December 17, 2012
(This is my point of view, I know that some who read this will disagree with certain things but I just wanted to voice what was on my heart and what I believe.)
Recently there was an elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Innocent lives were taken by a boy who came in and shot his mother and young children in the classrooms. This has brought about tremendous amounts of issues on facebook ranging from gun control, mental disabilities and fear in living our everyday lives. I have to say I might need to unplug from Facebook until it all settles down because every time I get on to read it's causing my blood to boil on the ignorance of our nation.
Eight years ago I probably would have been one of those naive citizens who thought stricter gun control would be the "answer" to these tragedies we keep enduring. I never had held a gun and I did not know anything on laws of gun ownership. Until my husband, a gun enthusiast, came into my life. It was not until a year into our marriage that he let on to how he enjoyed this hobby. At first like any uneducated person would do, I freaked out! What a gun in our house? Our you kidding me? Is it loaded and in the basement?
After years (yes it took me years to get used to the fact) I am now on the other side of the fence. He keeps it locked up, never loaded, ammunition in another place. He never brings it out in front of our 6 year old son. He never will show it to me loaded. He has taught me the correct way to hold and all the safety regulations that go along with it at the shooting range. He continually educates our son on the danger that guns can cause if used incorrectly and when our son becomes of age he will take him to classes that correctly discipline and educate a young boy on this weapon that can be fatal if used improperly.
When our ancestors first came to this country, I'm sure every young child knew how to shoot his fathers rifle in order to hunt food to provide for the family. The difference back then was that these children had respect for their elders, respect for the weapon they used. I'm sure it is safe to say that if they ever were out of line with the weapon then they probably would have had their bottom spanked red and a loss of privilege of using the rifle.
This brings me to another subject of safety. Any logical person will have their firearms correctly stored in their home. I also would not allow a firearm to be in our house if we had a child that had mental issues. We need to have more education on gun SAFETY instead of gun control. History has continually repeated itself, what happens when we try to take something away or strictly regulate it? It is still available out there and in a way that is not guarded. The real issue here is not stricter gun control. The real issue comes down to where is our society going in our values.
We need to be spending time with our children, not working extravagant jobs to pay for big houses that we end up not spending anytime in. We need to be talking with our children about the values our ancestors had and installing them in the following generations. We need to educate our kids about the violence and destruction that comes out of bad decisions and ways to deal with life when it doesn't work out as it should. Working with the youth at my church, that is the biggest need I'm a seeing. Children do not have outlets to deal in the proper way with the things life is starting to throw at them in a real young age.
And what comes out in situations like this is fear. I have already heard two friends speak of their real fear of something happening to their own children. We can't walk around this earth living in fear, at any moment we can be hit by a drunk driver, we could die in a plane crash, we could be stricken with a disease or illness of our physical body. There are going to be constant things in this life that if we start fearing, we won't be living. What is the root of this whole school shooting issue? It's having values, respect and love.
It's praying for the victims and the innocent people involved, it's listening to when our children are crying out for our attention. It's having a faith that God has good plans for us in this life but that we need to respect life itself.
Sincerely,
Colleen Rusnak
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