I don’t even quite know what to say. I am devastated for those affected by the latest school shooting, but let’s be honest… you could read this on any given day and assume I’m talking about a different tragedy. It is relevant every single day in this country, because a mass shooting happens statistically every 60 hours.
When it comes to abortion, conservatives call themselves pro-life. When it comes to police brutality, they claim all lives matter (and even sometimes “blue lives matter”, which is nonsense, but I digress).
But when it comes to guns? All concern for the preservation of life goes right out the window.
To be absolutely clear, mass shootings are by and large a white male terrorist issue. These men are rarely actually mentally ill, these crimes are about rage rather than delusion. And yet, all the talk after a mass shooting occurs blames “mental illness, not politics”.
Alright, I’ll humor you for a moment. Say this was a problem about mental illness (even though people who are mentally ill are more likely to be the victims of abuse than the perpetrators)… okay. I am bipolar. I personally have shot revolvers, shotguns, rifles, handguns, etc. When I was a teenager, I loved shooting sports. The satisfaction of hitting a target and the exhilaration of the explosion were honestly really fun. But if I had wanted to use one of my grandfather’s weapons to harm someone? They were right there in my hands. My dad has a handgun in his bedside table. My mom’s husband literally has an assault rifle sitting in his dining room.
My family consist of upper middle class white people. My dad is a successful CEO, his girlfriend of ten years is a barre-obsessed housewife, my stepfather is a higher-up at a tech company, my mom is a business analyst. None of them hunt. None of them even shoot recreationally. And yet I have a ridiculous amount of access to firearms. Why? I have absolutely no idea.
Alright, so you personally feel safer having a handgun to “protect yourself”. But do I feel safer that you and your household have that firearm? No. The public is less safe with firearms everywhere. How are politicians paid off by the NRA so successful at debating such basic logic???
As for the second amendment… it is, itself, an amendment. They didn’t even have semi-automatic weapons back then. They had NO IDEA what they were allowing people to do in 2018.
We’re long overdue for a new amendment. Fucking obviously.
– A very angry, sad, and scared Ryn
The Fourth Leaf 