Open Carry States Gun Policy Violates My Peace Of Mind Sipping Starbucks Coffee?
by Michael Gaffley(1)http://www.diversityteambuilding.com
I did not allow my children to plays cowboys and crooks. In fact I never bought my three boys a toy gun. As good parents we did not want to raise our children with either a violent mindset or a cultural context that desensitized them to the awful consequences of what might be when the trigger of a loaded gun is activated in real life.
I really thought that the days of the wild, wild, west and gun slinging were uncivilized days that ended. We have created a new frontier; those where guns are carried openly and those who avoid guns at all costs. Where will it end? Violence begets violence. People go on shooting sprees like they are going on a shopping spree. People kill and maim self and others and it bothers me that society seems to be unable or unwilling to realize that a gun is not a symbol of adornment in civil society. Guns kill. On Friday morning February 26 th 2010 an elementary school teacher was shot and killed at Birney Elementary School. Another child explodes a bomb on a school campus in Detroit.
One of this nation’s great presidents said that Americans would do best not by the example of their power but by the power of their example. Our example should be not to insist on carrying an unconcealed weapon in a public space. Better still not to carry guns at all because sooner or later research supports the notion that if you have a gun you will use it.
I am not for or against gun control and the abolishment of the rights of Americans to carry arms. I am just pleading for sanity to prevail. I am pleading for an epidemic of common sense not macho sense. Anyone can look great and in power with a gun as an adornment. America is already a country governed by lawyers. You can do nothing without the fear of being sued. You can do nothing spontaneous because the intended good will not go unpunished. Where happened to the common good?
Where are the days when a school building needed no security guards? Where are the days when Starbucks was just a place to sip coffee, comfortably and make pleasant conversation? Where are the days when we strolled in the malls without fears of an imminent terrorist attack?
Guns are not solutions. Guns in fact offer no protection even and of itself. I have just become a heck more scared about my safety and I possibly sipped my last coffee at Starbucks last night. Would you drink your coffee in peace while looking at a gun not silhouetted by hanging cold by the side of the guest at the next table? Keep guns out of the workplace. Keep guns out of churches. Keep guns out of schools. Keep guns at home and on the shooting range. Please do not rely on and promote the use of guns. I have seen enough children maimed by guns.
I talk extensively about violence in my new book, Flatline To Change: Identity, Reality, Conflict, Engagement. Product of South Africa.
The book is available at www.diversityteambuilding.com
Article submitted Thursday, March 04, 2010 & read 161 times.
Leave Your Comments:
» left by Linda DeWitt (147 days 12 hours ago.)
I believe we should have the right to protect ourselves but I also believe we should use common sense. Interesting article Michael.Respond to this comment
» left by Michael Gaffley(1) (147 days 8 hours ago.)
I concur
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» left by John Wilder (147 days 11 hours ago.)
Michael, if you were intellectually honest, you would realize that the children that have been killed by and large are due to the drug culture. The kids getting into dad's gun and shooting someone or themselves is extremely small.I am all for open carry laws. The crooks don't respect the law and if the gun is safely locked away at home, you are totally defenseless. I respect your right to your opinion just as I completely disagree with it. Crooks are bullies and like all bullies they are complete cowards and they only understand one thing. I sat next to a guy in a Taco Bell the other day and felt a whole lot safer. Law abiding citizens are not the ones causing gun deaths, it is the druggies and the crooks. Just liked the Tea Party movement has been entirely law abiding throught the hundreds of rallies. You display an irrational fear, with all due respect. What are you going to do if you are in the Starbucks with your wife and daughter and some guys come into the restaurant being threatening to your wife and daughter and maybe decide to rape them. You are outnumbered and can do nothing to stop them. It has happened all too often were a group of punks gang bang a female loved one in front of the husband and/or father.Respond to this comment
» left by Michael Gaffley(1) (147 days 8 hours ago.)
All I am saying is, "Lets keep talking" Guns are not the answer to social problems and fears.
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» left by John Wilder (147 days 11 hours ago.)
a gun carrrying guyRespond to this comment
» left by Michael Gaffley(1) (147 days 8 hours ago.)
I am a gun owner
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