2125 Buck Up

As tragedy after tragedy involving guns unfolds in the news it kind of makes you wonder. So many of them are misguided. Literally.

Here's an interesting statistic I got from The Week magazine when I was looking up a story on Rand Paul: The number of Americans killed in all wars since 1775 is 1.17 million. The number of Americans killed by firearms, including suicides, since just 1968, is 1.38 million.

With friends likes us who needs enemies.

Many involve automatic or semi-automatic weapons with rapid fire capability. That may be a crucial piece to look at in solving at least part of the problem. Because even with large magazine rapid-fire technology lots of people survive. The truth is, most people aren't very good shots.

 

Case in point. Hunters. The other day before dawn I was looking out my back window and noticed my security lights had been triggered by something. I looked over near my apple tree and saw a young two-point buck standing there. He looked casually at the bright spotlight then proceeded to bend down and eat. Totally cocky and unconcerned. He appeared to be eating apple tree leaves, and I thought, go for it bucky, there's plenty of 'em. 

The thing is, if I’d had a rifle I could have had meat for the winter. He was only 20 feet away. Why didn't humans scare him? That reminded me of the previous Sunday morning when I was awakened by shots about 500 yards away in the nearby woods. 

Ah, I'd thought, hunting season, they'll stop soon. Nope, eventually 20 shots rang out. All from the same place. I think someone needs to take up a new hobby. 

So. My solution. Let folks keep their weapons. But just the ones they have to aim.  

America, ya gotta love it.