So this is a topic that comes around every once in a while and seemingly more frequently in the last few years. On one side you have the Pro Gun people talking about the constitution as if they wrap their entire lives up in the holiness and legalness of the document. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. You know their line. On the other side you have outraged parents talking about how we have very weak gun laws and they want the Government to make laws to change societies problems. When I started thinking about this topic I thought I would have so much to talk about but when you get right down to it here is the dilemma, guns are too easy to obtain legally but way easier to obtain illegally. From where I sit, better gun laws are probably a good idea but PARENTING is where the real problem lies. Yes I said it. Some 64% of mass shootings since 1982 have been white men looking for attention. It is difficult to talk about this in politics since most of the politicians are white men. I am from a generation where a parent stayed home and got all in my business about everything from teachers to school work to friends, both good and bad, and every other aspect of my life. At the time this seemed excessive and annoying but in retrospect it was great. I never felt alone or left out or whatever. Today we have more and more families working where both parents have their careers and work way over 40 hours each to “provide” for their children while nannies do the real parenting. This is so selfish and incomprehensible. Why have kids if you still want to put all of your focus on your own goals? Kennesaw Ga back in the 80’s made it a law for all heads of households to have a gun registered and keep ammunition for said gun. This town routinely is selected as one of the nations top 10 and 25 best place to raise a family and for safety(Google it). This exactly proves my point. Guns are not the thing making this town safe or homie, it’s the fact that everyone there is on board with the safety of their neighbors.
We can have arguments going all over the place on this but we all know that we live in a very selfish ADD world where we want it all and don’t want to sacrifice anything to get it. I’m not sure where this entitlement came from but we are in the middle of it and we have to find a way to remember that the American dream is not a dream of self righteousness but one of hard work and sacrifice to achieve a way of life and piece of mind.
Way Outside the Perimeter 
Can’t argue with better parenting. But by saying better parenting would result in less gun deaths, it kinda implies we are unique in the world with our bad parents. Because we are unique in the world with our gun deaths. That’s just how I interpreted it. But yes, I think we’ve all seen some pretty terrible parents.
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I am implying that Richard actually. But think about this, Alcohol was a big problem and we made laws against it and not only did it not work it created way worse problems. Meaning although guns and alcohol in this example are actually a problem, being more concerned with the symptoms rather than the cause is disturbing and irresponsible.
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I would take issue with comparing alcohol to guns but keeping this on parenting, what are your thoughts on punishing parents whose kids find their guns and shoot someone. And on a slightly different note, I’m sitting here at the airport and I’m seeing this little girl about 6 years old who is overweight. My inclination is to punish the parents but would putting that patent in jail help the situation? Or would fining the parents help the situation, I doubt it. It’s a tough issue for sure and I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know if we are unique in the world with bad parents. We may be. But we’re definitely unique in the world with our easy access to guns and the number of gun deaths. So my inclination is to look at how so many other countries have solved this problem. Maybe they are just putting a bandaid on the symptom.
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My memory is a little fuzzy. But I remember we went tohigh school where guys would show up with guns mounted in their trucks in the parking lot. We thought nothing of it.
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Great article man! The crazy thing is that I’m currently an assistant manager in a sporting goods dept. and I sell guns.. Alisa ( my wife) is a counselor at a mens state prison. We both never thought this would be our jobs. I have BA in Physical Education and Alisa has Masters Art Therapy. I meet people every day who think guns are the answer and are terrified of the world. They think having tons of guns are going to keep them safe. We have two little boys and I don’t feel the need to have guns. I have one but never use it and it is locked up. Alisa and I are very close to our boys. Alisa has a friend who she went HS with and this woman had a child at Sandy Hook luckily he was in 1st grade when the shooting took place. In my opinion we need to a mental health check with the purchase of a gun but I believe thats HIPPA violation. John thanks for the intelligent articles. I enjoyed reading your posts on FB about the Rebel flag fiasco as well.
Thx Rick
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