I am so very proud of what hundreds of thousands of Americans of all ages did today, marching in hundreds of anti-gun-violence rallies all across our nation. I’m especially proud of the students. We had a huge group of marchers in Mineral Point, Wisconsin (students included), and I was glad I participated.
I do not want to live in a country where everyone is armed to the teeth. You know, you have to decide what kind of a world you want to live in and then work towards that goal, no matter how difficult.
I was devastated and angry when John Lennon was shot to death in New York in 1980 outside his apartment building by a very disturbed man (it is almost always a man, isn’t it?). I mean, who the hell would kill a musician? I will never get over it. On that day (and many times since), I decided “enough is enough”. Gun ownership should be a privilege that has to be earned, not a right. And weapons of war do not belong in the hands of private citizens—ever. If that involves repealing the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, then so be it. But “we the people” never get a chance to vote on gun issues, do we?
If gun owners in this country can’t support much stricter and sensible gun laws, then maybe we should peacefully go our separate ways. Gun lovers can have their country (a dystopia, really), and the rest of us can live somewhere else. I would support a civil separation, but never a civil war. (Besides, we know which side has most of the guns.)
“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation.”
– Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)
“Americans own about 46% of the 857 million civilian-owned firearms in the world, despite making up 4% of the world’s population, according to a new report from the international Small Arms Survey. The U.S. has more guns than citizens, with an estimated 120.5 guns for every 100 residents. The nation with the second-highest firearm ownership rate, war-torn Yemen, has 52.8 guns per 100 residents.”
Source: The Washington Post as noted on p. 16 of THE WEEK July 6/July 13, 2018
I fear that those of us who want to live in a country with strict gun laws and far fewer guns in the hands of ordinary citizens will either have to form our own country (peaceful secession) or move out of the U.S. altogether. At this point, I am open to either possibility…
Here’s a must-read article about America’s gun insanity:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/27/opinions/opinion-america-once-valued-life-more-than-guns-how-did-that-change/index.html
And the book, coming out on January 30, 2024:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725798/one-nation-under-guns-by-dominic-erdozain/
I also recommend reading The 28th Amendment: My proposal to repeal and replace the 2nd Amendment by Michael Moore:
https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/the-28th-amendment