Stop the Madness

This was originally coined for an anti-drug campaign.  Today I want it to mean stop the madness with guns!  Don't get me wrong, I believe in the 2nd Amendment but something has gone awry.  Since when is the right to bear arms (and protect oneself) to include gunning down innocent people watching a movie in CO?  Or for a gang member to sit in his car and open fire into an electronics store where an innocent man holding his 12 year old's hand while they are buying a gift for the wife and mother gets shot and killed on impact in OK?  Or to open fire on innocent people worshiping God in WI?  Stop the madness!

Just recently "thugs" drove to the Grand Mosque in Oklahoma City at 2:45 a.m. on a Sunday morning and spattered the door with paint using paintball guns.  In my mind, these type of people are the ones you want to watch for the rest of their lives and they definitely should not be allowed to own a gun of any kind....including a BB gun nor a paintball gun.  We have got to stop the madness.  

Fear and hate should have no room in our lives.  Fear causes us to do drastic things.  Hate causes us to purchase an assault weapon.  Now before you mistake what I'm saying, my father was a hunter and owned guns.  He shot and brought home the deer meat- I really never acquired a taste for venison!  Others in my family own hand guns.  They all bought them legally and have taken classes on how to use them-- legally.  It is their right to bear arms.  Personally, I'm not Annie Oakley and have never cared for guns of any kind.  I'm even horrible at laser tag.  A gun just does not feel comfortable in my hands, but I will not forbid anyone else that right.

That being said, we have to get the guns off the black market.  There is no sense in tougher gun control laws against good law-abiding citizens when the bad guys are gonna get them anyway!  We take a stand against drugs and bulimia and cancer-- all things that kill-- let's stop the madness and write our congress and fight for getting the illegal guns off the streets.  I think what happened in Colorado (that lunatic bought them legally!) has opened some eyes on the flaw in the "obtaining a gun legally" system.  So yes, I am for tougher gun laws.  I live in OK and we now have the "Make My Day" law giving citizens and now businesses the right to defend themselves and property without worrying about "the legality of self-defense."  I looked up "open carry" for fire arms.  I don't think Texas and Oklahoma got the memo that you cannot openly carry a weapon.  I have been in both states where I have witnessed a person (non-law enforcement!) packing some heat.

I copied this off Wiki so the laws might have changed in both states.  I have to get to work right now so I cannot keep researching this subject! 

Open carry laws of loaded handguns (OpenCarry.org)^[13]

  Permissive Open Carry State

  Licensed Open Carry State

  Anomalous Open Carry State

  Non-permissive Open Carry State

 

 

 

I didn't mean to get on this soapbox this morning, Grainiacs.  I guess I'm mad at myself for overeating last night.  The madness needs to stop with me.  Have a wonderful and safe day.