10 Dead

Well, anything that starts with the title, 10 Dead, should be controversial.  I will be here.  And, I will be obstinately and annoyingly right.  The reason it will be so difficult for others, is that I have logic and reason on my side.

In Oregon, a person, carried 6 guns to a school, pulled them out and shot people.10 Dead.  The gunman killed on site.  Not sure yet if either it was suicide, or the police shot him.  Don't much care, other than I hope that a cop does not have to live with the trauma of having killed a man.

I believe in the Constitution.  I believe in it so strongly, that I swore to uphold and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  I swore that, for the whole document, all its content.  I did not, and do not, have favorite, or more important parts that I especially cared about.

I have no illusions that it is perfect.  Nor, is it very important to me that it be perfect.  Perfection is reserved for and wholly owned by God.  I also do not think that I am being personally attacked if others do not agree with or approach this subject in the same manner as me.

I do believe that we, any groups of Americans, can and will have divergent opinions about the Constitution.  Because I do not agree with someone else, does not make me Communist, or retarded, or atheist.  Nor, do I believe any of those things to be true of those who disagree with me.

So, to be blunt, after watching the news today, that was identical to too damn many other days of news coverage, I came to a conclusion.  We have a problem in this country that involves guns.  It is a really, really big problem, because, as stated at the beginning, the title is 10 Dead.

This latest miserable excuse for a human being went into a school, and shot a bunch of people.  He carried in a pile of guns.  He had the intention of killing a bunch more.  He had a lot of guns, but he did not have a lot of evil guns.  The guns did not have a personality of any kind.  The guns did not profess or practice a religion.  The guns were not terrorists.  The guns were not gang members.

All that aside, at some point, we are going to have to come together as a country and address the issue of violence that is starting to consume us.  Non-religious guns are still guns.  And there are way too many guns in the hands of way too many people that should not be trusted with or allowed possession of a spoon.

I do not have a perfect solution.  In fact, I am not sure I have an imperfect solution.  But, I have a good problem description.  Too many Americans are dying at the hands of other Americans.  They are dying from application of all kinds of deadly instruments, but the vast majority of the problem is the proliferation of guns.

I don't want to take them from anyone.  I don't want to change the Constitution.  I do not want to violate anyone's rights.  But, instead of the hysteria about leftist Commies, or right-wing Nazis, instead of the emotional tantrums that we try to disguise as discourse, can someone that is convinced that the number of guns is not a problem, please tell me what we can do that will start to limit and reduce these events?

Can someone provide some intelligent discussion that helps to prevent these issues?  I am interested in anyone's input.  But, the crazy, emotional distress that infects us all, is turned the wrong way.  We are motivated to fight about whether we should be able to own multiple Howitzers.  We are motivated to fight about the lack of services for the mentally ill.  When do we get motivated to come together, and start doing things that help bring this under control.

I don't care about your tattoos or your political affiliation.  Let's talk about ideas.  Let's work on a solution, so that when the next group of people die for no good damn reason, at least we don't feel so culpable, because we were willing to be distracted about stupid arguments about minutia, instead of coming together in substance to win the war we are losing.

I love you all, and I dare you, double dog dare you to give me your ideas, not your vitriol.  Bring it, unless you are afraid.