Old gun laws not working

In 1965 I got a job in California. Five months later, some new friends asked this Idaho country boy to go hunting with them in the Sierras on one guy’s family ranch, where I had to show three of them how to load their rifles. There were some very close calls.

The same gun laws that kept people safe in Idaho didn’t even come close in California. I somehow survived, and this was among friends.

Forty years later I strapped on a pistol for a walk in the woods. A visiting granddaughter started yelling “Gun! Gun! Gun!” What a wake-up call! Even in small town USA. The only information available on guns for a lot of kids is from school, TV, movies and video games. All the most dangerous information for such useful tools called guns.

Add to all the wrong ways to use and handle a gun the readily available alcohol, drugs (legal and illegal) and many other things for a high, even sniffing glue!

Many people in power say the 200-plus-year-old laws still work today. News of so many mass killings seem to tell another story. The assault or high-capacity weapons are common in all these stories. I think these weapons should only be available in well-regulated theme parks.

The Florida armed guard only had a sidearm. Being a trained officer, he probably weighed his odds against an assault rifle that could make Swiss cheese out of the best body vest police have. ‘The Genius’ called him a coward! If the guard would have thought and played a few rounds of golf while Americans were being slaughtered, or even messed around with some beauty contestants ... America loves heroes like that.

So the Republicans, NRA, ‘the Genius,’ and Rush all think we should have an arms race in the schools, churches, and other public places. After all, that’s tradition and good for the economy. Who wants to approximate results with ballistic gel when you have the real thing available.

I am truly sorry; my ideas will never catch on. Americans are more worried about who can use what bathrooms than the very soil they sit on (national debt).

So, school children, if you survive being a target, your chances of getting to vote are very slim.

Robert Piekarski

Electric City