they are more important now then past times…The 2nd was written for the people to protect themselves from a rogue government not to mention my family and I…Every country that took the guns from the population has turned for the worse!!!!!Do the homework Ed!!!!!There are over 300 million guns in this country and 99.99 % are owned by responsible gun owners…Guns don’t kill people…people kill people….I would surely assist someone in harms way with yes my gun….Just a stupid post!!!!
I noticed that the writer spends time in Mexico. Guns are not allowed there. How is that working out for the Mexican citizens when the cartels come knocking?
All those who don’t want firearms to protect yourselves, turn them in.Protect yourselves from the roving bands of armed biden voters with a butter knife and a baseball bat, let me know how that works out for you.
We defend our president……..with guns
We defend our Congressmen……with guns
We defend our Governors……….with guns
We defend our celebrities……with guns
We defend our sporting events………with guns
We defend our jewelry stores……. with guns
We defend our banks…………with guns
We defend our office buildings……..with guns
We defend our factories……..with guns
We defend our courts…………..with guns
We defend our children…….with a sign that reads:
“THIS IS A GUN FREE ZONE.”
..and then call someone with a gun if there’s an emergency