Highly Misplaced Honor

Just read the following in Heather’s latest newsletter:

The far-right, pro-gun “Second Amendment Caucus” today hosted Kyle Rittenhouse, the 19-year-old who shot three men, killing two of them, in summer 2020 during a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and who was later acquitted of homicide. 

Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) made the following comment about Rittenhouse’s appearance:  

“It was an honor to have Kyle join the Second Amendment Caucus. He is a powerful example of why we must never give an inch on our Second Amendment rights, and his perseverance and love for our country was an inspiration to the caucus.”

Is it just me or do others find it not only disgusting, but sickening as well, that a person who needlessly SHOT AND KILLED two individuals and walked away scot-free is given accolades such as this?

How can ANY individual who respects human life and all it stands for declare that Kyle Rittenhouse’s actions were a “powerful example” of the “rights” declared in the Second Amendment?

Perhaps it was the way I was raised, but it is so completely beyond my understanding that ANYONE would heap praise and verbal trophies of approval on an individual who KILLED two people (and injured a third) using a gun that he should never have had in the first place!

I’m sorry, but I simply cannot agree that allowing an individual to buy, own, and use a gun to shoot and kill others and then walk away scot-free was the goal behind those who wrote the Second Amendment.

The personal ego already has a strong element of dysfunction, but the collective ego is, frequently, even more dysfunctional, to the point of absolute insanity.
–Eckhart Tolle

A Message for Gun Owners

Inanimate Guns

Again and again we hear the mantra … “Guns don’t kill people … people kill people.” And often someone will add … “Guns are inanimate objects; they just lay there until someone picks one up and uses it.”

And while there is some merit to this reasoning, one cannot help but wonder … what if the gun were not there to pick up and use?

As I’ve stated before, I have no problem with responsible gun-owners who use their guns to hunt, target shoot, skeet shoot, collect, etc.

But where do we draw the line? How do we know the person who walks into the gun store to buy a gun is a “responsible” individual?

Background checks help. Waiting periods help. BUT, neither one seems to stop the senseless GUN KILLINGS that continue to affect our nation.

What’s the answer? Do we take away all the guns as other countries have done? I think most people would agree this will never happen in the U.S., primarily because of the Second Amendment, but also because the gun-loving populace (and the NRA lobbyists) would never let it happen.

Some have suggested more stringent gun-buying requirements, similar to car purchases. Others have suggested, at the very least, eliminating the availability of assault weapons (but what about those who already have them?). Still others have pushed for more and better mental health services.

Of course, the common response is that no matter what restrictions are placed on guns and/or gun purchases … the “criminals” will still be able to get and use a gun for their nefarious purposes. And unfortunately, there is much truth to this.

So what do we do? Do we continue to fight over this issue while our children and other innocent family members and friends lose their lives in unprovoked and senseless killings?

Below is a suggestion made by “The Other 98%” on Facebook. While it addresses the abortion issue as well (and is obviously tongue-in-cheek), I feel there is some merit behind the message as related to guns.

I bring this issue to the forefront of my blog because I live in Oregon, not too far from the Roseburg massacre. I did not know any of the killed or injured, but the proximity of the incident definitely has had an effect in our community.

I think we can all agree … there are no easy answers. But answers are something we urgently need to find. And soon.

P.S. I just came across this article. Unfortunately, nothing has changed.