Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Guns

I live in the middle of the bible belt, in a red state, and expressing my opinions regarding my views on guns is usually unappreciated by the members of some of my circle. I respect everyone's opinion and their ability to defend it, unfortunately most gun people don't return that same respect. I feel, from my brightest light to my darkest depths, that guns bring out the inherant evil of the human soul. My friend, which has sparked this particular post, has argued that it's the person that kills, not the gun. Her utterly absurd point was that "pencils sign death warrants", "cars drive drunk", and "spoons kill fat people" - I mean seriously? Pencils, cars and spoons weren't specifically designed to create death and destruction, whether or not it is possible to use them that way is irrelevent! We can take anything to the extreme to make our argument seem valid but it doesn't make it right. I exercised tolerance and simply agreed to disagree with her rather than argue my point but I must vent somewhere. I completely agree that we must exercise personal responsibility, it is essential in all aspects of life, HOWEVER I don't feel that we as a species are equipped to handle the responsiblity of guns. I don't believe that anyone has the right to hold a gun, guns aren't a right, free speech is a right - the ability to kill someone or something is NOT. I would love to see every single gun, from the smallest .22 to the largest whatchamacalit attached to a Navy warship, melted down to scrap metal and turned into something useful. A truly civilized species does not require it's citizens to carry weapons. I'm sorry but I just don't see how the ability to send a projectile into flesh and destroy it anything to strive for. You may call me naive, I call myself evolved.