Of Guns And Men...
Anyone who regularly reads the posts here will KNOW I am a staunch 2nd Amendment advocate (I guess that profile picture kind of gives it away, eh?). I enjoy my guns, and wish I could afford a few more, as I enjoy the chance to shoot them all. I have never hunted animals, but DO enjoy the competition of bettering my personal abilities. I like to watch a good shooting show or read a shooting magazine. I was brought up with all sorts of toy guns, and it never turned me into some maniacal person bent on world domination or willful destruction (although a few locals in the area test my resolve day to day...LOL).
And I will jump at ANY chance to visit a firearms/weapons museum. (they have one helluva big one in VA as well as in West Point, NY)

The evolution of weaponry is amazing.
The evolution of mankind's abhorrent USE of firearms is not.

Ever since the very first firearms were invented, some several hundred years ago, there have been people with the innate ability to put them to the WRONG use.
Simply said, they used them to commit some crime against their fellow man. And while that aspect of human behavior has not wavered over those centuries, the technology has improved to make guns more "efficient".
Now before there were firearms, there were swords, knives, battleaxes, maces, pikes, lances, longbows, crossbows, slings, and sundry other handheld devices with one major purpose; to do harm to someone else. Before that, clubs and rocks were utilized...whatever was at hand for primitive man was good enough to "get the point across".
But we have evolved over the eons. We have become more "civilized", relegating our growing arsenal of modern weapons to those we appoint to enforce the laws we have established, those who serve in our armed forces to protect us here and abroad, and for a multitude of recreational pursuits, such as competitive shooting and hunting. Some even collect firearms as others would collect stamps.
So we can say that most all of us have no "intent" to use these weapons to knowingly inflict harm to others for no apparent reason, save our own greed. We can also say that we are able to PROTECT ourselves should harm attempt to come our way.

Yet there are still those that have not the capacity, nor the desire to become as enlightened as most of us already are. They willingly choose to obtain these firearms to use in manners we find reprehensible, to use for no other reason than to cause harm to another human being. They're not engaged in some war, fighting for liberty or freedom. They're not hunting for sport or to survive in the wild. They are doing what they do simply to satisfy their need to have power or control over something or someone...plain and simple.

It bothers me to no small degree therefore when I hear those that are crying for more GUN control. Whether it's Columbine, Virginia Tech, Cleveland, or Plymouth Meeting, PA...it makes no difference. These people will claim that "if" GUNS were not "available", there would have been no issue.
I beg to differ.
It never has been, nor ever will be about the GUN itself. It is, however ALWAYS about the person HOLDING the gun, and yet these self-anointed control advocates are always "jumping the gun" (pun intended) when it comes to the heart of these matters. There will always be people of questionable repute that, for whatever reason, will be blessed with a head full of backward wiring, and will seek to do harm to others.
Many will get under the radar, and be able to carry out their intentions.
Many more will not.
We cannot with good conscience say we are able to sort them ALL out, and pat ourselves on our backs, saying we've "saved" humanity. That simply will not happen.

Legislating guns and banning them outright will never be the answer, because people are just asking the WRONG questions. We need to focus on the PEOPLE themselves. I have said this time and again, and I will continue to state this fact. We can analogize until the cows come home, and will invariably come to the same conclusion. It's the PEOPLE who are the real problem...not the device wielded by them.

We have not taken ONE SINGLE VEHICLE off the highway because some person got drunk, practiced poor judgement, and killed a family of four on a dark road late at night.
We have not removed ONE PLANE from our skies because a pilot erred and came down short of a runway killing all aboard.
We have not dry-docked ONE SINGLE BOAT because an impaired driver ran over someone in the water.
We have not taken scissors, knives, forks, pencils, pens, rulers, keys, saws, staplers, compasses, or anything else from our sight and store shelves because some PERSON used these items irresponsibly to harm someone else.

If we are to enact better laws to protect everyone else from firearms, then these laws have to be directed at the PERSON RESPONSIBLE, and not the devices themselves, lest we begin a slide down a slope that is all too slippery, setting ludicrous precedents tailored towards those who are not at fault, along the way.

Those who WANT a weapon (to harm someone else) will always be able to obtain them. That fact has been around since weapons were invented, and will not soon change, unfortunately. If we are to invoke our "evolved" minds and promote change to better our society, what we really need to do is make it too damn HARD for them OBTAIN these weapons, make it too damn RISKY to commit any crime WITH them, and make it too damn HARD for them to "dance off the hook" when they are arrested for such actions.
And that seems doable. We should be able to figure this one out.

After all...we ARE civilized enough, right?