Gun Control, Crazies and Mental Illness

Two posts in one day, ridiculous right? I could have saved this post for another day but this has been on my mind for a few days, ever since that psycho went on a shooting spree and people starting raising their voices about harsher gun control.

Yes, this does happen every single time there's a tragedy like this one. But is gun control or harsher gun laws really a bad idea? I don't think so.

Those countries that have gun control laws, less guns available to their citizens have seen less killings by guns. It's a simple fact. Just look up the statistics, they are right there for anyone to see. They exist and are fact, not something someone is making up.

Do I think that it should be darn hard to get a gun? Yes, I do. The 2nd amendment needs to be changed because not everyone should be able to have a gun.

If you have a mental illness...you should not have a gun.
If you have someone in your home who has a mental illness...you should not have a gun.
If you have ever threatened someone with a gun...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you drink alcohol...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you smoke pot, I don't care if it's medical pot...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you have kids in your home under the age of 18, you should not be able to have a gun.
If you have EVER threatened suicide or homicide...you don't get a gun even if you aren't under a psychiatrists care.

It does not matter to me if you are a Veteran and want a gun. If you have any mental problems at all, you should not have one.

In order to have a gun you should have to pass a psychological test. If you are found to have weird thoughts and can't pass it..you don't get to take the test again, you don't pass go, you don't collect $200, you don't ever get a gun.

You should have to take a class on gun safety and pass the test. If you can't pass the test...you don't get a gun.

You should have to have gun locks, a gun safe and there should be random inspections where the police come to inspect how you are storing your guns. If you are found to have them out where someone else can get at them, they aren't locked up or are accessible to children...you should lose your guns for good.

 The federal government could close the gun-show loophole, which allows unlicensed dealers to sell used guns without conducting background checks on buyers. It could enhance the background-check system to search more thoroughly for evidence of mental illness. It could ban assault weapons, or weapons with large magazines that are only useful if one intends to kill a lot of human beings very quickly.

You should have to have a reason to have a gun...work for instance. They should not be given out to just anyone.

Yes, I realize that guns don't kill people...people kill people but some of those people were holding guns to do it. Why not make it harder for the bad guys. Get rid of the guns. Change the 2nd amendment.

I also want to say that not all people with mental illness are going to go off the deep end and go off on a killing spree. It's not fair to lump everyone who has any kind of mental illness in with people like that guy who killed all those kids. It takes a special kind of scumbag to be able to do something like that.

I have my own reasons for feeling the way I do. One reason is when I was 12 years old my mom's boyfriend shot himself in the head, right in front of me. But not before I thought he was going to kill me and he told me that it was all my fault. I was told by my grandparents not to tell anyone what I had seen, so I lived with that until I was 18 and finally had a mental breakdown.

About a year later my mom took the same gun that her boyfriend had killed himself with, got drunk and shot a bullet into the adjoining wall between our bedrooms. The bullet landed 6 inches above my head in the wall I was leaning on in my bedroom. The gun was taken away from her when I called the police but no charges were filed against her.

I have a mentally ill, pot smoking, alcoholic family member that last year got drunk and high and went on a bit of a rampage. He pistol whipped a person in a store, threatened another person at a bar and then turned the gun on his own wife and shot the wall near her. He's out of jail and awaiting trial.

There's the argument that if guns aren't available the bad guys will find something else to use. Fine, let them find something else. More people are afraid of guns, but if they see someone trying to stab others with a knife, someone might stop the person and not as many people might die.

I've also heard the argument that if gun laws are made more stricter that only the bad guys will have the guns. I don't believe that to be true. Once the gun laws are there, anyone found to be in possession of a gun who doesn't have a permit to have one, should have it taken away. A lot of the guns will eventually get off the streets.

But this is just my opinion....

It's a Christmas Tree...not a Holiday Tree

I think the politically correct BS has got to stop. Our tree's were called Christmas Tree's for a very long time and even people who didn't celebrate the holiday let their kids be in the school productions and sing Christmas songs, have Christmas parties, decorate their classrooms for Christmas and do Christmas crafts...because it was fun for the kids. 

Now because of a few and I do mean few people none of those things happen for kids anymore in most school's and that's damn sad. 

The funny thing is I'm not even Christian. For a very long time I considered myself to be Wiccan but after my mom passed away, things just didn't make sense anymore and I lost what little bit of faith I had for anything and now consider myself Agnostic and have for the past year. 

But I don't think it matters what faith you are when it comes to this type of thing. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Just because a few people have a problem with what some of the religious holidays stand for, especially Christmas..they have made it their mission to make sure the rest of us have a hard time celebrating in the way we always have. 

I even know a few Athiests and other Agnostics that celebrate Christmas because their kids want to. Their kids would feel bad if their family didn't have a tree like everyone else did and they didn't hand out presents like their friends did, so their parents have the Christmas tree, the decorations and presents because it makes their kids happy. 

So what's wrong with that? Nothing...that's what.

I'm not changing the way I celebrate Christmas or say Merry Christmas to people just because a few idiots have it in their minds to make everyone feel bad because they do so. You know you can't go into some stores and wish the employee's a Merry Christmas because if they say it back to you they can get fired. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 

No matter what your religion/faith is...if it's a holiday just wish everyone a merry day. 

If it's Christmas, wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

If it's Kwanzaa, just wish everyone a Happy Kwanzaa. 

If it's Hanukkah, wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah.

If it's Yule, wish everyone a Happy Yule. 

If it's the Winter Solstice, just wish everyone a Happy Winter Solstice. 

How hard is that?