Take Away The Guns Already!

When I read in the news about people getting shot during arguments, it just seems as plain as day that people should not be permitted to own guns. I know, all the hunters get riled when they hear this, but isn't the value of human life more important than hunting for pleasure? IT SHOULD BE!

Anyway, the latest here is the story of neighbors not getting along. One is a firefighter, family man with a young child. The other are people who like to party and have some fun. On the Fourth of July, the "partiers" were shooting off fireworks late at night while the firefighter's child was trying to sleep. In the firefighter's own words, "I snapped." He got his gun, went outside and killed three people and shot two others--just like that.

I can't help but think that if he didn't have a gun, three people would still be alive today and the other two would not be wounded. Furthermore, the firefighter (Hough) would not be in jail away from his family facing the death penalty. The families of the victims would not all be grieving.

The firefighter was convicted on three counts of aggravated murder and two counts of attempted murder. He received a sentence of life in prison.

This is just one episode, it happens a lot! People always get angry, it happens. But without a gun in hand at the time, the consequences would be far less severe. I would not have a gun in my house, ever! If you have one, please rethink this and don't take the risk of something similar happening to you.

A couple good fiction books about this topic are "Nineteen Minutes" and "Perfect Match" by Jodi Picoult. I highly recommend them both!

Related Article: "Alternative to Over Crowded Prisons" by Karen Zemek on http://karen.pnn.com (politics section).

UPDATED 1/11/09:
Over and over I hear about more gun related accidental deaths. A friend shoots her friend, a 4 yr. old shoots his older brother and on and on it goes. The 4 yr. old even announced he was going to get a gun and his family assumed he would come back with his toy gun. They were wrong. He loaded a real gun that was in the house and came back out and shot his brother because he had stood on his foot!