I think the pot's gonna be stirred when I ask this...
Do you reckon the America's gun laws needs more tightening?
I think that might be a good idea. Australia did that after 96 or 97 Port Arthur Massacre.....
I don't think its the gun laws that are the problem. It is society's attitudes. We have become so indiviudalistic and self-centered that we have lost all empathy and concern for anything or anyone other than ourselves. Private citizens owned guns 50 years ago, and things like this weren't happening. The social climate was different.
For example, I grew up with guns in the house. My father and my brother were both hunters. I was taught to shoot at the age of 6, because my father believed that if there were going to be guns in the house, the children should know how to use them in order to prevent accidents from happening. No one in my family ever considered using those guns as a weapon against another human being. But, as well as being taught how to use a gun, I was taught responsibility and concern. I was given the message that I have an obligation as a human being to be fair and just and caring toward my fellow man. I was taught that if I feel that another has done me wrong, before I take action to get revenge, I need to try and see the situation from the other person's viewpoint. Perhaps they had a very good reason for their actions, perhaps they were in a position that meant they could not do anything differntly, perhaps they had not been taught that certain actions were hurtful toward others, etc, etc, etc. In other words, find out the reason, and then do something positive to change their behavior. Striking back only means that you are engaging in the destructive behavior as well, and as the old saying goes, "Two wrongs do not make a right."
Here's a story: my family owned a deli and market when I was younger. This was back when soda pop bottles were made of glass, and were returned to the store for a nickle deposit. When customers would return their bottles, my father would store them outside in back of the building until the delivery man came to pick them up.
There was a family that lived a couple of blocks away that had several children, and a father that was out of work much of the time due to problems with alcohol. The mother worked, but did not make enough to support the family on her own. The social welfare programs were not what they are today...food stamps, aid for dependant children, etc. Anyway, about once a week, two of the older girls from the family would come in with a case of empty pop bottles. They would request the return deposit in cash, and then would use the cash to buy other food items.
My father knew that they were stealing the bottles from behind the store, and then bringing them in to get the money. And every time it happened, he smiled, gave them the money, and then let them purchase whatever they wanted in food. When I asked him about it, after I had witnessed them taking the bottles, he said, "I know they are stealing the bottles." Pressed further, he said, "those people have to eat, Jill. That family is doing the best it can. We have what we need. It doesn't take food out of out mouth to just go along with their game." I asked why he didn't just give them the food they wanted, then, and he explained that this was their way of keeping some sort of dignity in the face of their neighbors. It was bad enough to be put in the situation that they were in, and no purpose could be served by making it worse and humiliating them, and making them feel that they were bad and wrong and worthless. He told me we all had pride, and I would not want to be embarrassed and humiliated in front of my friends and neighbors just because I was having hard times that were not always my fault, and therefore, it would be wrong to do that to another human being.
I also grew up watching my father deliver food baskets at Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter and then come home and cry because the poor conditions some of these families were living in just broke his heart. Often these were families who had a head of the family who was disabled and unable to work, or were a single parent home due to the death of a spouse, etc. They were doing the best they could. He also delivered toys to undrepriviledged children at Christmas, delivered grocery items to elderly people free of charge, and allowed people to charge items in the store knowing that some of the time, he would never see payment. Never did he make a neighbor go without because they were a few pennies short.
My father did all of this without expecting that he would be recognized for his actions. He did it because he believed it was the right thing to do. He did it quietly, and if anyone tried to praise him for his generosity, he always brushed the praise aside. His attitude was that he did it simply because it needed to be done, and it was the right thing to do.
By the same token, had someone entered the store and threatened my father with a gun and the intent to rob him, he would have been indignant that someone would try to take from him that which he would have simply given if only asked. He would not tolerate that kind of behavior. But would he have shot the person? Only if his life was in danger. My father was also an ex-Marine, and very capable of defending himself. But he was never put in that position. No one ever tried to rob him, because they knew it wasn't necessary. If they needed something, all they had do was ask. If he had it, and it was in his power to provide it, he would. And never once would he look down on you for having the need, or for asking. My father was respected and loved, because he respected and loved others. And he expected that you would behave in a respectful manner.
My father wasn't any different from many of the people I grew up with. Everyone had this attitude. As a consequence, crime rates were lower, homelessness was rare, school shootings and drive by shootings were non-existent, and 17 year old boys did not loose their lives for pulling a prank. Children could cut up their lunch without getting arrested, and if they didn't have any lunch, someone would give them something to eat.
I know I have gone off topic, and on a rant just to answer a question about gun laws, but it was the only way I know to explain that it is not the increased restrictions on guns that we need, it is a change in our attitude toward our fellow man. The change has to come from within us, as people, before we will see any improvement in what is going on outside ourselves.
Thanks for letting me drone on!
