We are supposed to be represented, and to a reasonable extent protected by our elected officials. The issue of gun control has turned into the more frightening issue of mind control, and anyway you look at it, we lose. The government refuses to take any action against the anti-gun control lobby, because quite frankly our illustrious congressmen and women are more concerned about themselves than about the American people. The NRA pumps millions into campaign coffers, and apparently has enough clout to at least give the perception of being able to influence the outcome of an election. Now eliminate any personal risk factor from the equation. Members of congress are protected by metal detectors, a Capitol police force, armed bodyguards, trained chauffeurs, and secured residences. And by the way, you and I pay for all these things.
Why blow an election by standing up to the NRA when the chances of ever becoming a victim are slim to none. The NRA battle cry has always been; "Guns don’t kill people, people kill people". If you’ll permit me some small editorial license, I think that statement should be changed to read; "Guns don’t kill people, people with guns kill people". Does the Constitution give us the right to bear arms? Yes. Does it give us the right to kill people with those arms? Not in my book it doesn’t. If a perpetrator storms a school or an office building with a knife, the number of potential victims is likely to between 1-4 before he or she is either subdued, or the victims can escape the scene. Not the case when the weapon is an automatic pistol or rifle that can discharge dozens of rounds in just seconds. You can’t run away from a spray of bullets.
The time for meetings and committees and compromise is over when it comes to dealing with the gun control issue. Our right to life outweighs anyone else’s right to own an AK-47, and that’s the message Congress needs to hear. Now I don’t advocate calling Washington, or writing letters to elected officials. Personally, I don’t believe that really does any good. What I do advocate however is making yourself heard at the polls. If you do vote in the next election (and I urge everyone to vote!) make your choice in the booth based on one factor and only one factor – whether the candidate supports gun control legislation. All of the other platform items mean nothing. Take a good look at a typical list of campaign issues:
Now ask yourself which issue is more important than your spouse or your child. Ask yourself if you would trade a tax break for a son or daughter. Or subsidized health care for a husband or wife. If we don’t make this issue a personal matter, we all run the risk of it becoming a horribly personal matter. If the elected officials who run this country can’t agree that gun control is a problem, than it’s time to replace them. If the people who live in this country can’t agree that gun control is a problem, then we’ve fallen under the worst kind of mind control imaginable.
As you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner this November, take a good look at the people around the table. Be grateful for having them with you. Come Monday morning, you and I go back to the office, our kids head back to school, and another American "sportsman" loads his Uzi.
Alan Sadowsky