guys and guns

In 1991, Warren E. Burger, the conservative chief justice of the Supreme Court, was interviewed on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour about the meaning of the Second Amendment's "right to keep and bear arms." Burger answered that the Second Amendment "has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud—I repeat the word 'fraud'—on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

My dad was a Pittsburgh Police Sargent, which meant among the items he brought home with him at the end of his work day was of course a uniform, a billy club, his badge and a gun. We had a very tiny hall closet in our home on Denniston Avenue that usually held oversized winter jackets for the six of us living in the house, a few stray umbrellas, winter gloves and scarves and a special section as you faced the closet on the top left shelf where my dad would place his billy club, police hat in which he put his badge and then his pistol. When each of my siblings was considered of the age of understanding, my dad would hold all of these items in his hand explaining their use and purpose and telling his four kids these are not toys, these are not for show and tell, these are important for what I do on my job, and these WILL NEVER EVER be touched by anyone but me, the police officer. He would let us ask questions about each; how do they work, what are they for, do they get the bad guy? He was always ready to answer any inquiry we had and did not mind if the same question was asked for the millionth time. At the end of his lesson he would ask one question himself, who is permitted to touch any of these things?

Conservative radio host Stan Solomon recently blasted a father whose child died when a 22-year-old woman-hating shooter killed 7 people including himself self near UC Santa Barbara last month because he had not given his kid a gun. He continued: “The father of one of the girls who was killed blamed the NRA, and my response is, ‘You stupid son of a bitch, what the hell is wrong with you? If you had taught your daughter how to have and use a weapon, she might still be alive.’” (The Raw Story). Incident after gun incident those who claim to be packing heat because the government is coming after them, those who insist they are the responsible adults in the room, those who pretend that owning a gun makes you a better American or Christian rant and rave demonstrating just how irresponsible they are. The more men like Conservative radio host Stan Solomon speak out of their asses the more most Americans should become wary, worried and begin to wonder who exactly owns all of those guns in this nation. Comments like this are not random or fleeting but they are very telling.

We had a gun in our house, my dad taught us the meaning and its purpose, he explained that there might be some circumstances in which guns are necessary and at times may end someone’s life. The gun however as he stated did not make him a better dad, a better sergeant of police or a better man. He also told us many people own guns, but just because they have a gun it does not make them the good guys. He would add, make no mistake those who have little respect for the power of the gun are usually the bad guys.