In 1962, you could order guns from mail order catalogs by simply sending in a check. I remember this quite well--I was in the 8th grade then. There were no background checks, no license required, & no restrictions. Almost anyone could get a gun. My dad took me out one time with his 20 ga. Remington pump shotgun and showed me the basics; how to load, unload, cross a fence, etc. I hunted quail with friends and we all were quite familiar with how to handle a firearm. We also knew how to field strip the birds by teaching each other.
There was no such thing as a mass shooting. What happened? It is not that difficult to ascertain with just common sense. What if I had not had a father to show me the basics--the basics were taught us so that we would not accidentally shoot oneself or those in our hunting party. It was a given that taking a life with a firearm was outside of the realm of possibility. We knew that of course; "Thou Shalt Not Kill" was part of our childhood instruction in church. What if we had not gone to church WITH both parents and siblings and seeing our friends in Sunday School and Church. We were taught parameters and boundaries; at home, in church and at school. Our parents reinforced what we were taught in school by reinforcing the teachers and administrators. Things were strict, very strict. Parameters and boundaries were strict and strictly enforced. Children need that, pre-teens and teens need that. One of the boys I raised told me after he graduated college that he appreciated my being strict. He is strict now too. He is raising a daughter and ended up adopting his wife's niece, whose home life was chaos. They live in Long Beach, CA but both girls are on their way to OU, not some crack house in LA like many of their contemporaries.
It was a given when we left high school, knowing the boundaries and parameters, we had the tools to make our own way, albeit learning as we lived that it was a challenge, but it was our challenge now. There was no basement at mommy's place to return if we stumbled. Dad was still there with mom and that was not an option. It all was a given with the two I raised and that was a known quantity.
If those boundaries, lines and parameters are compromised or abridged, the results are predictable. Nature is predictable and it is very instructive. Momma bird pushes baby bird from the limb to make them fly. Poppa bird may be nearby in case there is a crash but it is momma that does the pushing from the limb. If those baby birds aren't pushed, they will not fly. That should be clear. If there is no poppa bird nearby in case of a crash, the results are usually fatal.
Guns are here and here they will remain. We are supposed to have firearms. That is actually in the Constitution and in the statutes. We, you and I, are the militia. There are more firearms presently than people. That will not change, nor should it. What we need are strong momma birds and poppa birds, boundaries and parameters, and begin by filling in those basements with solid concrete, forever. Otherwise, move and do not leave a forwarding address.
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