I’m a beginner using social media, slow to learn and accident-prone. Several days after an old friend from high school posted a note on Facebook, critical of Obama, proclaiming “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” I responded that I think guns have something to do with it – not very original, I admit. Because he is one of the very few friends I had in those days, I’m feeling guilty about my smart-ass response. We live thousands of miles apart and only recently got back in touch. It seems we’re also a few miles apart politically, but I respect his intelligence and value our friendship. So, Ralph, what I meant to say:
During the Korean War, I carried an M3 .45-caliber submachine gun, but I never killed anyone. In Michigan, I used a double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun to shoot ducks from a “blind” on an island in Lake Michigan – I am deeply sorry for that. And, for many years, I had a license to carry a handgun; I trained with the Las Vegas Police, but I never shot anyone. I value our right to bare arms. However, I am not thrilled that President Obama agrees with the currently accepted version of the Second Amendment that seems to extend that right to nearly everyone in the theater watching Batman.
I sold my shotgun, became a vegetarian, and carried a weapon only to protect my boss, who often received death threats. I have no fear of our government or President Obama taking away the Beretta locked in my cabinet, and I have long since turned in all my other weapons. However, I really don’t want my next-door neighbor to start target practicing with his AK47, or carry his handgun into our local market looking for – what, food to eat?
If you want to carry a weapon, join the Army. If you want to protect your loved ones, vote for some reasonable gun control laws.
Jac Flanders is the author of “What I Learned On The Way Down,” eBook and paperback versions from Amazon.com
