The hunter was moving slowly, picking each step carefully. A misplaced step would scare the prey. The crackle of a leaf or the snap of an obscured twig would prove to be the difference between hunting success or hunting failure. He continues to move. The prey would be much more difficult to find if it were not for his trusty dog, Goldie. Goldie, that ever faithful dog of a Labrador mix combined with an unknown breed that produced the best hunting dog the hunter had ever owned. Even though the dog was jet black, the medium sized dog was named Goldie when the hunter got him as a pup. The young hunter had made up his mind about the dog’s name before his father brought it home.
They move further, eyes straining to get the slightest glimpse of the elusive prey. Goldie’s sensitive nose was in the air. The dog was using all of its amplified, hunting senses to locate the prey. And then finally, a slight movement. Both dog and man perceived it at the same time. There it was! Both dog and man froze. No time for rash movements or noises. The hunter inched slowly to the nearest tree, never taking his eyes off the elusive animal. The prey, now sensing danger, did not know if it should run or attack. Once the hunter got to the tree, he took a steady position by leaning against it. He slowly raised his rifle. He took aim. The hunter focused on the front sight, then the prey, then back to the front sight and then the rear sight. He had the perfect sight picture. The dog was becoming restless, but like the hunter, Goldie was patient and did not make a move or sound. The hunter exhaled until practically all the breath was out of his lungs. Then, with the experience of a hundred hunts, the hunter delicately squeezed the trigger. A trigger squeeze, that if done to rapidly or with a tug would throw off the aim. The shot rang out and echoed through the forest. And then………………..
And that, dear readers, is gun control. Steady position, aim, perfect sight picture, breath and trigger squeeze. But unfortunately for us, that is not what is meant when the media is talking gun control
The media, bleeding heart liberals and even the POTUS is blaming all of the current unfortunate shootings on the lack of gun control. This is a fancy way of saying that they want to remove all guns from all Americans…..that is their idea of gun control.
I have another take on this issue. We don’t need gun control the way it has been put forth, what we need is people control. Let me explain my idea for people control.
1. I would pass a federal law stating that any person committing a crime with a gun is automatically given a ten year sentence to be served in a federal penitentiary. No appeal, no parole, no pardon. That person would have to serve the entire sentence. Do you think that would make someone think twice about robbing a 7-11, a bank, or even holding a family at gunpoint during a break-in? Then, this person would have a trial to determine how much additional prison time they get for the particular crime they actually committed. If they did rob a bank or a 7-11, they might get an additional 15-20 years tacked onto the initial 10 years. Do you think this would be a deterrent for anyone committing gun violence?
2. If someone commits murder with either a gun or a bomb, they get the death penalty. That’s right. Grandpa T is advocating a federal law stating that if a murder is committed with either a gun or a bomb, the guilty party receives the death penalty. Period. If this law was enacted, do you think that it would be a deterrent?
3. Anyone caught carrying a concealed weapon without the proper permit, has all of their weapons confiscated, is heavily fined, and serves a specified amount of time in jail. If you feel the need to carry a concealed weapon, a permit would have to be applied for through appropriate channels. I propose a rigorous background check before granting these permits.
I can’t make it any simpler. I think that all three of the proposed measures would certainly be a deterrent to crimes involving guns. It is a get-tough policy, but the law abiding citizens need not worry. They need to be protected. I don’t care if we have to build 100 new prisons, or put a fence around Rhode Island to hold all the prisoners. If you want to have ‘gun control,’ you need to start with people control.
It gores my bull that the convicted Colorado theater shooter, James Holmes, did not receive the death penalty for the 12 people he killed during his shooting spree. It really gets my undies in a bunch that the death sentences for the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan and the Boston bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has not been carried out. Amazingly, the appeals process afforded these last two people before their sentences are carried out, could be 10 years or more! Is there any question that these men committed the crimes?
At this point, I am writing an open letter to the politicians of the United States: We, the majority of the people of the United States, are not interested in ‘rehabilitating’ mass murderers. We, the majority of the people of the United States, are not interested in supplementing the existence of mass murderers at taxpayers’ expense in any of our penal institutions. Therefore, we would like to see the aforementioned three laws passed, and the appeal process for murderers restricted to 6 months or less before their execution is carried out.
That is the way that Grandpa T would enact gun control. It would be done with people control. But what brand of gun control is being bantered by liberals, the media, by celebrities and by politicians?
Somehow, in the amazing world of Wonderland where they live, these gun control advocates think they can disregard the Second Amendment, wave a magic wand, and make all guns disappear. I have bad news for these people. You have been sniffing too much of your fairy dust because you will never, ever make over 300 millions guns disappear in America. And, if you could theoretically convince the public to turn in their weapons, only the law-abiding people would do it. Do you think the criminals will do it? The end result would be a country where the law-abiding citizens are unarmed and the criminals are armed. What kind of pandemonium would that situation bring?
Unfortunately, as good as my laws are and as well intended as they are to protect the public, there is one large flaw in my people control policy. The media skirts the issue, the celebrities skirt the issue and the POTUS has skirted the issue all the while they are pounding on their podiums about gun control. They have skirted the issue of psychopaths. Yes, those people that would go to any lengths to kill innocent people to achieve their 15 minutes of fame, even if it means the loss of their own life. Recently, we had the Oregon shooting by Christopher Harper-Mercer. Christoper killed nine people and wounded nine others at a rural community college before committing suicide. The Sandy Hook elementary school shooter, Adam Lanza killed 20 children and 6 adults before taking his own life. I know of no logical way that either of these events could have been stopped with any of the present gun legislation or any other gun control measures. The fact is, they would have gotten their weapons somewhere to conduct these heinous killings, regardless of the laws. They were crazy, and how exactly do you control crazy?
The American public has difficulties coming to grips with people that will wantonly murder and then take their own lives. We have trouble coming to grips with suicide bombers. Our problem is, we appreciate life too much and cherish it dearly.
I want to put forth a premise that is designed to be thought provoking: Do you think any of these murderers would have done their killing if they knew the victims were armed? The Colorado shooter passed two other theaters to get to the theater that had a sign posted stating that ‘no guns are allowed.’ Would he have been as brave in his mission if some of those theater goers were returning fire? Would the Sandy Hook shooter or the Oregon shooter been as likely to have done their dastardly deeds if they knew the teachers or students were armed? This is compelling because, if they were stopped immediately they would not have finished their mission, and thus, not received their 15 minutes of fame. This is not advocacy for arming everyone old enough to pull a trigger, but a way of further defining the problem.
Oh……about the little hunting story? It was me and my dog, and yes the dog’s name was Goldie. The prey? Why, it was those vicious tree climbing rats with bushy tails. Or as most people call them, squirrels. We ate them. Goldie was a fantastic dog. We hunted together for pheasants, partridge, ducks and geese. Goldie was always waiting to recover any game that I bagged. If I missed the shot, Goldie gave me a condescending look as if to say, “What am I doing out here, if you keep missing?” It was similar to the look that Grandma P gives me for watching football all day Saturday and all day Sunday. (Really. Would you have read this piece if you knew it was about squirrel hunting?)