Guns
I’m sitting here watching Gunsmoke. I’ve glorified gunplay since I was old enough to remember. And if we didn’t have toy guns we’d make ’em outta sticks or branches — anything that closely resembled a rifle. I don’t know why, but we never created fake pistols. Oh, we’d have our toy six-shooters, with caps that made a feeble attempt to mimic the real McCoy.
Could that be the beginning for all these people shooting just for the hell of it? Did some of us grow up that way? Or is it humans are no different than them moles of Alaska or Siberia, jumping off cliffs to control the population? If it’s that, I guess we throw in the towel and get right in line.
But you know, I think we’re more intelligent and sensitive than moles. Humans care about one another — at least all of us but the President.
Let me not get off track here. I think we mostly believe in God and what He stands for. Or to put it colloquial, their higher power. Whatever the term, we are basically brought up to care about and respect our fellow man.
But let me quote Brady — the campaign, not the QB. “Thousands upon thousands of people each year are killed because of guns. Under the first administration [of Trump] we saw the largest increase in violent crimes in modern history.”
As I write this, I wonder what reason could justify someone owning a machine gun! Before I got this letter from Steve Kerr, I was already on his side. I’ve seen what the gun can do when my next-door neighbor used a 12-gauge to take his own life. My own mother’s best friend’s husband. He was drunk. Maybe a three-day wait — he sobers up — no suicide.
I guess I’m like Steve Kerr — it’s not political, it’s personal. I’ll not mention any names, but when I was older I remember on the West End one guy committed suicide and upon hearing the news, another guy blasts his life away. I can’t stop world wars, or worldwide famine, but I can contribute to Brady, who’s been at this for 50 years and knows how to educate people about the idiocy of people running around with large-capacity magazines and automatic guns while the world sits back and the NRA claims that more guns are better than less guns. Just how they figger that’s beyond me.
You know, I started writing this fully planning to warn about the dangers of the Wild Outdoors. I just happened to read the letter from Steve Kerr, who signs his missive, “Gun Violence Survivor and Coach of Golden State Warriors and Brady Supporter.” He’s not the first anti-gun personality. You guys are probably too young to remember Larry Flynt, publisher of porno mags. For that matter, you might not even remember Brady. That was the poor guy just happened to be walkin’ with the prez when he got shot in the head and paralyzed. I guess we could say innocent bystander.
I also just did one thing that will help the planet. I joined an outfit called Population Connection that’s trying to calm down the population growth. That’s two things I’ve joined: Brady, the stopping of guns, sorta, and the Population Connection to stop babies.
Back to Trump. I never thought the president would be an enemy of global health. Seems like every idea I got and other folks like me have, he’s against. Wouldn’t you think Trump would be for the curtailing of guns? Christ, he’s been shot at twice! But then his hotel is sinking three inches a year and he’s still no friend of the environment.
I have been trying to buy a pistol all week. I was hampered by a real big fact — I been in jail in many states and there is no way in hell I can even think about buying a gun. Oh, I suppose I could make another one — not with a stick again, but one of them ghost guns. But not realistically.
Awhile back I was still in the gangster bunch and I always had one. Goodness knows I also used to have a ’66 Mustang with jacked-up rear end and 19-inch wheels. Boy, girls would jump in my car. But those were good old days and I’m in Maine. Things are different now. Even still, I figgered it’d be easier than this to buy a gun. I’m glad it was hard.
I can hear gun makers now: “Guns don’t kill, only people do.” But if some half-crazed nuthead wants to shoot, we shouldn’t make it more convenient by handin’ out automatic weapons with extra-large magazines so he can improve his numbers.
God keeps coming in my mind. I swear He made me write this. So I guess He’s on the side of folks that have seen enough of schoolyard shootings and all the rest of the increasing carnage. Makes me want to quit reading the paper. Even if it’s just a start, there’s Steve Kerr, Tackle Box Billy and God on the side with Brady.
