It's Not a Freaking Hurricane

It's kind of moving to see your President wiping away tears. But I've gotta be honest - I was a little disappointed in his initial speech about what happened in Connecticut on Friday. It felt to me like he was talking about the shooting as if it was some sort of natural disaster, that we have zero hope of gaining any control over.

I read a good article in the NY Times that included examples of things that could be done to provide tighter gun control. These things should have been done decades ago. People claim they need to be able to have a gun in case somebody breaks into their home. I'm pretty sure the majority of people breaking into homes are doing so to steal, not to kill.

I don't know about you, but I am not prepared to kill another human being. I have done a lot of really horrible things to people, but that is a line I just don't see crossing. If someone broke into my shitty apartment to steal stuff, well, I can get more stuff. So can you. That's what renter's insurance is for. (Fun fact: I don't have any!) You know how sometimes you get new furniture and invite me over to show it off? Well two seconds after I've done the polite thing of oohing and aahing I've completely forgotten whatever you just told me about your perfectly ordinary-looking beige couch.

What's that? It's your heirloom couch that used to belong to your great Aunt Vernice who's now dead? Well guess what: she'd tell you she never much liked it. She only had it because somebody gave it to her and she was poor. Or whatever. It's just stuff. You don't need a gun to protect yourself from somebody who might break in because you're not prepared to kill a human being over your laptop. If you're smarter than I am you have home owner's or renter's insurance. Consider the fact that police officers are prepared to kill somebody every single day that they go to work, and if they do so in the line of duty, they have to go to mandatory counseling.

It all ties together, when you think about it. Of course this Adam Lanza kid was mentally ill. Of course the only person who would give a mentally ill person access to guns is someone who is mentally ill themselves. Yes that's right - I'm saying his mother was not well in the head. I don't care whether or not she was diagnosed with something - a healthy person does not look at an unhealthy one and give them access to guns. We don't have enough support for the mentally ill, nor do we have enough restrictions on guns. I have ideas on how these two connect, but need to work out some right to privacy issues first.

But tomorrow I am going to my job. It has nothing to do with guns or mentally ill people. It will make people hate him, but it's not like Obama has to worry about re-election anyway, so he may as well piss off tons of gun-toting people by laying down a ton of gun control laws. Including one that says people with a history of mental illness may not purchase guns or have access to them through their job, or through anyone else living in their home. There are all these quotes from people who knew the mother, saying how much she loved her son and would do anything for him. Sure. Anything but get rid of her guns.