Guns are made for one reason, specifically, and that is to kill. Our society has failed miserably to instill the respect necessary for anyone to have guns available where children, up through 18 years old, at least, can get their hands on them.

I grew up in Colorado, target shooting, with my parents. My dad was a crackshot and his dad before him, as well as his granddad who had been a U.S. Deputy Marshall in the Cherokee Strip and had killed in self-defense many times. We were tauhgt the finality of a gun. When I shot over the head of my ex, who was beating my dog, my dad came down and asked what was going on. My ex told him his daughter had tried to kill him. My dad, knowing how good of a shot I was and how he had taught me, said, no, if she'd wanted you dead, you would be dead. We were never allowed to take a gun down without premission, never in anger, and told to never point it unless we meant to kill and accept the consequences. When growing up, we would have regretted it for days after, if we had even pointed a toy gun.

The norms are not the same now. Anyone who does own a gun needs to be sure it is locked away, with absolutely NO way anyone else could get to it. Lest you argue that that defeats the purpose of self-defense, read on:

"Someone once told me a can of spray paint is a better defensive weapon than a gun, especially for a woman, as women are usually smaller than their assailants. A well-aimed shot of paint to the face immediately focuses the killer/rapist/robber's attention on their own problem. Their hands fly up to the eyes, thus releasing their victim and/or their weapon. While they are thus occupied and possibly blinded, one has an excellent chance of getting away or calling for help. Most of the children who have killed children, especially at school, seem to have come from families which keep guns in their homes, for whatever reason. Too bad they didn't all just have a paint party, instead.

Copyright May 22, 1998 by Katey LaFrance, OoBraughLoo Press

This is NOT the Old West. There is NO general moral code by which those who have guns live by, thus no reasonable thought process is engaged when someone becomes enraged, despondent, or crazed. Society has accepted violence as a norm in our tv shows, our movies, and sometimes, in our lives. Until we all take responsibility and quit inundating our children with media carte blanche we will not turn this crisis around. I am not assigning blame, this is meant as an idea as to "why?". And, what we can do to change it.

Until parents and caregivers turn off the violence, their kids will continue to become inured to it and see it as acceptable behaviour. When my son was in preschool, we parents would get together for discussions on childrearing. One time a child psychologist talked to us about the "sex" question. He explained that when a five yr. old asked about sex, they were not asking for the same, in-depth information a fifteen year old or whaetever older age might be looking for. They would just need a simple answer, at that tender age, without any detailed explanation. This made sense to me and was true of my children. I am appalled at how many parents do NOT censor what their children are exposed to and at what ages, nowadays. The news and media have become so filled with violence, how many parents even think about whether a five year old, or ten yr. old or whatever age should be seeing the gory details of news or be shown a blueprint of a fictionalized crime in a movie?

Tv is what feeds my fmaily, since Rog is the engineer who keeps a few local stations on the air, but that doesn't mean I approve nor subscribe to their programming. It also does NOT mean I believe in censorship, I don't. I believe those who take care of children have an obligation to censor their children's exposure to the horrors of the world and just let them be kids; to protect their tender imaginations and hearts. When they do allow their children to watch something of import, they are obligated to discuss it with them; to teach their children critical thinking skills, as to what is real and acceptable.

I am sorry this is so long. Hank, one of the things you may have noticed here at the Mudcat, we try to keep from making personal assumptions about one another, esp. critical assumptions.

With all good wishes for Peace Profound,

katlaughing