Indigo Gael: 2nd Amendment

Monday, June 13, 2016

2nd Amendment

While my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the terrible tragedy in Orlando (especially as a member of the LGBTQA community myself), I must take a stand that I know many, particularly in my area, disagree with.
I AM NOT AGAINST PLACING FIREARMS IN THE HANDS OF RESPECTABLE, LAW ABIDING CITIZENS. There. I've said it. But maybe many of you even already know that. I'm an NRA member, as a matter of fact. I have an NRA sticker on the back windshield of my Corolla and a "Don't Tread On Me" sticker on my back bumper. In my house, even the word "gun" is pretty much forbidden. (I remember my one SAR instructor telling us about how his eight year old son owns three firearms-and me half-jokingly, half-serious saying to him, "Dude, don't ever tell my parents that! They'd call the cops on you! I was never even allowed to play with water pistols!") However, I myself have never seen anything wrong with handing firearms to responsible, law abiding men and women. I totally believe in the 2nd Amendment, and I even do dare to consider myself part of the "state militia." However, it is true that nutjob assholes like these do ruin it for responsible gun owners. Their wrong actions are not only physically harming people, they are also hurting the law abiding citizens who wish to exercise their 2nd amendment rights. No law abiding citizen should have to hand in their guns because of a couple of shit bags. Not going to help anyone-and a fat lot of good "gun free" zones are going to do to anyone. Keep in mind that someone who has a truly criminal mindset (and I am majoring in Criminal Justice, FYI!) *is* going to get their hands on a gun regardless. And if they burst into a joint full of unarmed people, no one-and I do mean no one-is going to be able to stop them. Sorry, but let's face the cold, hard facts: The only thing that's going to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.
We recently observed the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. (See my story "A Nation Once Again"!) That is a good example. A bunch of brave men and women stood up and took up arms against what they believed was an oppressive, unjust empire. To fight radicals, extremists, etc. that is eventually what we will have to do again. And I'm no longer one to cower. For those of you who knew me as "Giggles"-I've changed. Reading this, I do understand that many of it sounded harsh and I did not intend to come off that way. However, I simply would like to establish how serious I am. If even a small handful of individuals at that nightclub had been armed, the tragedy could have been much smaller.
Dagda and Danu bless us all. Don't Tread On Me!