LJ Idol Three Strikes Edition - Week 9 - All hat, no cattle

[tonithegreat]

That old cowboy hat again. Couldn’t we give it a rest? I like cows. I like boys. But country people are not a monolith, not any more than any other group is. They’re gonna expect you to walk the walk if you talk the talk, sure. But doesn’t everyone?

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling when it comes to writing for social media. The time I spend online seems meaningless compared to more important things. I feel like I need to speak up, because things are happening in the world, even though my audience is limited and consists almost entirely of people who are going to think for themselves, regardless of anything I have to say. Also, is blogging just talking without walking? Wouldn’t real life discourse count for more? But who wants to listen to me, and what can I even bring to the discourse?

Look, I was raised in gun culture. I had a youth membership in the NRA, even. My dad thought that the insurance that came with membership was worthwhile. We lived on a big piece of property and we always had guns around the house. I was comfortable enough using them that it was no big deal to me to fire into the air to get someone’s attention or scare a predator off. If I had to defend myself or my family with a firearm, I’m sure I could do it.

I had my hunter’s education certificate and my bow hunter’s certificate before I went to high school. I never shot a deer, but that was only because my busy life pulled me away from the deer woods just as I was getting old enough to potentially hunt effectively. I have spent some time in tree stands, though. When I was my daughters’ age, I spent a fair amount of time in tree stands. I still love the pine flatwoods. And we ate so much venison and wild pig and turkey and elk. I could write a parallel essay to this one about how I think the world would be a better place if more people were more directly involved, or at least more directly understood how to process their own food as meat eaters. I think it is a particularly ethical thing to eat meat that lived on beautiful property that was managed as a tree farm and a hunt lease.

I wish I could say that my youth was before the NRA was overtly political, but I don’t think there is such a time as “before the NRA was overtly political.” What people sometimes choose to ignore is that everything has always been political. But I do think that in recent years the NRA has been used by political forces that I disagree with strongly on many fronts, to do things that have nothing to do with responsible gun owner rights. On balance, I don’t think that Marion Hammer and her ilk have been a good thing for responsible gun owners. The idea that the big bad government is coming for our gun rights is as distasteful as it is nonsensical.

I was raised in a tiny town in Florida where my parents comprised almost half of the faculty of the middle school. Most kids’ families back home hunted, not just because they might love getting out into the woods, but because venison and wild hogs were an important part of peoples’ food supply. My dad taught history and coached at our school, and when he got to teach an elective, he often taught hunter education classes.

Have there been tragedies in that small town due to accidents with firearms? There have. There have also been tragedies due to farm equipment and automobiles. There was also a shooting incident some years back wherein a domestic dispute escalated into something that qualified as a mass/multi-party shooting.

I don’t think the answer lies in the direction of outright banning guns. We all already have so many of them.

I believe that there is a middle ground where people own guns for hunting or even just because they want to, but where we would still have more safeguards in place to prevent mass shooting tragedies. I think that safeguards like bans on semi-automatics and bans on certain types of weapons and magazines would help. We know already that in the United States there were fewer of these mass shootings during the years when there was an assault weapons ban. But we repealed that ban anyway and haven’t reinstated it. I think that waiting periods would help. I think that restrictions regarding ages and mental health warning signs would be a good thing. Would that kind of legislation prevent all mass shootings? No, it probably wouldn’t. But I think that even preventing some mass shootings is a worthwhile goal.

In the end, I think this issue is like climate change: We’ve got to do something more than what we’re doing now, but we’re going to have to agree to do some things that are imperfect solutions and some things that make it harder for some people who are making a lot of money now to continue easily making money. Unfortunately, solutions like that are very hard to implement these days.

Comments

[adoptedwriter]

It’s never simple. I agree.

[tonithegreat]

Elegantly put. I wish people were more interested in untangling complexity, though.

[roina_arwen]

Very thoughtful. I definitely agree on more restrictions on semi-automatics and such, along with waiting periods.

[tonithegreat]

It really seems like there are multiple logical steps we could take that most people would agree with. So frustrating. I did see a lot of good short articles trying to explain things like the Swiss cheese model for action that gave me hope. But I’m not seeing enough action.

[banana_galaxy]

I was born and raised in Australia, where a gun massacre led to a country-wide gun buy-back scheme and near outright ban on guns before I was old enough to understand the issues. As a result, I've found it very challenging to understand gun culture in the U.S. Same deal with fireworks too - those are banned in Australia after too many accidental deaths, and now I live in Oakland, CA, where they're technically also illegal but people get them and shoot them off anyway, especially around Independence Day.

I wish more Americans were able to see the success Australia had, and bring more reform like that here.

[marlawentmad]

Unfortunately, the USA doesn't tend to take its lessons from elsewhere. Otherwise, so many things would be handled differently.

[banana_galaxy]

I know, that's why it's only my wishful thinking.

[tonithegreat]

Australia, Japan, Canada- so many success stories we could emulate. But we’d rather point out negative things and ignore the toll.

[erulissedances]

Unfortunately, as long as the NRA is donating the amount of funds they do to political campaigns, I foresee failure in the gun reform legislative aspect. I agree with a lot of what you say. My house did not have firearms, but I know how to use them, I have them now because my husband was raised using them for hunting, and I refuse to have something potentially dangerous in the house without knowing how they are used. I'm not as good with a bow, although I have several I inherited from my Father-in-law.

Common sense could go a long way in this country, if we could actually listen to words instead of jump on platforms. There's nobody who actually needs an automatic with the power that was used in the last two mass shootings. Nobody! Never!

On the other hand, with the prevalence of guns in our nation, I feel very sorry for any nation thinking about trying to invade and take over the USA. It would end up urban fighting from block to block, with guerrilla fighting every block. The USA wouldn't be a cake-walk at all.

- Erulisse (one L)

[drippedonpaper]

I appreciate you sharing your perspective. I also think banning semi-automatics and assault weapons would help.

[dsrmousey]

Everything in this country works on money and politics. Nothing gets done because we are not a true democracy. We are a republic where each state can make their own laws-as we are now really beginning to see. And those laws rarely benefit the common man. We are held in contempt- especially the poor. Anyhow, am getting off my soap box now. Peace~~~Desiree

[bleodswean]

Your voice matters, T. Even in small spaces! This is a rational and first-person wisdom piece of writing and thank you for sharing it!

[gunwithoutmusic]

Money talks, for sure. And I honestly think that money speaks louder than any person ever could.

Politics has always been divisive, but I feel like it's gotten so much more lately, and I really wish that everyone could agree that there is just no way that we could feasibly make EVERY SINGLE PERSON happy, and maybe we just need to try and figure out a solution that makes AS MANY people happy as possible. But we're all human, and I don't know how feasible that is, either. You're absolutely right when you say that compromises are very hard to implement, and it's such a shame.

I don't hunt and I don't use guns, despite by a Georgia boy (my father is a New Yorker so that's probably part of why). But my brother-in-law does. He's a responsible gun user and he enjoys his hobby and I don't think it's right to take that away from him because there are bad actors out there. More regulations, making it a little more difficult to get a gun, I don't think that's a bad thing. But taking them away completely? Despite being literally impossible, I just don't agree with that when I know many responsible gun owners.

I think at this point I'm basically just re-hashing your piece in the comments, so I'll end with this: I also love the pine flatwoods! If there's a nice, sandy trail and lots of palmettos around, I'm in heaven. :) It's been too long since I've been out there and I need to get back out.

[ofearthandstars]

Thanks for this perspective. I grew up in a home with a shotgun that rarely came out, and we actually have a gun in the house now (that was an inheritance), but it is locked in a safe and the key is hidden in a separate space and there is no ammo anywhere because we also live with someone who struggles with mental illness (most gun deaths are suicide, not mass-shootings). I know lots of responsible gun owners, but I unfortunately also see a lot of irresponsible gun owners, so I do agree that things like limiting ammo and/or type of gun, raising age limits, background checks and waiting periods, and/or potentially registration/insurance would be good requirements to help prevent some of the most heinous acts. It's easy to understand why America loves its guns - we were a country born of revolution, but we seem to have lost the idea that rights come with responsibilities, and that is where I wish Congress would act.

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

I was born, raised and currently still do live in a country where many people own guns and they are often a part of daily life while on the other hand shooting sprees don't occur here, at all, [there has never been a mass shooting, school shooting etc] so it is just so very bizarre to me, how this occurs in the USA and SO often D:

[alycewilson]

Agreed! And solutions are usually complex, but we need to start implementing something. Anything.