'May our guns protect us'

An absolute tragedy occurred at Newtown Elementary school where firearms were used to shoot and kill little kids. This was done by a human being who was plain and simply “EVIL.” No conscious or good person would ever even think of doing that act, murdering the most innocent and defenseless and the purest of our species. It’s outright madness.

What’s even scarier than what happened that day is the reality that in the future we all may become defenseless and at the mercy of evil acts like Newtown. This is not the first, nor the last, of an act like this, but rarely in our history has the deliberate killing of children taken place. In the ancient times, during times of war, armies purposefully killed thousands of children, usually by slaying with the steel of a sword and then burning… barbaric yes, but necessary to wipe out lineages of people (mainly males) and not face retaliation from the tribe in the future. In comparison to all the time that came before us, we are extremely civilized in today’s society. People are so out of touch with reality, lost in the cyber world of digital companionship.

I agree with the cries to adopt measures so that this atrocity is not likely to ever happen again, but taking away all the good people’s guns is not the answer. The answer lies in two places: parenting and schooling. The parenting should be self-explanatory, the schooling needs some explanation.

The impressionable adults that are molding the minds of the young people need to step up to the plate; if you’re going to teach, teach them good and make them learn. Be a role model and don’t be afraid to put a child in his place. We need laws that protect a teacher in punishing and scolding kids. It’s clear the new parents in this society with their touchy-feely lack-of-punishment system is not working. Sending your kid to his room where you’ve supplied him with every electronic device there is (which you bought them so they would leave you alone suggesting you’re lazy and not a good parent) is not a form of punishment. Getting your mouth washed out with soap, receiving a spanking that makes it hard to sit down and other common sense measures have been proven throughout the ages to teach manners and respect.

It’s a good idea to protect our schools, and there are many easy steps that can be done to help protect them. Maybe it’s armed guards and metal detectors… or perhaps the profession of a teacher also needs to incorporate training on deadly force and psychology. I can imagine that being a teacher and looking after 40 or 50 students is a difficult job, but it’s possible that young people who carry out these shootings have shown every sign of doing something outrageous. It may be time to explore and incorporate the science of psychology more in identifying tracers and behaviors of mentally neurotic and dangerous people.

The government needs to regulate stuff they should, like language and concepts on television and the Internet that are polluting our society, shielding kids from video games that only adults should be able to play. There’s much that can be done to try and catch and defend ourselves and our children against evil acts like this. The sad truth is there is no way to prevent this stuff from happening altogether; it’s a little war that has been going on in the world and within every one of us since the dawn of mankind. It’s a war of good and evil, and sometimes evil wins.

The choice to eliminate our most important freedom (the right to defend one’s self and family through bearing arms) is not the answer to this problem. It runs much deeper and no law will change it. It’s an absolute fact: if you eliminate weapons for good citizens, the bad guys, the ones that kill people, will still have guns and other ways of killing you. The dirt bag that raided the elementary school in Connecticut could have just as easily driven an automobile through the school grounds during recess or when the little ones were leaving the school, does that mean we should outlaw automobiles as well?

A little history lesson: The Japanese blew up our largest military fleet and half an island system called Hawaii about 70 years ago and had the ability to invade our beautiful West Coast… the only reason they didn’t was because they knew that patriotic citizens of the great America owned guns and knew how to use them. We are hunters, marksmen and soldiers if the call to duty arises. I don’t know if you’re Democratic, Republican, white, black, yellow, male or female, but if you’re against guns, you’re stupid. There could very likely come a time in our near future when your neighbor, the American with a gun vault and ammo, will become your new best friend.

If our country keeps operating under the assumption that one bad apple spoils the whole barrel and in turn regulates the whole barrel, we are doomed. We will have allowed the government to dictate completely what our freedom is, because they will have blanket-legislated the soul of this country and people into a pulp. Perhaps it’s time for our wise and rational leaders to identify the growing problem of one law that covers all types of people. There is a vast difference between the people that live in cities and the country folk. There is a fight going on and it’s a fight of control. Look at the changes brought about from 9/11.

Last year I was asked to do a dedication or a prayer at a Friends of NRA banquet. This was the first time I was honored with a duty like this, and I was a bit nervous, but I think I delivered a good prayer. I asked for the Lord to look over our families and the good people of Montana, and I finished with, “and may our guns always protect us.”

I think it exemplifies the extreme importance of having firearms; it’s about safety and protection. It is a small fraction of crazies that misuse firearms, and for every negative act, there are many corresponding acts where a gun saved a person.

If blanket legislation is allowed on this issue, there will be no more good stories of weapons used correctly... only more atrocities of evil. I would rather keep my guns and my freedoms and allow Barack and other freedom killers to keep the “change.”

Chris Hall is a resident of Kalispell.