Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Not so proud to be an American

So I meant to post this a while ago, but got sidetracked and forgot...  Anyway here it is:

As I watch the Olympics and see the US winning medals, I'm finding myself feeling not very proud of my country.  Before anyone accuses me of hating America allow me to say I love my country.  I was born here and have lived my whole life here.  Let me also say I am very proud of the athletes, they are some of the best in the world.  They worked and trained hard, and deserve their accolades.  That's not why I feel this way.

It's what happened in Wisconsin and in Aurora.

This almost never happens in any other country.

When it does people run out and buy more guns while saying guns don't kill.  People do.  They then wish someone with a gun was there to "put two in his chest".  I guess it's un-american to not want a shootout.  Or to not want every person to have a 44 on their hip.  Let me be clear, the absolute last thing anyone wants in case they're in a situation like that is some moron who thinks he's Dirty Harry.  If you don't know who that is, let me Google that for you.

After all, if it's not guns, it must be Americans.  Right?  I got asked about that many times when I was in Ireland, and had no answer to give other than to feel embarrassed.   The only person who understood was a Norwegian man I meet who, as you might recall, had a similar event in his country.  Of choose that was just once, and not every few months, or so it seems.

Any attempt to discuss a gun control here is greeted with scorn and criticism.  How can I love the US and not want every idiot to have a gun is how it's phrased by friends of mine.  After all It's our god given right to have gun shows and even a 2 week waiting period is considered excessive to buy an assault rifle.  The Constitution says so.  Listen folks, and I mean the NRA, the founding fathers never EVER imagined that people would own weapons like we do.

The problem as I see it is the combination of guns and Americans, and that's why I'm not so proud of my country right now.  So until we start a serious dialogue on how to stop these senseless mass killings we deserve the scorn the rest of the world gives us over our obsession with guns, the ease with which Americans can obtain them, and the mayhem people cause with them.

No guns can't kill alone, but then again, I can't kill anyone by throwing a 9mm bullet at them.  

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