Again we have a situation where the news is full of a shooting. Again it's in Colorado. The scene of the Columbine massacre, the Aurora theater shooting, and a number of other high-profile cases, including one in Colorado Springs on October 31, 2015 this year in which a shooter killed three people and was shot, himself.
What fascinates me is that a brief, cursory review of Colorado firearms law this morning shows a couple of gaping holes.
There is no waiting period, for instance. And the State of Colorado prohibits gun registration. Yes - the State of Colorado prohibits gun registration. You can find that for yourself, here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/csp/colorado-gun-laws That is the Official Colorado State Patrol website.
A couple of years ago, when legislators tried to tighten up the regulations, after Columbine, after the Aurora theater shooting, before this, the citizens of Colorado held a recall election against four legislators who had proposed stricter gun laws. The ever popular Wikipedia has information on that - four legislators were named, two were recalled.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_recall_election,_2013
So, before the cries of "more gun control!" become too loud, stop and ask yourself, or your roomie, why, if it's so horrible, did the citizens of Colorado themselves fight back against more restrictive laws?
It is an interesting question. Colorado is not precisely a bastion of conservative thoughts and values. Heck! It was among the first states to legalize marijuana. For Heaven's sake, marijuana retailers hold Black Friday sales to attract new customers and offer Christmas gift sets.
http://www.9news.com/story/life/holiday/black-friday/2015/11/27/black-friday-pot-sales/76463526/
I don't get it, I really don't but because the State of Colorado has the laws that it does and the citizens of Colorado seem satisfied with them as they are, okay. I'll shrug and go about my business.
Now, for the sake of intellectual exercise and exploration, let's play pretend. What if the receptionist at Planned Parenthood was a hunter, someone with experience with firearms, comfortable in their use. What if that person, or someone else there, with the same background and experience as my fictional receptionist, had a gun available. What if one of my fictional people, or someone outside, was carrying a concealed handgun, loaded with none in the chamber and the safety engaged but ready to rock and roll if needed. What do you suppose might have happened?
Yes, there might have been equal or greater carnage. Or, maybe, the shooter would have had second thoughts before pulling to a stop in front of the clinic. Maybe he would have had second thoughts even before putting the rifle into his vehicle and putting the key into the ignition. Maybe he would have thought about it and decided not to do that. Or, maybe, that receptionist, or the real-life guy who was outside, sitting in his car who looked square into the shooter's eyes and ended up with injuries resulting from glass from his windshield exploding into the car when the shooter fired at him, could have stepped up and shot the creep dead before he had the chance to terrorize everyone in that clinic, or kill three people.
The idiot's motive(s) still aren't known. The cops have had him in custody for nearly twenty-four hours as I write this, and they still don't know what the idiot wanted or was doing. Suicide by cop, maybe? Or maybe his daughter went to that clinic, had a procedure and suffered some sort of medical complication and he was out for revenge? Who knows. I don't. The cops don't. Only the shooter knows and, apparently, he's not talking.
I don't advocate going back to the Wild West of the 1800's where handgun laws were non-existent. However, I do wonder what it might be like if those of us who legally own weapons weren't surrounded by ignorant people who don't recognize firearms for what they are. They're a tool. These people aren't stupid, they're ignorant. They fear what they don't understand.
I honestly think that if firearms classes were required, if everyone had to go through firearms training, including the safe handling of them, the fear of them would evaporate. Once fear evaporated, the ignorant people who now fear them might come to realize that guns, in and of themselves, are not bad or evil.
I remember once reading that certain civilizations in the Caribbean and South America fear having their picture taken. They think the image is a form of soul stealing. They fear cameras because they don't understand how they work.
It's the same thing when it comes to firearms. People who fear them don't understand how they work.
Granted, unless you beat someone over the head with a camera, pointing it at them won't cause physical harm. It can be argued that pointing a gun at someone won't cause physical harm either, and it won't. It requires the flexion of a finger against the trigger to cause the harm, just as it requires the flexion of a finger to take a picture.
As a personal anecdote, my sister was a very vocal anti-gun advocate until she was in her forties. Then, her friends introduced her to the man she eventually married - a hunter. The last time I saw her, she took me trap shooting and let me use her custom-fitted Purdy shotgun. A year later she and her husband flew down to Arizona and went through a firearms camp. The same camp the FBI and law enforcement agencies use for their advanced training courses. Her then boyfriend taught her, educated her, that firearms in and of themselves are not the problem. They're now married and she still goes shooting.
So, before we talk about still more gun control laws, which have been proved again and again and again don't work, how about talking about instituting gun education laws?
Just a little food for thought.
Best~
Philippa
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