Friday, July 12, 2013

Guns & Us

George Zimmerman will be acquitted. This is my prediction.

Years of working within the court system taught me something about the law: it is relies upon facts, evidence, and reasonable doubt. Based upon everything I’ve read about the trial, a jury will be hard pressed to find him guilty of the specific legal definition of 2nd degree murder. Involuntary manslaughter would’ve made more sense….. then again, I wasn’t privy to the evidence used when the charges were filed.

This isn’t why I’m writing about George Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin today, though. I’m writing about them because there is a much larger, massive elephant in the room that we aren’t talking about: our own personal responsibility.

It’s no secret that conceal and carry permits are on the rise or that gun sales went viral following the mass shooting of children in Newtown and the subsequent request by the President to go back to the drawing board regarding gun safety regulations.

I’ve noticed the gun fever in my simple day to day life. I recently flew on a plane next to a couple who were avidly perusing gun enthusiast magazines and eagerly discussing the next purchases they were going to make.

I went to lunch with my best friend and her co-worker. When, in the course of the conversation, the co-worker was asked if she was planning to get her conceal and carry, she replied between sips of Mocha “Oh yeah, it’s so cool. I’m, like, sure I’ll be getting it soon.”

Groupon has a special sale price for the Conceal and Carry Class.

Facebook has been oozing with Red State lingo, such as “pry from my cold dead hands”. Photos of cute pink handguns are even making the rounds.

And, sadly, the dialogue continues to be dominated by Team George and Team Treyvon….both sides so certain they know what happened in the final waning minutes of that night, both teams so sure that the case is about restricting gun rights, that it’s about racism, or that it’s about self defense.

The dialogue needs to be about us. It needs to be about facing our current laws and how each and every American plans to deal with the reality of hand guns.

We have a second amendment. Until someone can miraculously make a trip back in time to talk to the Founding Fathers, we can never truly know how they would respond to today’s technology, today’s attitudes towards guns, and today’s interpretation of their monumental Constitution. If you claim to be the holder of this knowledge then you are lying. No one can completely know, particularly when so many constitutional scholars interpret the wording in the 2nd amendment so differently. I have my own opinion, but that doesn’t mean it is completely correct.

That leaves us with one glaring thing we can control: ourselves.

So here are my general thoughts.

If you are a parent, start teaching your child today, yesterday if possible. Teach them to never raise their voice or get into any type of verbal altercation with another American. The consequences could mean the end of their life.

Teach your child to never, ever, walk at night alone.

Teach your child to assume, always, that every person they pass on the street, in the mall, on campus, and on the highway is in possession of a conceal and carry firearm and that the person will be willing and eager to use it.

Teach your child from the moment they are born to control their anger. If you see signs early on that this could be a problem for them, get professional help. Down the road, it could mean the difference between a confrontation with a gun or another day of living.

If you are thinking to yourself “just teach them to get their own gun” then please stop reading now. Not every American wants to carry a gun, NOR SHOULD THEY HAVE TO. Your thinking is part of the problem.

If you possess a conceal and carry permit, use George Zimmerman as an opportunity to ask yourself “what would I have done”.

Ask yourself if you are the type of person who responds to situations with emotion or caution. Are you calm, cool, and collected or are you prone to hysteria and excitement? Do you have a short fuse?

Ask yourself why you want to conceal and carry and be honest and reflective in your answers. Do you live or work in a dangerous area? Are violent crimes on the rise or have you or someone you know been the victim of a violent crime?

Ask yourself if you truly feel competent in the use of hand guns.

Ask yourself if your guns are safely secured, in a manner that allows you to access them in an emergency but that also keeps them secure from others.

Ask yourself if you could live with the knowledge that you killed an innocent person, or any person for that matter.

Regardless of the outcome of this case, a few things are certain. Treyvon Martin’s parents will never have an opportunity to teach their son the importance of the saying “safety in numbers” or the importance of assuming every stranger possesses a handgun, will be willing to use it, and should therefore be avoided at all cost.

Zimmerman will spend the rest of his life replaying that night in his mind, for he is the only person alive who knows what happened…..who knows what he was thinking…..and who has to know, within his deepest soul, that if he had listened to the true professionals - who intimated he should remain in his truck and said they were on their way - Treyvon Martin would most likely still be alive today.

Yes, maybe possessing a gun can save you from the bad guy. Yes, the second amendment guarantees some level of gun rights and as long as it is legal, each and every one of us has the right to conceal and carry if we so choose. But neither the constitution nor a gun can guarantee common sense, a clear head, or the level of respect so vitally needed on the part of any person in possession of a weapon so deadly and originally created for one purpose and one purpose only.

Until we can find a way to guarantee those un-quantifiable but potentially life-saving human qualities, we can only control ourselves. By warning our children it's not just the bad guys we have to fear, but also those around us so intensely concerned with "protecting" themselves, and by making damn sure if we conceal and carry that we also dig deep to make sure we are worthy and wise of possessing such a potentially life-ending tool.

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