Thoughts after the shooting in Aurora, Colorado


Breaking from the norm here as I address the shootings at the Batman movie in Aurora, Colorado.  I am not out to change anyone’s mind…this is merely my position on this issue.  If you change your mind…fine.  If not…fine.

First of all (at the risk of sounding cliché) this is a tragedy…no doubt about it.  The senseless slaughter of these people who were out to escape from the pressures of daily life and immerse themselves into the world one of the greatest comic book heroes in the history of illustrated entertainment is heartbreaking.  I want everyone reading this to be perfectly clear that I do not condone the actions of James Holmes in any way shape or form.

Now on to the rest of the story…

Before continuing I want to make it clear that not only am I a firm supporter of the Second Amendment, but of ALL of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

Not surprisingly, Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey has made yet another call for gun control in the wake of this shooting.  It is painfully obvious that he and other anti-gun groups are using a tragedy to push their own political anti-gun agenda.  He is clearly using the victims and their families in order to chip away at a constitutional right.  Anti-gun politicians and groups always take this kind of tactic, plucking the emotional heartstrings of the American public in order to pass knee jerk legislation to make themselves seem important when they are actually impotent.  They attempt this rather than enforcing the already adequate legislation that is on the books.  This is utterly pathetic.

What many people fail to see is that if we start chipping away at one right, there will be nothing to stop the chipping away at the others.  The rights outlined in the Constitution are just that…rights…not privileges.   Privileges should be regulated…not rights.  I do not believe that a permit should be required for exercising any of our rights…from freedom of speech, to bearing arms, or any other rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution.  I’d not be surprised if one day we had to have a permit to exercise the 5th amendment before getting on the witness stand.  What if that permit were denied?  What would happen then?  What if you had to have a permit to prevent unreasonable search and seizure?  What would happen if that permit were denied?

No gun legislation would have prevented James Holmes from shooting those people.  No additional legislation will bring those people back to life.  No law will erase the emotional scars of the surviving victims.  Criminals always find a way to do what they want to do.  If Holmes did not have an AR-15 and high capacity magazines he would have found another option, such as pipe bombs, to achieve his goal.  We already know he had many IEDs in his apartment.

On the subject of the restriction of law-abiding citizens from carrying their own firearms for protection…this utterly pisses me off.  We who have a permit to carry a concealed weapon (even though I ethically disagree with them) have been fingerprinted and had a full criminal background check. 

Many law abiding gun owners spend much time on the range and we stay in practice with our firearms.  Others of us have had military or law enforcement training on top of that.  We are not the ones you need to be worrying about!!  We obey the law.  We are fully aware that our world is a dangerous place…that there are other James Holmeses there right now waiting on an opportunity to execute their mad plans.  Those who carry, legally, have at least a chance to defend themselves and the people around them.  There is a greater chance of stopping a crazed madman with a gun when others have guns to stop him.  I wholeheartedly believe that if there were one or two people in that theater with concealed weapons, they probably could have saved some of the victims.  Criminals don’t obey signs restricting the carry of firearms into a private business.  Also many criminals are not trained on the proper operation of their firearms and they do not practice.  Some are and do, but many do not.

I know many you don’t like guns…and that’s fine.  Don’t buy one, but don’t try to stop those of us who choose to exercise our Constitutionally guaranteed right.  It is all or nothing here gang.  If you want to make our society a gun free society, fine…then change the Constitution.  Quit trying to do an end run around it. Oh…and go ahead…be up in arms about my statements here.  When your right to free speech or religion, or the right against self-incrimination or unreasonable search and seizure is violated, you may change your tune.

This is my last statement on this distressing issue.

Comments

  1. Bri22 July, 2012

    I am not against guns. I do not think there needs to be a tightening of what guns laws we do have, seeing as I agree with what you said in so many words: "Where there is a will, there is a way." I choose not to own them, as is my right. I am behind people who are intelligent, trained and confident enough to handle a weapon under the right circumstances, though who defines those circumstances is not the point at the moment.

    I want to say that maybe...maybe some lives could have been saved if a person had been carrying other than the killer that night, but it is highly uncertain for many reasons. One may be trained on a range or in field targeting but a range is a controlled environment. There isn't tear gas, there isn't the uncertain, inadequate lighting of a movie playing in a dark theatre, there aren't people screaming, panicking and running around, there isn't someone taking shots at you and the people you are with.

    As I said...it is a possibility that there could have been a large difference, but there was not. And though you did not state this, I feel that it needs to be said that the blanket assumption that one with a weapon, that is a "good guy," could have helped that situation at all needs to be toned down, seeing as no one, absolutely no one can say for certain how they will act in a certain situation when they are not there to experience it as it was played out.

    This is not meant to be read in anger, or as an attack, but it just breaks my heart that many are tending to overlook the victims and what they went through as a means to justify one way or another what should be done with weapon laws.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bjørn Miltonson22 July, 2012

      My intent was not to discount the victims, but to demonstrate that history has shown that tragic events like this have lead to direct attacks on our constitutional rights.

      Delete
    2. Bri22 July, 2012

      I know your intent was not that at all, I didn't read that in what you wrote. I'm saying the vast majority of what is being seen in the "almighty" media does, you know?

      Delete
  2. Bonesteel23 July, 2012

    I read tonight that the city of Aurora CO. has no concealed carry. These folks were sitting ducks and Holmes knew that. He went in to be the creator of a blood bath. The laws were already in place to restrict gun ownership and then this happened. It was not the 2nd amendment that was the problem here, but the obstruction of that amendment that caused this tragedy.

    ReplyDelete

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