Thoughts on gun control

Gun control in this country seems to be at the forefront right now, and I have to admit, it’s there for me, too.

I can’t help but think about it when I get a daily media report everyday from the sheriff’s offices of Greenville and Spartanburg Counties. Usually listed within those reports: some act of violence involving a weapon.

You can see stories on acts of violence with a deadly weapon throughout our paper, particularly today where we have a story from this weekend about an officer who was shot in Taylors by a man who allegedly just opened up fire on deputies executing a search warrant. In a non-violent story, I listened to an anecdote from a lady who said she nearly found herself in a bit of trouble when she looked down and realized the barrel of her gun was protruding from her handbag.

Today I saw that a young boy in Rock Hill found a gun and accidentally shot his grandmother. In Chicago there’s a page on the Sun Times website solely devoted to recording each homicide that occurs in the city. As I write this, the first headline on that page states that at least eight people died last week from gunshot wounds.

I think you get the picture. Violence with a deadly weapon is a problem everywhere in America, and other times there’s no violence, just negligence regarding having a weapon. And yet whenever a politician brings up gun control, every man’s man in our area gets all riled up about the government trying to take away our guns, to deny us our second amendment.

What I would like to see is a Republican, or simply any of these individuals who get so bent out of shape about gun control, step forward and offer a suggestion for keeping people from, you know, dying unnecessarily.

The old adage, “guns don’t kill people; people kill people” isn’t helpful. That’s like saying “automobiles don’t kill people; people kill people.” Well when a vehicle is driven by someone who shouldn’t be allowed to operate a vehicle, that privilege gets taken away. I’m beginning to wonder if we’ve lost another privilege.

kmaple@greercitizen.com | 877-2076