WHEN WILL IT END?

That is the cry from much of the country since the Newtown tragedy; not just from liberals and gun-control advocates, but from most everyone.  Gun owners and enthusiasts probably have even more disgust for these kinds of acts than the rest of society, because it puts them in a bad light and brings about renewed efforts to take away what they feel is their right: to own and bear arms for any legal purpose.

In my mind, it all boils down to this:  I own guns.  I am not going to use them for evil purposes, but only to defend myself and my family, or for target shooting, or hunting.  So, why do you want to take them from me?  So I can't have fun, so I can't defend myself, so I can't enjoy the natural phenomena of hunting?

If someone steals them from me and uses them for evil, is it my fault?  If someone steals your electronics, your car, your bicycle, and they pawn it for money to buy drugs or pornography or guns or gambling or prostitution, is it your fault?

I believe all people have the capacity for both good and evil.  Good is what we all hope to see from others; evil is what we too often get.  Evil will manifest itself in anyway it can, whether it be a mass shooting of inncocent children, a poisoning of a water supply, a bombing of a public building, a strangulation, a clubbing, a knifing, running over someone with a car, a war, genocide, or any of an unlimited number of possibilities.

I also believe it is the resonsibility of each and every parent to protect their children and grandchildren as best they can.  Life for any individual is short, and the only way we have to fulfill our purpose, if we have one, is to insure the survival of our offspring.  It is not just human nature, but all of nature, to survive, to breed, to continue.  I may not be successful in defending myself or my family from the evil that lurks in our world, but shouldn't I be allowed to try?

I can't protect my family if I don't protect myself as well.  If you try to take from the me best means of protecting my family that I have, I will fight you to the bitter end.