Sorry.
I'll try to update this afternoon. At the moment the wife awaits. I hear her toe tapping and she has a stern look on her face...seems a day of Christmas shopping is in my future.
About the tragedy; short and simple - it was awful. God bless the parents. Sadly, we'll pay for the idiots crimes. News coverage this morning, as you well know, is all related to gun control.
It will happen. Count on it, and prepare.
Stephen
Sitting in church today, I felt better. Why? It wasn't because of the sermon. The minister had his sermons all planned since the 70's and nothing was going to disturb his schedule. He "did his thing" and we all went home.
ReplyDeleteSo what made me feel better? I could feel the bulge of my 9mm in my purse.
Concur and concur... dammit...
ReplyDeleteThey're certainly going to try another AWB ... and it will certainly fail, perhaps spectacularly.
ReplyDeleteGlad like minded individuals have been preparing for a long time for a second AWB. If it fails, all the better. Cheer up, you get to see my on wednesday.
ReplyDeleteStephen
ReplyDeleteWhere we live in South Africa we are allowed to purchase and own handguns, if we, firstly:
sit a written competency exam, and pass it with a minimum of 90%;
go to a recognised shooting range and pass a practical test with an instructor in weapons handling;
and then submit all these results with your application to the police, together with substantiated reasons for your need of the weapon, as well as a certified letter from an independent authority e.g. your doctor, who has a record of your mental wellbeing.
By the way, to obtain the competency certificates is not cheap.
Then, finally, IF the license is granted we HAVE to install a secure gun safe - the police personlly come for a site visit to establish the security of the weapons when in storage.
All in all, including the cost application, it is quite a process to obtain a license to bear weapons.
This process has to be repeated every five years.
And semi-automatics are TOTALLY illegal here.
Thousands of weapons have just been handed back to the police because, if you are caught in possession with no license, you WILL be prosecuted, and so people have, within the grace period, handed them in to be destroyed. There is an ongoing court case between the firearms association and the state as the associations look at this new bill as an infringement of peoples rights.
Personally, I am happy with this, as the process of obtaining, and the storage security of the weapons we own, ensures, to a large degree, that our grandson can never have access to them. His health, welfare and well-being is of paramount importance to us.
The law as it is now, states that if your weapon is used, with or without your permission, YOU are held responsible for the outcome, and will be prosecuted.
A weapon is not just a possession. Owning a weapon is a responsibility - to yourself, your family and to the general public. And you OWE all of them the duty of ensuring that no member of your family or public has easy access to them.
It is the same as a vehicle license and proving one's competency to drive a vehicle - as this vehicle can also hurt, maim and kill members of the public if you are incapable of handling it correctly. Surely one should undergo the same procedures for a firearm which is designed solely to kill.
I hurt - and hurt badly - for all the families of those little ones who are no longer with them. And for the families whose parent is now not there anymore. All because of the actions of what now appears to be a mentally unstable young man who had access to his mother's firearms.
I pray that God can comfort them, and, eventually, once they have are over their initial heart-rending grief, grant them peace with the knowledge that those they have lost are securely within His loving arms. Such a sad, sad loss.
Especially as it all boils down to someone's competency and responsibility.
God Bless.
Btw, Stephen, I didn't mean to sound as though I'm taking the moral high ground. I'm just trying to say that sometimes rules and regulations may need to be adjusted in order to take into account different circumstances and environments as we humans evolve.
DeleteFreedom of choice, and the freedom to bear arms must surely be paired with responsibility and competency. Otherwise, is it really a freedom? Or just a free for all?
Thank you, Dani. I guess we Americans are just too damn in love with our freedom and our Constitution. I wonder, if they now had a voice, how the poor Jews of the Warsaw ghetto feel about firearms confiscation.
ReplyDelete