Back when I was in college in 1969, part of my liberal arts curriculum required two semesters of physical education. Never terribly athletic, I was pleased to see that one of my options was riflery. Alfred University had an ROTC program (Reserve Officer Training Corps), so there was a well-equipped rifle range and a real live Army instructor, Major Doak.
The Major was a very accommodating man. He taught us female civilians in detail about the weapons we would learn to shoot. He stressed safety and respect for the power of the rifles we would handle. He didn’t patronize us as a bunch of girls playing with guns. We honed our skills as rifle-women during a semester of classes. Major Doak also gave us experience shooting handguns. It was a heady experience for this city girl from New Jersey. I enjoyed it. A lot.
My father-in-law, Jack Mandavill,e had been a hunter most of his life. Growing up on a New York state farm during the Great Depression, hunting was a valuable means of supplementing the produce they raised to feed the family. He hunted deer, pheasants and ducks. He had acquired more than a handful of rifles and shotguns over his lifetime, and we inherited a half-dozen of them when he died. They are stored away, unloaded, in a secure hidewaway in our home.
A couple of weeks ago when I was, again, plagued by insomnia, I gave up on sleep and logged on to Facebook. There in my newsfeed was early news of the terrible massacre in Las Vegas. Twenty-two dead and dozens injured in a shooting at a country music concert. Sh*t! Damn it to hell! Not again!
This was beyond awful. It was beyond horrendous. I searched in vain for more details, but none were to be found this soon. When I finally did go to sleep, I was not imagining how much higher the body count would go, or how many people were wounded, physically and psychologically.
We now know the 58 innocent people (and one not-so-innocent) died that night, and more the 500 souls were maimed or critically wounded by gunshots. More than 20,000 were psychologically traumatized by the horror rained upon them. Our entire nation experienced the wretched deja vu’ of mass shooting, and the world watched, again, us crazy Americans begin the Ground Hog’s Day ritual of mass shooting, mass mourning, and mass doing nothing.
I told you my opening anecdotes in hopes that you would not consider me a gun prude. I’ve read and approve of the second amendment. I lived in Michigan for 35 years and understand the culture of hunting and gun ownership. I’ve learned gun safety and shot guns and own them. But I’m also just another freedom-loving citizen who is sad and sick and tired of fine, ordinary Americans burying their innocent relatives; who is revolted by the artificial memorials of accumulated balloons, flowers, stuffed animals and candles that bloom at the sites of unspeakable tragedy.
So I’m not going to rant and rave about gun control. We all can recount the incidents that curdle our stomachs — dead children in Sandy Hook, et al. We know that legislators live in fear of pissing off their constituents who own and use guns responsibly if they (the legislators) don’t blindly support the NRA. We know that there are paranoid folks who would have us believe that any attempt to regulate guns is an attempt to repeal the Second Amendment. And we know that some legislators accept huge amounts of money from the gun lobby to sidestep all attempts at reasonable legislation.
So let’s move on to a new idea.
I would like to suggest that all reasonable, gun-owning members of the National Rifle Association – who are certainly part of the overwhelming majority of Americans who favor a saner approach to gun ownership — all of these card-carrying members petition, protest, withhold their dues, whatever they can do to get the attention of the NRA leadership, and demand that this group become the American Cancer Society of armaments and begin to eliminate the epidemic of unnecessary deaths by firearms.
With all of its massive power and wealth, the NRA could throw all its efforts into staying ahead of the bad guys who perpetrate these bloodbaths by working with Congress and their own membership to close gun show loopholes, to digitize gun registries, to mandate background checks in all cases of gun purchasing, and to develop new safety measures to be incorporated into newly manufactured firearms.
I’ve heard all the arguments against these safeguards, and I dismiss them all as the macho, paranoid rantings of people who honestly think they have a right to bear military-grade firearms with ammunition that can explode a human head like a watermelon. Just because we are Americans doesn’t mean we are limitlessly entitled to have whatever our hearts desire. It is because we are Americans that we should be ahead of the curve instead of behind it when it comes to sensible, common sense solutions to a problem that only gets worse with each passing bloodletting.
In the credit card industry, whenever the naughty boys figure out how to circumvent new technology invented to protect us from theft, the industry researches and develops new means to thwart the naughty boys. And we all embrace those means, knowing full well that whatever has been developed will work for a time — until the naughty boys figure that out — and that no solution will ever be the be-all, end-all, 100% guaranteed, fool-proof, for all eternity fail-safe fix. But that doesn’t stop the industry from doing something. They persist in fighting abuse of something we have come to consider a basic right — credit card usage. They do something!
It is my own opinion, my own small voice, that says I’ve had enough. But I believe there are some other small voices out there who feel, as I do, that we have not been heard in our outrage against what continues to happen to reasonable people because of unreasonable laws (or lack of them).
I call upon the reasonable men and women among gun owners and users in our great country to speak out against those who, by their selfish, misguided inaction cast a dark shadow on all of them. This is your chance to persist in fighting something we have come to consider a basic right — the responsible ownership of guns. This is your chance to finally DO SOMETHING.
Mrs. Mandaville,
With respect, It would be a good idea to use references to support your opinions, would it not? Please be advised your directions to others has been to site references, it may be a good idea for you to follow your own advise.
Thank you kindly.
Bob, I was commenting on Jeff Salisbury’s citations of remarks made in your last column. As you pointed out, these columns are editorials, statements of opinion regarding current events. This is an idea whose time I thought may have come. Just one woman’s opinion. I don’t think I made any claims that required citation of sources.
I agree, you didn’t make any propsals requiring citation. You made the same old propsals and then summarily dismissed any criticisms. Because… BAD!
New ideas? Well, the idea that the NRA should disband is mildy humorous, but even that’s not new.
How on earth could you have come up with the opinion that the article by Lynn Mandaville called for disbanding the NRA? If anything, she was suggesting that the NRA as a whole do something to quell these barbaric killings.
It’s time for you to get your head out of the sand!
Please see my response to Ms. Mandaville’s assertion that she didn’t call for disbanding the NRA, below.
Mrs. Mandaville,
Your words.
“Valid citations to back up one’s opinion are responsible, and the expressed personal interpretation of how we view historical events (most of those you cite, Bob, constitute, in my view, acts of terrorism veiled in the hell of war inflicted by men) are valid anecdotes on one’s own life experiences.”
Do as i say not do as I do, typical.
I liked the column. One does not need to be “a gun prude” to support gun control measures. I’m not a gun prude either. I carried an M-16 in Vietnam (and other weaponry). I carried a weapon for years of employment – and applied for received a CPL upon retirement, back when one needed to be interviewed by the county gun board to get one. That was not automatic in my County – one had to present a convincing need to be armed. I am a gun owner. I enjoy shooting, though I don’t see the appeal of blasting away at animals. I understand putting food on the table, if that’s the reason, as it can be for some. Sufficient bona fides as not a gun prude?
I support gun control.
Mr. Basura,
I support gun control too… a nice tight pattern in the bullseye! Sometimes I shoot so many rounds there isn’t any bullseye showing. Holding the weapon with two hands with the correct base posture helps in steadying aim with a hand held weapon. Shoulder weapons tend to be easier to hit where you’re aiming. Handguns take patience and practice, practice, practice. Range time is essential to become proficient. I also have a CPL and carry regularly for self defense.
I’d rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6. Also, a pistol is lighter than carrying a law enforcement officer.
Ms. Mandaville:
As for the NRA, good luck with that. As for repealing the Second Amendment.. ditto.
Have a fine day!
I had a CPL. I don’t have a CPL now. The gun control I support might include banning bump stocks and high capacity magazines.
To all, I fear that I may have been misunderstood. I was not calling for elimination of the NRA, merely calling on its mainstream members to put pressure on the organization (whose founding principles were and are terrific) to become partners in the effort to curb abuses and end unnecessary gun deaths, particularly the stunningly horrible mass shootings. Additionally, I did not suggest repealing the second amendment. I did, in fact, say that I have read it and embrace its validity in a free society. Please reread for clarity.
Ms. Mandaville,
I appreciate your rhetoric, but every person I meet declaring they are an NRA member is “mainstream”. I don’t know what fake news from which you gather information to assess NRA membership (CNN.MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC) – maybe you don’t even know any NRA members, but we are not the knuckle-dragging Neanderthals as everyone portrays us in the fake news. We are open to everyone to join and protect and support their 2nd Amendment rights.
I recommend you get out more and maybe even go to a shooting range and reignite the pleasure you had shooting you said you had when in college. I bet you see a few NRA stickers on the vehicles in the parking lot. They are normal, everyday people.
The nuts who create chaos, death, and destruction aren’t people in the NRA, the are just nuts who should be jailed or in mental facilities and they don’t care a wit about gun laws or any laws. They are psychos wanting to kill. There is no law that will prevent that. The problem is you have to wait until they do something displaying their intentions, but then, many may be dead or injured. Las Vegas is a terrible but true example.
Ms. Mandaville,
You have asked NRA members to “close gun show loopholes, to digitize gun registries, to mandate background checks in all cases of gun purchasing, and to develop new safety measures to be incorporated into newly manufactured firearms.”
There are very good reasons why they will not endorse any of these tired talking points, to which you say “I’ve heard all the arguments against these safeguards, and I dismiss them all,” and go on to call names. To get people to change long held opinions, you need to provide arguments. Politely.
I believe you don’t think you called for the NRA to be banned, but it’s like saying “I’m not calling for baseball to be banned, I just want people to play with flat bats, and hit a bouncing ball in front of some sticks.” Well, now it’s not baseball, it’s cricket. You’ve effectively said you want the NRA to be the Brady Center.
You’re saying the membership has to do something to which you know they object, so as to change the very nature of the NRA. OK, but can you see why people think you’re asking for it to be banned? Objection to your requests is WHY most of them are NRA members.
Tell you what, if you want the NRA to institute the programs you are advocating, I’d suggest you, and as many of your friends as you can persuade, join up and pressure the NRA as members. After you’ve done that, feel free to tell me it’s my problem as a current member.
Let’s stop calling these incidents “Mass Shootings”. Let’s call them what they really are; “Mass Killings” with no remorse or regard to who they are killing. This type of person, NRA member or not, should not be able to casually stroll into a gun shop or gun show and buy a weapon. Yes, it is true that they will kill whether or not there is a law; but I doubt they would be able to kill 50+ at one time with butcher knife or even a machete. The mentally ill should not be allowed to own a gun.
Agreeing with the proposition that some forms of mental illness should prevent gun ownership, how do you propose we do that?
Mental illness is often so shielded from any form of investigation. Once a child becomes an adult (read age 18) a parent has no right to information regarding treatment or diagnosis. Even if that parent is still paying the premium for insurance to cover treatment. I feel that if a person is medically seen as being a possible threat to them self or others a parent should be informed.
More work needs to be done to establish a database of potentially violent patients to warn gun dealers. This will never be done because of privacy laws. I also think that anyone (man or woman) who is convicted of extreme domestic violence should be considered to have a mental problem. Maybe not insane but they do have a short circuit somewhere.
I think this is a lot of wishful thinking but something needs to be done. Do you have any ideas?
Mr. Free Market, I do know NRA members. They are not Neanderthals. They mourn with the rest of us the mass killings. I guess I still am not making my point clear. NRA members are reasonable people who have untapped power to steer the organization in a saner direction to DO SOMETHING. As dues-paying members they carry more credibility with legislators than do non-members. Whether or not I, an aging senior citizen on a fixed income, choose to spend my resources on target shooting, is irrelevent. I meet NRA members at church, in the grocery store and at the public library. I want their voices to be heard, loud and clear and articulately, among the din.
Ms. Mandaville,
You say, “NRA members are reasonable people who have untapped power to steer the organization in a saner direction to DO SOMETHING.”
NRA members are reasonable people who have been trained BY Progressives to be wary OF Progressives calling for “saner directions” they recognize as misguided.
And, BTW, the all caps ‘do something’ is disquieting in exactly that sense. The subtext is blaming the NRA for not ‘doing’ something you want.
You say, “I want their voices to be heard, loud and clear and articulately, among the din.” Apparently, as long as they agree with you.
I ever more convinced you don’t understand NRA members, or their opinions, in the slightest. But, you’ve heard all that before and can dismiss it.
I think domestic violence is pretty well covered legally, though restraining orders are often just ignored. In this case I’d encourage women to be armed by offering free training and discounted firearms upon completion.
I think you’re right about privacy concerns, and I have seen no evidence that the Las Vegas shooter had any indication of insanity which pointed to his actions that would have been detected even without privacy protections.
There is evil in the world and we can’t stop all of it. If we want to reduce gun deaths we should work on old white male suicide and inner city drug crime first. That’s over half the total annual tool of 33,000. I did a blog post on that today. If interested, clicking my name would take you there.