Oh These Crazy Times

I think something was wrong with Haloscan the past couple days. The comments section on a lot of Blogs was messed up.

I watched Bowling For Columbine the other day. If you're not familiar, it's a documentary by Michael Moore, see earlier posts for comments on him, about gun ownership in America. It was pretty good, but I wish I could have watched it without paying money that will somehow filter down into his pockets. Here's my thoughts......

#1. Mike still seems to assert that we are a violent people because of guns. Even though his references to Canadian gun owners, and their low gun-related crime rate, points out that there must be something else at play here.

#2. Mike never makes mention of the family system that people come from. Everything but the people doing the killing are to blame for gun-related deaths. Mike talks about a 6 year old boy who shot a classmate. He shows his mother, and how she had to work two jobs 30 miles away under a 'work to welfare' program. Basically he points to this program and to her employer, a Dick Clark restaurant, as the reason her son killed another student. When, in reality, she wouldn't have a job without this program, and no one even questions why this lady even had a kid in the first place. Let's just move the responsibility right on down the line. . .no one wants to be responsible for anything these days. It's unamerican to say you did something wrong. What you should do is find out who made you do it and sue sue sue.

What I got out of this movie is that life is all about the victimization of criminals, and how they must have turned into killers because we, the American people, gave them guns when they came out of the womb. But it must not be P.C. these days to say that parents didn't take responsibility in raising their kids and teaching them things like how to not kill someone.

"Oh but Brandon, some parents have to work so much and can't be there and they have problems and they. . . . ."
yeah, well my answer to that is tough! If you're a parent, it is your responsibility to see that your children are brought up, educated, and become decent members of society. If you can't ball up and do that, than you have no business having kids.

"Oh you can't tell me what I can and can't do!! I have the right!!"
Hogwash! It's your responsibility, and when you can't own up to it, you get some help. You know what I see as a great love for their child? The mother who, instead of aborting, decides to give her unborn child up for adoption because she loves her child enough to know that she can't raise him/her decently. Reminds me of a little story with King Solomon in (1 Kings 3:16-28) Check it out. A parent that does whatever it takes for the best interest of his/her kid.

Whew
Now, we're forgetting one little part. Michael also seems to go about this with the assumption that all people are good at heart and society somehow 'turns' them into evil killing machines. On the contrary, I think that some people are by nature killers. This would be a whole nature vs. nurture argument, and I think it's a little of both. Some people are just crazy, and that's all there is to it. A parent shouldn't be to blame for a child who has serious social disabilities or some other mental incapacity. However, a parent should be held somewhat responsible if they acted in poor judgment or inadvertently aided in their child's crazy ways. A.k.a. the 6 year old who gets a loaded gun from his uncle's house.


In Conclusion
I grew up in a house that had more guns than I can shake a stick at. But here's the deal. I respect guns. I have a respectful fear of guns. In our house, it was made very clear that anytime I wanted to see the guns or check them out, we'd pull 'em out. Now, it was made clear, "Don't ever play with them when Dad's not around!" but anytime I wanted, I could say "Hey Dad, can I check out the .386 and the Berreta's we got in the closet?!" and we'd pull them out. I was taught to respect what a firearm could do. Anytime I wanted to shoot a gun my Dad would be more than happy to go down to the rifle range with me. None of this happened very often, but what it led to was a household where we didn't have an 'untouchable' item in the house. I was taught how to use guns properly, and my interest in guns wasn't looked down upon. (Just imagine the first time a kid is home alone in a house where Dad says "don't EVER touch the guns!!!" If you don't know, you're a moron) But in our home, when mom and dad took off, the guns were never brought out with my friends and I. Why? Because they weren't some big taboo secret.

Remember that huge oaf guy from Happy Gilmore? He had a shirt that said "Guns don't kill people. I kill people."
I agree with that. Of course there is a need for regulation, and I don't think that we should be able to get a gun at 7-11, but the bigger need is for proper education and parenting on the parts of all Americans. We have to stop passing the blame and own up to where we've dropped the ball. Getting rid of guns won't stop the violence. . . .That's like me getting a headache because of a brain tumor, and the doctor just gives me tylenol to ease the headache. We have to go the root of the problem, and the guns are being used in reaction to the bigger problem. What's the bigger problem? If I knew do you think I'd be writing it in some blog? All I know is a huge piece of the puzzle is our lack of ownership in the mistakes we make.

By the way, to this day I can't point a toy gun at someone without feeling at least a little bit guilty, thinking my Dad will jump out and tell me to never ever ever ever ever point a gun at someone. Whew, and he thought I never listened. . . .