I grew up in a home where guns were normal and acceptable. I have been a hunter, and still own the shotgun and deer rifle I used back then. My guns have trigger locks, and chamber locks. My ammunition is stored in a safe. The picture above was taken back when I was in high school when I used to go Pheasant hunting with my friends. I have hunted and shot Deer, Geese, Ducks, Pheasant, and Quail. I took hunters safety and had my Father to teach me about the responsibility required to own a gun. I have shot thousands of rounds and fully understand how to use a gun. I also understand the power that guns have and how easy it is for them to be used irresponsibly. In fact not to long after the above picture was taken I was accidentally shot in the leg by my friend. Three of us had taken out a brick of 1000 .22 shells to plink around. We had shot at all kinds of targets for a couple of hours, cans, ground squirrels, rocks, pretty much anything. Eventually we ended up at a bend in the river and started shooting at swallows nests on the opposite cliff. For what purpose? No purpose, we were teenage boys with little regard for the lives of the swallows. Finally we were standing in a circle trying to figure out what to do next. One of my friends had my fathers .22 pistol and was clicking through the chambers although I didn't really notice it. Then BANG, and a burning sensation on the back of my leg. He had accidentally shot me through the leg, missing the major artery in my leg by 1/4". We had lost respect for the power of firearms and gotten bitten. Fortunately the damage was not major and I healed, other victims of hunting accidents have not been as lucky. What I take from this experience in light of the Gun Control discussion taking place now is that even for people raised around guns and taught proper gun safety there is room and need for Gun Control. I agree with limiting the amount of ammunition people can possess. legitimate target shooting for the purpose of improving accuracy is good. The hunters I respect endeavor to make clean kill shots and minimize the suffering of their game. I would support allowing target shooting at target ranges setup for that purpose and ammunition available at the site not for taking away from the site. If you want to shoot 1000 rounds while at the range go for it. I would support limiting the number of shells an individual can possess in their private stashes at 50.
My opinions on guns has also been formed by my experience living in 4 countries and their different Gun laws.
CANADA,
I moved to Alberta, Canada in 1995 where at the time you were required to register all guns, including rifles. The guns laws were much stricter than in the US. The feeling I got when living there was that gun ownership was a privilege not a right. To earn that privilege you had to take gun safety courses and register your firearms. While there I did not shot a firearm or try to get a registered firearm. It wasn't worth the hassle in less you were very serious about hunting. I only recall one of the people I worked with there doing any hunting. I also had the impression that people didn't generally have guns and in particular did not have handguns. I feel like people didn't think they needed a gun for self protection, and I personally did not feel a threat from gun violence.
SINGAPORE
I moved to Singapore in 1997 where any gun ownership by private citizens was essentially not allowed. If you did want to own a gun a license was required and the gun was stored at the gun range. A permit to have a gun for self protection to have at your home are very rarely granted and require proving that there exists an imminent threat that could not be protected against in some other manner. Men in Singapore are required to do 2 years National Service at the age of 18. Many of them learn to shot as part of that service. To Singaporians guns are for National Security, and nothing else. In Singapore only criminals have guns, and very few of them. Why, because the Singaporian government is very swift and hash in dealing out punishment on criminals that are caught. Again I did not feel a threat of gun violence, quite the opposite. I felt very safe.
INDONESIA
I moved to Indonesia in 1998 where gun ownership is greatly restricted. I did see more guns in public in Indonesia than in any other country, with heavily armed military personnel common in public. Indonesia has such great diversity and many cultures living within the same country. There are many hotspots where violence and outright war were going on such as, Aceh, and Ambon. As in Singapore my sense of it was that guns were seen by the populace as being for the military not for anyone that wanted one. We had 24/7 private security guards at the facility I managed. They did not have guns, and were not allowed to. Very few Indonesians could have afforded a gun even if they were allowed. Indonesia was politically unstable while I was there and I did feel the threat of possibly getting caught between the military and rioting public, but I did not feel threatened by gun violence in places where those events were not taking place.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Here in the good ole US of A is the only place that I have felt the threat of gun violence, and the need to consider gun ownership for the purpose of self protection. Although I have chose not to take that step. That stems from all the gun violence that occurs here, including the Mass shootings, and reading about violent crime in the local area daily, Oakland has had 124 homicides this year. It is this culture that believes Gun ownership is a right and not a privilege that makes it so easy for those that should never have guns get them. It is not that way in other parts of the world.
People keep saying people kill people, guns don't kill people. That is correct. I don't dispute that. People will kill other people whether they have guns or not. That doesn't mean we need to allow them to legally posses automatic weapons, and an armory. These guns designed not for hunting but for killing people allow one person to kill many people. They give deranged individuals an enormous amount of power. More than individuals should have. I hear you saying blame the people not the gun. I say blame the culture that allows easy access to murder weapons.
I also hear people saying that this is the slippery slop, if we allow the right to bare arms be taken away it is only the beginning. I believe that children's right to go to school without the threat of mass murder trumps the right to own these types of guns. Our culture has a problem with gun violence. We must face that and we must make changes. Gun ownership should be viewed as a privilege and not a right. Ownership of an instrument of mass murder should be viewed as a crime. I feel so much more strongly the need to protect the innocents than the need to hold on to a right that was determined in a revolutionary time. Things change and so must we.
I also hear people that feel they must have a gun in there home for self protection. In my view you may have a gun in your home, but it should be a hunting gun that you have earned the privilege to own. You do not need a handgun or automatic weapon. Many people get a false sense of security by buying a home protection gun. Many of them have not really earned the privilege, they don't really know how to shot it, or have the proper respect for it. As a result many accidents happen. I believe many of these people would be better served with a monitored alarm system or bars on there doors and windows for home security.
There are so many guns in this country now it will take a long time for what we do now to result in the change in our culture that is needed. We must start that change now.
