I'm from the part of the country where most every law abiding citizen owns a gun. (I suppose most criminals own guns in every area of the country.) My father is a long time member of the NRA and you could say that most of the people in my family take their Second Amendment rights pretty seriously. You could also say that is a bit of an understatement.
It's hard to ignore what has been going on with guns lately. A string of shootings- CNN HQ, Virginia Tech, NASA, and now Kansas City. I'm betting that gun control enthusiasts will be out in droves. Added to that, the most vocal supporter of gun ownership is getting a little old to be waving rifles over his head. Is the day really coming where we will give up our guns?
I have to say that I believe in the right to bear arms. I also believe that the absense of a waiting period for guns in Virginia is unacceptable. I don't know if concealed to carry permits make us safer. I do know we would probably be safer without any guns whatsoever. But we do not live in a world of all or nothing and as long as the possiblity exists that one person might have a gun illegally, the argument exists that we would be safer if we were all allowed to have them.
When it comes down to it, a determined killer will find a way to take lives. If the V Tech shooter was determined to do what he did, he would not have let the absense of legally available firearms stop him. He bought his weapons over thirty days before the shooting, if a waiting period had been in place he would likely have been undetered. He was a determined killer.
It is so very (physically) easy to take a life. In a way, it's surprising that it doesn't happen more often. Most of us live in harmony every day never even thinking of hurting one another past, perhaps, a pop in the nose with a fist. When someone enters into the decision to take lives the means of execution is a formality. It's the decision we should watch out for.
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