Toddlers And Firearms

Posted on by under Life15

For a while now I wanted to write a post about the issue the US seems to have re guns. Yes, I call it an issue. I was wondering for a long time what the best title for the post would be. And then I stumbled across this post and in my books it says it all. The only thing I’d like to add is the following picture:

A twisted world, isn’t it?

And yes, I know it’s not something to make jokes about, still I couldn’t resist adding this pic:

32 thoughts on “Toddlers And Firearms”

  4. A tricky issue because no one wants to address the root cause of the proliferation of gun violence in the USA. Fifty years ago you could drive through any small town in ranch country and see rows of pick up trucks, rifles racked in the rear window and more likely than not the keys in the ignition. There were as many guns per capita back in the day but people did not shoot each other with wild abandon. The biggest difference is that our culture has learned to devalue human life. We have glorified violence and lax moral standards to our own peril. It is not a majority that reacts negatively to what has become our standard entertainment fare but, in a population of three hundred million, plus, even a five percent rate of derangement yields a very high number of potentially ticking time bombs. I suppose that I am doing that which I decry in others, re-identifying the problem without offering a solution. This is because i simply don’t have an answer. There are over three hundred million firearms in private hands in the USA, nearly one per person. The second amendment not withstanding, total confiscation would be impossible. Mental health authorities will say that psychotic behavior can not be eradicated and more gun laws would be no more effective than those already on the books. This leaves the only a change in the cultural mores as a possible solution, an event that will occur only when the profit motive switches to one that will be supported by raising the common denominator of what we call recreation and entertainment. Which, of course, brings us full circle. Sad music up with a swell, descend from soapbox, stage left, as credits roll.

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      • When I was a child the height of movie terror was to watch Lon Chaney, Jr’s “Wolf Man,” Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula” or Boris Karloff as Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. You never saw an actual killing or any blood other than the bite marks on a vampire’s victim yet we were sufficiently frightened by the images and the thought of what was happening just out of view. Contrast that with what it takes today to arouse even mild interest, let alone fear. The cultural icons of today use violence as a first response and are shown as conflicted individuals. Compare “The Batman” of today’s’ comics to the original Gotham City protector as a good case in point. In 1939 the world was literally shocked to hear Clark Gable utter the sentence, “frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” That dialogue made the front pages of newspapers across the globe. Condemnation rained from pulpits with preachers afraid that hearing such would give our youth license to use that sort of language. Fast forward to 2015, which words do they learn from entertainment and news media today? We are training our kids to be violent, foul-mouthed citizens. I write novels that have characters using many words that I wouldn’t say out loud in public. This, of course, opens me up to charges of hypocrisy and so be it. The point is that my books would not sell in today’s market without that “realism”. The same is true for the makers of video games. Would you invest your retirement savings in a video game company whose product promoted strong family values? The toothpaste is out of the tube, not due to the action of any one individual but as a collective shifting of the culture and it will not reverse itself unless each of us, all of us, decide to no longer participate in the status quo. Yeah, I see that happening, don’t you?

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  6. Reblogged this on georgeforfun and commented:
    I raised all my kids in Germany and never did one of them swallow the inserts from this chocolate delight. Then again, I taught them common sense. They’ve also never shot a weapon in anger except in war, not injured an innocent person including themselves, again, they were taught to be adults with common sense. We taught safety and sense, which is severely lacking in the US that we came back to in the mid 90s up until today. I never left a dangerous weapon alone without a kidproof safety mechanism installed or completely locked away from prying eyes and little hands. Too bad we don’t have as many “responsible adults” as in days gone by. If your children aren’t the most important gifts needing your love and protection, then somewhere the priorities and belief systems have failed. some really valid points, Milady. ( Ķ”Ā° ĶœŹ– Ķ”Ā°) šŸ‘€ ā™„ * Ķœ * ā™„ šŸ‘€

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  7. Saw the other post about toddlers and guns. Ahem? Parents who owns guns with children around need to be more careful? Put it away or something? Same thing they would do with a bottle of poison or something? Not understanding what the kinder surprise is about?

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  8. I am not a gun person. I live in a gun area. Thankfully it is mostly hunters. Oh yeah, I hate hunting. The animals probably do too. Did I mention my boyfriend has a gun safe in our basement? And is a hunter? Rock and a hard place, Momma, just like the whole country.

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  10. Its a tricky subject but when you have a look at facts and figures they need to do something. As soon as 911 happened they changed a large amount of rules, laws and regulations about flying. 45 school shootings this year alone and still nothing

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    • And that makes it so crazy! Nothing seems to be done! I understand that it’s a tricky subject and probably not easy to be solved. But then I look at Australia. We had the same liberty re guns here but they changed it after an incident years ago. I will have to look it up again to get the details right. The government actually bought guns back, so people were more likely to hand in their firearms.

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