Babies Shooting Guns

I had an Atari 2600 when I was a kid.  Other kids poked fun at it's archaic technology, which failed considerably to the tech that their video game systems provided.  Ironically, as cheap and unfulfilling as the tech was then, it's greatly sought after today.  It's my belief, that there's a certain charm that accommodates the simplicity of the times.  An innocence that we've lost and are now in desperate search of.  The flash and speed of today's video games are awesome and heart-pounding, but sometimes it's nice to sit back for a relaxing game of Pong.  In simpler terms, going to the latest popular restaurant for an evening of gourmet dining is fantastic, but it's more enjoyable to settle down for some of grandma's apple pie and iced tea.

I had cap guns as a child.  I reveled in the smell of spent caps burning from the toy handgun after firing off a barrage of paper caps at imaginary foes.  Later on, I'd be gifted a plastic machine gun that you'd cock back the "firing mechanism" and it'd sound off a string of violent tones, like no other.  It even had a small red protruding mass at the end of the barrel to simulate fire.  It was a cool toy and I may even still have that kicking around somewhere in my basement, I think with my Star Wars figures.  Imagination was the key to fun playtime.

Today, it seems, imagination isn't enough.  Actually, when looked into deeper, I think kids who use an imagination are deemed defective, having some kind of mental deficiency that "professionals" need to aggressively address with mind-numbing medication.  I believe they've reassigned "imagination" as "Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)"  Today, it seems that kids need more mental stimulation.  To be more hands on.  Case and point;  That poor nine year old girl last week who mistakenly shot her shooting instructor with an uzi.

Since then, there's been a nationwide debate on whether it's acceptable for a small child to be handling any kind of weaponry, let alone a freakin' uzi.  Gun freaks are standing firm that children need to learn how to use such weapons, insisting that the American Constitution decrees it so.  Being Canadian, I don't know exactly what all the Amendments decree or not, but given the advancement in the 227 years since it's inception, I'm sure some of the original amendments would be up for interpretation.  That being said, because I AM Canadian, chances are I have a greater handle on the subject than most Americans.  The Bill of Rights was enacted between 1787 and 1789, which was a completely different era.  The Second Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms, wasn't added until 1791 and at that time, everyone had single shot muskets.  I'm sure the Founding Fathers would be whistling a different tune today, if they came across the menagerie of mechanized destruction available to their citizens.  I'm sure they'd be busting out the Thesaurus and wording the amendment differently, so as not to be misconstrued by the borderline insane.  For sure, they wouldn't want today's mismanaged youth getting a hold of such weapons.

I've said it before and I will happily repeat this.  Unless there's a zombie apocalypse, there's really no need for ANY child to be picking up and firing off an assault weapon.  To do so, is completely insane.  We don't allow children to vote until the age of 18, because they're not educated enough to make an important decision like choosing the leader of the free world.  Children are not allowed to operate a motor vehicle until the age of 16, because it's believed their not coordinated enough to operate a sophisticated machine like a Buick or Toyota.  Yet, people believe a f*cking 9-year old girl should be intelligent and coordinated enough to proficiently operate an assault weapon..?  On Twitter this morning I came across a conversation between Anderson Cooper (@AC360) and Hollywood director, Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow), where the "This is 40" director argued that his "large for her age" six-year old shouldn't be discriminated against if she wishes to shoot a machine gun.  I hope he's only kidding, but if he's not, I hope his wife, Leslie Mann, slaps some sense into his head.

I know parents aren't in any hurry to have their kids grow up, and I believe that shooting real guns, will steal away their innocence, just as tragically as Father O'Brien's one-on-one tutoring sessions with little Billy after Sunday school.  As a kid, I liked the smell of freshly fired off paper cap gun strips.  So much so, that I would forgo the cap gun, spreading out the roll and using my dad's hammer to pop them off.  I doubt little Susie likes the air of GSR on her clothes after rattling out 50 rounds of 9mm shells.

As an adult, at my father's urging, I picked up a .22 rifle and shot a pigeon that was roosted in the old barn on the farm where I grew up.  I did not enjoy that experience, nor the guilt that I felt following it.  Another experience I had with a hand gun, was when I rung a door bell in Edmonton, Alberta.  The resident had been the victim of home invasion twice before and no longer took chances when a stranger rang his bell.  I was greeted with the largest barrel I've ever laid eyes on, pointed straight at me, aimed between my eyes.  The image to this day, still gives me debilitating shivers and nightmares.  Movies and video games have provided most of us with a fractured reality of what exactly these devices are and the reality of their destruction, completely disregarding the innocence that is lost in the process.

Given all the gun violence and school shootings in recent years, I can't wrap my head around the concept that "intelligent" people can't (or won't) support some kind of gun restriction or control to help regulate semi-automatic assault weapons.  It's inexplicable to me that their answer to gun violence is more guns.  And it blows my mind that they want their babies shooting right along side of them.

The Walking Dead is an amazing program.  I love every episode and never miss a single week, when it's on.  Have you noticed it takes place in the deep south?  I reckon it's because of the backward thinking of the rednecks.  Backward thinking like marrying your cousins and letting your pre-schoolers carry Mac-10 sub-machine guns in their backpacks. If there's a zombie outbreak in America, it's going to be a smorgasbord.  Nobody seems to be using their brains for much anyway.

Two hundred and twenty-seven years since the inception of the Bill of Rights...  How do we know the Founding Father's just wanted people to have the option to wear shirts without sleeves?  It's up for interpretation. 

What's The Matter, Slugger?

There's another story in the news about some kid, who after feeling bullied, brought a 12-gauge shotgun to school and shot a kid.  Thankfully, he was stopped by a teacher and a school counselor before he had a chance to turn the gun on two more intended targets.

After tragedies like this, the movie theater catastrophe last summer and the slaughter of twenty school children before Christmas, I don't understand why people, gun enthusiasts included, don't see that there's an obvious problem with firearms.  "It's our right to own guns!" they say, "The Second Amendment* says so..."

(*Second Amendment of the United States Constitution)

Isn't it funny how there's 27 amendments in the U.S. Constitution, but people seem to only remember that one, or the first when they want to shoot their mouths off, or the fifth when they wish not to incriminate themselves in a court of law.

When these tragedies occur and all the zealots are exclaiming there Second Amendment rights, I'm a little confused as to why NO ONE HAS REALIZED that the Second Amendment was proposed in 1789 and enacted in 1791, when a gun consisted of loading a lead ball into a barrel packed with batten and gun powder.  Of course it would've made sense to own more than one rifle.  Especially with the threat of foreign invasion looming over your head.  If the suggestion would've been made to the forefathers of the great nation of the United States, that one day there would be guns made that could shoot off 25 bullets within two seconds* of time, their unusually small and narrow minds would've strung you up for heresy.  I guarantee, however, that if there were a time machine available and any one of the founding fathers were brought to modern day America, that Second Amendment would read a little differently.

(*I just watched an episode of Mythbusters, where a Tech 9's magazine (25 bullets) was emptied in just 2 seconds...)

In previous blogs, I've stated how I was bullied in school growing up.  I never once considered grabbing a shotgun from home and blowing those kids away.  Of course, I lived on a farm and rode a school bus into the city, where I was schooled, so it would've been quite an ordeal to smuggle a rifle to school unbeknownst.  That or the fact that, even to this day, I have no idea how to load a shotgun with shells.  I believe my dad kept the shells up on a shelf and I was too short to reach them anyway.  But I digress.  The thought of blowing them away, never even entered my highly imaginative mind.

As I recall, one time, while cornered by a bully, I did grab a large stick that was close by.  That seemed to fend them off long enough to escape to safety.  This memory prompts me to wonder why these troubled kids, don't just resort to bringing a Louisville Slugger to school to take care of business.  A baseball bat would prove to be much more personal when attacking their attackers.  Shooting them from a distance, seems like the cowardly way out.  

Of course, we live in a world that needs to direct blame on someone else, rather than owning up to our own gaffes.  Just as guns get the blame for school shootings, so would pro wrestling or baseball be blamed for a kids whacking off kids with a Louisville Slugger and not the fact that the social cliques in our schools are seriously fractured.

I realize that these statements make it sound like I'm condoning school violence.  I'm NOT!!!  Really!!  Believe me, the whole premise of using "vigilante justice" to get even with school bullies, is completely alien and retarded, in my opinion.  Especially in an era where "anti-bullying" is very trendy.  All a troubled student need do, nowadays, is go to a school counselor or teacher and report the bullying incident.  If the school official fails to take the problem seriously, the bullied teen can simply add the words, "I'm feeling 'shooty'...!"  That ought to grab someone's attention.

I've always thought communication was malformed and unreliable.  In most cases, referring to my own experience, the reports go unresolved and lost in the jumble of everyday lives.  These days, communication is a vital necessity.  Whether it be with a teacher, a parent, or whomever.

The student, that I mentioned at the top of this page, who was shot by that kid with the shotgun, is in hospital recovering.  Hopefully they will survive this ordeal and won't be permanently affected by the ordeal.  The teacher and counselor who distracted and disarmed the shooter are, today, understandably shaken.  At the time they didn't know if he would add them to the list of casualties (or worse), but knew something had to be done to stop him.  They don't want to be referred to as "heroes", although their acts were heroic.  And as for the kid who brought his shotgun to school, officials say he will be tried as an adult.

Ironically, he felt victimized and bullied, hence his acting out so violently.  If convicted, he will go to prison where he's going to really be bullied by fellow inmates, bullied up his ass.  That boy's going to be someone's bitch, this much is certain...