I'm sick of talking about Guns without Clint Eastwood references

This image was illustrated by Arnie Bermudez

I was raised on cowboy movies and good guy cheesy 80's action heroes. So of course I'm naturally inclined to be on the guns' side of the great gun control debate that plagues this country in this day and age. It was brainwashed into my being when Rambo saved the POW's and Jose Wales sought revenge for his family spitting on people's foreheads before he shot them. But it's more than just Chuck Norris killing terrorists based on a true story...

Before I get started, I want to share my husband owns guns. I hate them. I don't want them in the house though they are here. It's nice to have a rifle like weapon in the case of economic collapse and zombie apocalypse, but outside of that, I don't want them near my kids, though I let him take the oldest shooting. My father, the man who raised me on 80's action heroes, the religiously zealous conservative, the Marine, never owned a gun. I wanted them as a teenager for "protection," and my dad informed me he didn't need a gun to protect his family. He knew better ways to "neutralize" an attacker than a gun. Police will tell you the best ways to defend your home... lock the doors. Get a dog. Most criminals are opportunity seekers. In my case, my house is protected (despite the guns) by poverty. We have nothing worth stealing, and nothing worth raping.

Back to gun control...

A recent Harvard Study suggests fewer guns doesn't necessarily mean less crime. They compared homicide and suicide in DEVELOPED countries with gun ownership and found out in many cases, the increased gun control areas had increased homicide rates (for instance, Russia).

Then you have oodles of articles like this where it's obvious the crime is higher in areas with more gun control policy...

Some studies that did show a correlation in the past, usually within the United States, has shown a correlation between gun ownership and homicide rates, but one of the studies suggested in its research that people in high crime areas are more apt to purchase guns, as opposed to all the guns causing the violence.

Yes, you people have been looking at it wrong. Guns don't cause people to be violent. Violence causes people to go buy guns. I'm not saying this over a period of time as much as you see more gun ownership and homicide rates in the larger, more populated cities than you do in suburbia. Face it, if you were going to move from a penthouse to the ghetto you wouldn't drive through without locking your car doors and ducking, you'd buy a gun.

Now I know some people seem to believe Violence in the US is on the rise. Well in recent history, that's not the case.

A wonderful article explaining the decline in violence...

Let's delve into human history. I think it's safe to say we are less violent as a human race, despite Mexico and Afghanistan, than we ever have been in the history of the human race. This is why people perceive us to have "evolved," at some point as a civilization. Even our wars are more humane and less violent, as we just blow shit up instead of raping and pillaging those we didn't bludgeon with a sword. I'm saying this to give perspective. Humans were much more violent BEFORE the invention of the gun. Crusades. Spanish Inquisition...

We were also much more violent before the invention of gangsta rap... (that was the last bandwagon in cased you missed it).

On the subject of Gun Control, we do need some gun control in the United States. We have gun trafficking issues and laws that interfere with our ability to crime control and crime prevent. According to National Gun Victims Action Council:

• Keeping crime gun trace information secret: Until 2002, the ATF released aggregate crime gun trace reports to local police departments, researchers, policymakers and public safety advocates. The reports revealed for the first time that 1.2% of federally licensed gun dealers supply 57% of the guns used in crime. But, bowing to pressure from the gun lobby, Congress voted to restrict police access to crime gun trace data and cut off public access altogether. These restrictions, known as the Tiahrt Amendments (named for the Kansas Congressman who sponsored the bill), have passed in every Department of Justice budget since 2003, despite the fact that prominent law enforcement associations oppose them as a serious threat to public safety.

• Handcuffing the ATF: The ATF, the sole government agency charged with enforcing federal gun laws, has operated without a permanent director since the Bush Administration, and operates with just 1,800 agents to monitor approximately 77,000 gun dealers. Given these constraints, it would take ATF 22 years to inspect all federally licensed gun dealers. Even if the ATF had the manpower to inspect most gun dealers, federal law limits the agency to a single unannounced inspection of a dealer in any 12-month period. Congress has made it increasingly difficult for the ATF to revoke licenses of crooked gun dealers.

• An absence of records: It is impossible for law enforcement to know the whereabouts of millions of firearms in circulation today because Federal law explicitly bars the ATF from establishing a database of retail firearms sales, and private gun sellers are not required to keep a paper trail of transactions. Prior to 2001, federal authorities maintained criminal background check records for up to six months. Under President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft reversed this policy and ordered the destruction of all criminal background check records within 24 hours. Even though the General Accounting Office found that destroying these records endangers public safety, the policy remains in effect.

I honestly think every gun should be treated like a car. There should be a VIN/GIN number (serial number) in a database that is actively updated. Every gun owner should obtain a license to have a gun, one that includes a background check verifying US citizenship and address, requiring the passing of a test about gun laws and safety, and maybe requiring completion of a gun safety course that includes safety tips for storing the gun, tracking your gun, and special circumstances for those who aren't mentally healthy. Responsible gun owners have no problem being responsible with guns, and this is just one way to do it. It will only annoy irresponsible gun owners, and we don't care what they think because they are irresponsible. A national registration not only would make it easier for the ATF to track gun sales, but it would also make it easier for police to investigate gun related crimes.

What people really seek isn't gun control as much as crime control. Let's face it, our crime enforcement could use a little reform. We see too many stories of police brutality, crimes happening because the police didn't arrive fast enough, and crimes that can't be prevented due to the current legislation (such as stalking and harassment). We need stricter enforcement of our law enforcement. We need to expand their training to cover social work and mental health awareness. We need to invest time, energy, and resources into improving police reaction to crimes in progress.

I know the mass shootings have people uneasy. I'm uneasy. I drop my kids off to school thinking what would I do if it happened here? Parents open the locked door for other parents all the time. Are they thinking what I'm thinking when they do? Are they profiling the person they are letting in making sure they are safe enough to enter the sacred school grounds?

But the fact of the matter is, outside of conspiracy theories about bank snitches, many of the school shooters have a psychological condition. I did a huge paper in my Child Psych class on school shooters (as assigned by the teacher), and I was looking for meds the shooters were taking. There were some taking meds, some not on meds, and others we will never know thanks to HIPAA, but there was definitely a trend in psychological diagnosis. It wasn't autism. It was mentally unhealthy with suicidal tendencies, period. Some were victims of bullying; others were victims of their own inner-bullies. One school shooter was the son of a man who shot up a place (nature vs nurture).

I wrote about this recently, in a snarky, bitchy post about mental health awareness as opposed to gun control, but I hit some ways to approach mental health awareness.

Meanwhile, we have a huge public education problem. Outside of standardized tests plaguing the system like a nasty case of the herpes and schools not making progress, (SAT 9 was the best, go back to it please), outside of the fact that our kids graduate stupid and can't compete with most developed countries in the world, and despite the fact that we have too much policy on things that don't matter (like education neglect for illness) and not on things that do matter (like anti-bullying policy and special needs in general), and not only do the schools seem to care more about looking good on paper and sucking up than they do about actual learning, people are afraid to take their kids to school. What can we do about that?

How about we expand our police and require one posted at school during hours of operation, more than one for larger schools, with a dog trained to sniff out bombs? We can smack 2 birds with one stone with this one. We'd increase jobs, increase crime control, reduce fights in the schools, and increase security in the schools safely. I know some people fear a "police state," but seriously, when I was younger and prettier, the clubs had bouncers, and the 24 hour restaurant for breakfast afterwards had a cop. Like if we can protect the drunks that way, we can definitely protect the kids that way.

The important thing is we, as a country, should deal with scary things with bravery and courage. With our minds in the right place. Our hearts in the right place. We shouldn't react with the same irrationality that created the problem. We had terrorists take our planes in the 80's, and what did we do? We made a Chuck Norris movie about it. It happened again in the 90's, and what did we do? Increased security where we pat down toddlers and the elderly for fingernail clippings and hair spray and then blow a large portion of our budget on homeland security spying on our internet usage and cell phone calls. Then we started a war with a guy who had nothing to do with it until we got a president who went after the right bad guy. Basically, we used it to further stupid political agendas of assholes who don't care about your safety. Assholes that make it into conspiracy theories that make you think aliens might be real because it makes more sense than the truth as we know it. This is the chaos that will be the fall of America if we don't stop that shit. I know, my cops in schools idea sounds irrational, but every bar does have a bouncer does it not? Every major bank and court has a security guy. Priorities people.
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And I wrote this in response to a lot of bloggers writing to our congress, and what I really ask of Congress? Please, any members of the Congress reading this... I know your party's platform has you on the phone fundraising more than doing anything productive for the people you serve. I know many times you vote for things you didn't read, and many others based on what so and so at top sponsor of your campaign feels. Just so you know, they do have a word for that: people who sell out for money. They have lots of words for that. Lots of insulting mean words like sell-out. Traitor. Sell your soul to Satan. Backstabber. Whore. Don't be those words. Those voters, those "nobody's" are supposed to be your boss. We are the people you are supposed to be serving. Keep us in mind when you make decisions.

I know our voices are loud, many, distracting, somewhat ignorant, and contradictory. You can't make everyone happy. The subject of gun control has the nation split into many different pieces, but I pledge allegiance to the American Flag and to the republic for which it stands, ONE NATION, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with the liberty and justice stuff, and like the whole pledge seems to be a lie. The sad fact is all we have to bring us together is our Congress, and you guys suck at that. Then politics is in charge of the justice system, and they suck at the justice thing too. I mean, our country sucks at everything it stands for. Equality? Nope. Liberty? Not anymore. Justice? Haha, never happened.

But the main point is while we are divided on what to do, we aren't that divided for what we want. I think pretty much the whole nation wants to go a very long time without seeing anymore articles about a mass shooting. For every problem, there is usually more than one solution to fix it, and I think instead of arguing about which way you should solve it, maybe you should use that brain of yours that is so educated and fabulous to make you qualified to make your salary and give you that massive spending budget, and come up with a solution that is win-win.

And please remember, when you say really stupid shit, yes that makes you famous for a minute, but not in a good way. I just don't think you guys realize the distinction between famous and infamous.

And just so you know, using a tragedy to serve your political agenda while instilling fear into the masses to see things your way, well, that is mighty white of you. Bang. Clint Eastwood reference.