On This Date In ISBL History: My Two Cents: Guns v Cars

As Carlos and I are in sunny Miami for business and pleasure, I thought I’d do something I’ll call “On This Date In ISBL History” and repost some things from back when the blog was new, and newish … this was originally published January 8, 2015:

My Two Cents: Guns v Cars

I’ve told this story before, but, well, Carlos posted something to Facebook about guns and got some vile responses so I’ll talk about it again.

It all began when we learned that Kroger stores in areas where open carry — being able to carry a gun, rifle, assault weapon openly in public — is legal, and one day, while shopping at our Kroger store, we expressed our displeasure at their policy.

We were told by the manager that what Kroger has is a ‘neutral policy’ on open carry which we then explained was really a ‘We don’t care’ or ‘We look the other way’ policy; we made the suggestion that maybe a sign could be posted in store windows asking that people refrain from bringing weapons into a grocery store when they stop for a carton of milk, and, again, we were told Kroger’s policy is neutrality.

Since then our policy has been to shop anywhere but Kroger because I have this aversion to asking someone to move their AK47 so I can get some eggs, but that’s just me ….

And, when on Facebook, I often repost stories from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; I also reTweet some links from the group. Well, Carlos shared a photo from the group one day and was inundated with all kinds of gun nuts who basically told him to STFU … funny, they want their Second Amendment rights protected while seeking to deny Carlos his First Amendment rights but what do you expect from people who want to carry a loaded firearm into a grocery?

Anyway, one nut suggested that cars kills more people than guns and does Carlos want cars outlawed? I commented that with cars you have training and licenses before you drive, two things you don’t always find in the homes of gun nuts. I also said that, with cars, most people carry insurance, so that if they hurt, or goddess forbid, kill someone with their car there is some form of restitution to the victims. Not so much with guns; if you are shot by a gun nut because, well, their gun just happened to go off, or maybe someone nudged them or ... whatever ... there is no form of restitution for the victims.

Plus, and I’ll say this again: cars were not invented as a weapon; guns, however, were. And it bears repeating that people who own guns, who carry guns, intend to use them … to shoot at something; maybe a tin can on a fence post; maybe a deer in the woods; maybe a bird on the sky. But they intend to put a hole in something, or someone. People who drive cars are not intending to kill anyone.

Still, I don’t want guns taken away from people — at least not those people who are mentally sound and don’t have a criminal history; I understand some people feel the need to have a gun for protection; I get that.

But we need to remember that guns are designed to kill, or maim, or injure, while cars are designed to move us from place to place. If someone gets hit by a car, or hurt in a car accident, it’s because a mistake has been made; something’s gone wrong. If someone gets shot it because the gun was being used in the way in which it was intended.

Guns are for killing; cars are for driving. Big difference.

I still have not changed my mind ... I still cry when  I read about gun violence—I was gonna say “senseless gun violence”—but that seems unnecessary as all gun violence is senseless.