ZERO is the number that comes to mind when I think of the victims that deserved to die in the 34 mass shootings within the first two months of 2018.
ZERO is the number that comes to mind when I think of families that suffered emotionally in the wake of these massacres.
ZERO is the number that comes to mind when I ask myself, "How many more shootings have to occur before America begins takings gun control seriously?"
As a girl who grew up in the south, I also grew up around guns. I asked for a pink rifle for Christmas when I was 12. I received one and learned to shoot it safely with well-experienced, knowledgable gunmen (aka my father and grandfather).
I received a true, seven-millimeter hunting rifle when I was thirteen and proceeded to kill my first buck with it that same year. Again, prior to execution, I learned the ins and outs of gun safety and gun handling with two trained, licensed hunters (again my father and grandfather).
My father has a walk-in gun safe with innumerable amounts of different types of guns, ranging from rifles to elephant guns, to hand guns, to models that he reworks and sells.
Being surrounded by this kind of pro-weapon testosterone might seem to certain people like a traumatizing childhood. I get asked often, "Doesn't having all those guns in your house freak you out?" Or, "How are you not scared to shoot a gun?" My answer is that safety is always a priority in my family when it comes to shooting.
Guns are not only a weapon, but pieces of artwork. The sheen on the barrels and the engraving on the arm and butt are no small tasks to undertake. Neither is the handling of one of those beautiful weapons. My father and grandfather instilled in me the value that guns are meant to be respected, not feared.
1. Always have the safety on until ready to shoot. 2. Always make sure the path of fire is clear before releasing the safety. 3. Always have a supervisor around until you are a licensed gun-owner. 4. Always relax and exhale to decrease your heart rate before firing. 5. Only handle a gun when hunting (only if licensed or supervised) or in cases of self-defense.
This value of respect is not placed on guns in today's messed up society of mass shootings. I feel like today, there are only two sides to the weaponry spectrum: those who fear guns, and those who abuse them.
To help solve this dualistic problem, I am doing what I know how to do best: writing.
Guns should certainly be made more difficult to obtain. There should be mandatory (and extensive) training sessions in which one should participate prior to acquiring a weapon. There should be harsher age restrictions to solo weapon handling. There should be more easily accessible and more widely distributed information regarding gun safety and there should be more people praised for using these weapons in the proper way.
The people who know how to use these weapons safely and who know how to respect them should be made prime examples in today's society. There is a way to live in a pro-gun family or even a pro-gun community and not fear their potential being abused.
If society is able to see how weapons are MEANT to be treated and MEANT to be handled, then maybe society will begin mending and its catastrophes and crises will diminish, if not disappear.
If guns continue to be feared and not respected (as they should be), anarchy will continue to grow and shootings will continue to prosper like a cancerous plague.
Gun control is already out there, we just need to do a better job of advocating it and praising those who are abiding by it.
