Open Carry States Gun Policy Violates My Peace Of Mind Sipping Starbucks Coffee?

by Michael Gaffley
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.

Now my children are teenagers and my parental role has been expanded. I now have to warn them to get out of Starbucks when someone carrying an unconcealed gun takes a seat next to their table or booth. I am sorry but I will get up and leave not because I am paranoid but because I own a gun and know its capabilities. I know that there is an extremely fine line between instrument of protection and weapon of attack.

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 191 times.

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» left by Linda DeWitt (2 years 74 days ago.)

I believe we should have the right to protect ourselves but I also believe we should use common sense. Interesting article Michael.
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» left by Michael Gaffley (2 years 73 days ago.)

I concur

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» left by John Wilder (2 years 74 days 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.
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» left by Michael Gaffley (2 years 73 days 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 (2 years 74 days ago.)

a gun carrrying guy
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» left by Michael Gaffley (2 years 73 days ago.)

I am a gun owner

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