The New Suburban Militia

I've been visiting my family in NC this weekend.  It's always interesting to go back home, I never know what I might see.  When I pulled into my sister's driveway the other day there were two middle school age boys cutting through her backyard.  One of them was carrying a large handgun.  I did a double-take and realized that it was a toy, a paint gun I think.  It was pretty disconcerting, though.

Today I was driving down her street and there were two different boys walking along the road carrying three large assault rifles, equipped with scopes and everything.  They also turned out to be paint guns or something like that - but still, I felt sort of like Marshall Law had been declared and I was grossly under prepared.

Since I have girls and thus far they have shown little interest in guns, I'm probably not going to run into this problem, but I really don't think I'd ever buy my kids these kinds of toys.  And I definitely wouldn't let them roam the neighborhood playing war games and scaring out-of-town visitors.  Although, I suppose that might be there plan - keep the outsiders out!

One of life's little tragedies

Panama City, FL has been on my mind since yesterday.  If you haven't seen it in the news yet, there was a shooting at a school board meeting.  The man was confronting the school board because he said his wife had been fired unfairly.  The video is pretty scary, I can't imagine what it must have been like to be there. 

I have never even touched a gun, much less owned one and I can't imagine a scenario that would ever make me change my mind.  I just don't understand it - well, I do understand hunting (although, I'd never do that either) - but I think having a hand gun would make me feel more afraid than safe.  And it definitely makes me feel afraid that I guy like this one would have access to a gun.  He's an ex-convict whose been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 

We actually lived in Panama City for almost five years in the late nineties, early aughts.  I worked for a family owned construction company and one day gun ownership came up in conversation - I don't remember exactly why.  I shared that I did not own a gun and probably never would - I think that was pretty shocking for the family to hear.  My boss's mother assured me that I would change my mind when I had children.  I was appalled, but just nodded and smiled, since, you know, it was the boss's mom - if anything, having children in the house makes me feel like it's an even worse idea to own a gun. 

Intellectually, I know that guns and weapons in general are a part of our existence and that is never likely to change.  But in my heart I hate it.