APPLIED GUN VIOLENCE EXPLAINED

 

Baby boomers have a unique perspective when it comes to gun violence. Our fathers participated in the most extreme gun violence in world history. The books call it WWII and Korea; the dads went with bad intentions.

 

Their applied gun violence saved the world from a Nazi future. Along with the horrific acts of Imperial Japan, both nations took warfare back to the stone age.

 

Extreme gun violence put more bullets out than coming in. It created an environment for unconditional surrender. First in Europe, then Japan.

 

An additional penalty for late surrendering made Japan host the closest thing to getting bombed to the stone age. During the most destructive event in human history, good men with guns prevailed. I can’t say the same about gun violence today.

 

My father learned gun violence. He joined the Marines at the beginning of the Korean War and learned even more. The nineteen year old and his fellow young Marines shipped out in high spirits.

 

Among them were old WWII Marines recalled for Korea. Men like my dad were charged up for the coming battles. The old veterans, if you consider twenty five old, showed different feelings.

 

They cried.

 

After the island hopping beach landings they experienced in the ’40’s, they knew what to expect. Instead of banzai charges like the Japanese, they faced Chinese human waves in Korea. In both cases the Marines knew their duty and executed it. They mowed down everyone in front of them.

 

Sometimes it worked out better than others.

 

At my dad’s funeral one of Marine pals told me he’d been through three human wave attacks. He survived by doing extreme gun violence. Purple Hearts and Silver Stars go to the men who learned gun violence to stay alive.

 

No one trains to open up on school kids, movie fans, or Christmas party people. They are not part of any threatening human wave. Gun violence needs a better reason. Gun training with military experts is different than holding enough weapons to shoot up a room.

 

Here’s a shout out to the gunners without mental illness: If you wanted to be the man you always hoped to be, and your manliness is all about guns, why didn’t you join the Army? The Army has loads of guns in all sizes. Soldiers come in all sizes at the beginning. After gun training they’re all the same.

 

What’s missing from the amateur gunner is the importance of humility, or humbleness. You get that from being around people who’ve lost friends to gun violence.

 

Mass shooters don’t get the rub. They don’t need the Army training that takes you from dry fire to live fire. They don’t stand at port arms and allow a mean Drill Sergeant to rip a weapon from their grip. They don’t need the shame of watching another failed inspection. The angry DS first checks the action, then peers down the barrel before slamming it back at them.

 

Amateur gunner doesn’t need to submit to gun authorities who tell them how and when to fire. Nobody tells arsenal guy what to do. He’s got an arsenal answer.

 

The Second Amendment is part of American culture, a big part of our history, but not everyone deserves the right to own guns. Tighten down the loop holes that allow the undeserving access to guns. Check mentally ill people who have it together enough to buy guns without a background check?

 

Keep guns from people on the NO FLY list. That’s it. Amateur gunner guy needs to relax. A registered weapon doesn’t make you vulnerable to government intrusion.

 

It just means you believe in the Second Amendment. Welcome to America.

 

I know one person qualified to own an AR-15. It’s part of his job at work, it’s part of his life at home.

 

He rationalizes that killing someone isn’t about hate for an enemy, but love for those he loves, and he refuses to let someone else’s lack of love take what he loves.

 

Another person owns a gun for one reason:

 

“I’m not armed against the unforeseen, or the zombie apocalypse, or stranger danger,” he said. “In a world of seven billion, give or take, one person gives me enough concern. Only one, and I hope to never see them show up in my house with bad intentions.”