I can shoot the devil right between the eyes

First of all, thank each and every one of you for your notes in my last entry. I very much appreciate everything you all said! I’ll note you back individually very soon.

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Second, I want to bring up something that’s been all over the news lately. I usually try to stay out of heated arguments like these, but unfortunately, I do have an opinion here.

The subject, you ask? The subject is guns. I don’t pretend to know everything about this by any means. But I will tell you that I grew up with and around guns for my whole entire life. Everyone on my father’s side of the family hunts and one of my very first memories is the smell of the oil used to clean a gun. I have NO problem with this.

I’m SICK TO DEATH of people running down gun ownership. As long as it’s done responsibly, I think it’s fine. Live and let live until proven unfit to do so. I do believe guns should be registered and I do believe people should have background checks (all of which my entire family has gone through to both own and use guns). I also believe guns should be stored safely when not in use and should only be used appropriately, such as out in the field when hunting or in a gun range for target practice.

My main problem comes from the opinions of people who do not, nor have they ever liked or been around guns. I feel like this whole situation is just a different version of what was just being yelled about in politics. One male candidate was all for regulating birth control, so every woman was screaming, “no vagina, no opinion!” Well, it’s the same thing here. No first hand gun knowledge, no opinion! People only know what they hear in the news unless they have first hand knowledge of a situation, ANY situation. It’s no different in this case. And some people already have a hatred of guns, which cloud their judgment and make their opinion against them that much stronger.

Truth be told, those of us who have and use guns have the same strong, but opposite opinion. But that’s because we actually have knowledge of the subject. My father has been a gun owner and user for over 50 years and the only injuries to a human being he’s ever caused have been to himself when one of his guns got jammed and kicked back and hit him in the nose. Twice.

We are responsible gun owners. I may not be out there in the field hunting, but that’s not because I’m afraid of guns or because I don’t feel that it’s right or because I’m a vegetarian or any of that kind of thing. I find it dull and boring. I’d rather be actively photographing the scenery around me than sitting for hours and waiting for something to happen. My point here is that while I don’t hunt, I do enjoy target practicing now and again and I’m tired of people berating me (though maybe not personally) for this.

As long as you do things responsibly, I have no problem with your gun ownership and I hope you have no problem with mine.

Aside from replying to some notes, this is the last thing I’ll ever post on the subject, and I only did this because I’m so annoyed at what I’ve been hearing from not just strangers, but even friends lately.