The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a hunter's paradise.
I didn't really give guns much of a thought back then.
I do remember once being at a relative's farm and shooting at tin cans set up on hay bales. I think the gun I was using was a 22?
Obviously, I was not bitten by the gun bug, or I'd probably remember what kind of gun it was.
I don't think any of the people I knew who hunted back then owned, or felt the need to own, an assault rifle.
I guess they felt as though their skill, along with their non-assault rifle type gun, was going to be all they needed to kill the deer they wanted so they could maybe then cut its head off and have it stuffed so they could hang it over their sofa.
Whatever.
Obviously, I'm not a fan of guns. But, truly, other than being confused by the killing of animals for sport and disgusted by deer heads hanging on a wall, I just didn't give it much thought.
However.
I've become less a fan as the NRA has moved from being a voice of reasonable gun ownership to a dangerous association much less concerned about lives than the profits of gun manufacturers, now showing not one iota of plain damn common sense in regard to gun ownership.
The very fact that this country continues to allow our own citizens to be killed at a scary, crazy alarming rate while spending trillions and trillions of dollars fighting wars in other countries is beyond madness.
The war on terrorism should, in my opinion, be moved right here to the United States and focused on homegrown US citizen terrorists.
Because, yes, of course, widespread terrorism is here alright and you may not have to look too far.
It doesn't come dressed differently from you and I.
It doesn't wear a hijab or a burka.
It walks amongst us looking just like we do.
And the laws of this country allow these terrorists to walk amongst us, guns proudly slung over their shoulders.
Don't tell me I need a gun with which to protect myself.
Bullshit.
I should not need a gun to protect myself in my daily life in this country.
This is not, or it shouldn't be, the wild west of Wyatt Earp's day.
And, IF I did have a gun, would I have carried it with me to church for a bible study class?
No.
So, had I been with State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Singleton, Myra Thompson, Ethel Lance, Susie Jackson, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. and DePayne Doctor, I would most likely now be dead.
Let us always remember those names, and these faces -
Let us remember how they innocently went into a church for bible study.
Unarmed.
And were murdered by a terrorist.
But.
I will not name the evil and deranged suspected terrorist who has been arrested. He does not need our words, our attention. He's scum, that's all anyone really needs to hear about him.
But.
I will not name the evil and deranged suspected terrorist who has been arrested. He does not need our words, our attention. He's scum, that's all anyone really needs to hear about him.
(sorry, but we're not taking comments on this piece today. post if you want, but the "monitor comments" feature is engaged. I'll read your comment, but it will not be posted and I will not respond to it).
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Non-Violence" (also known as "The Knotted Gun") was designed by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. It was inspired by the shooting death on December 8, 1980 of his friend, John Lennon. It was given to the UN by the government of Luxembourg in 1988. There are currently 16 copies of the sculpture around the world, nine of them in Sweden, one at the United Nations in NYC |
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