Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Gettin' Drunk and Cleanin' Muh Guns

Living in Texas, “the right to keep and bear arms” is imprinted on your birth certificate. I grew up in a gun-filled household. I fired my first shot before I was in junior high, owned my first gun (a “starter” .22 rifle) and killed my first deer before I was a teenager. So, I’m not coming at this from a place of ignorance.

But I still don’t get it. Sure, hunting is a “sport” and I appreciate that. I acknowledge that it’s not my thing, but if it’s yours, that’s cool. But then we get into the discussion of handguns. In Texas we have concealed weapons permits. And the vast majority of people who apply for them are EXACTLY the people I would prefer NOT have a gun should a “disagreement” occur. I know you SAY it’s for self-defense, but I just don’t really see a whole lot of evidence that it’s a good thing.

So you can imagine the head shaking going on in my house when I read about the Washington State man who shot and killed his 6-year-old daughter, Stormy, while cleaning his pistol. After drinking double shots of vodka all evening.

I’m sorry, can you run that by me one more time? You were cleaning your fucking guns and decided that “drunk” was probably the best condition to be in? I’m truly sorry that gun wasn’t pointing in the opposite direction.

To make matters worse, he had asked Stormy to bring him the .45 and he guessed he “must have pulled the trigger” and the girl “fell down.” Ya think?

His attorney actually argued for bail, saying that her client wasn’t a flight risk. Excuse me? When your home is on wheels, doesn’t that automatically make you a flight risk?

Of course, I’m sure the jury will be swayed by his grief at “losing” his child. And while I think this fellow is a perfect candidate for the death penalty (c’mon, it’s a 4-fer: killer, idiot, gun owner, bad child namer), maybe they should just cut his balls off. At least that way he wouldn’t be able to create another child he might potentially shoot or give a cripplingly white trash name to. I mean, there’s nothing in the constitution about the right to keep and bear children, is there?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I heard about a guy in Colorado that shot his 2 year old in the head(the baby died instantly) because he thought there was a robber in his hallway in the early dark hours. Being the compassionate person he was, he shot low only wanting to wound the intruder,exactly head height for a 2 year old. Apparently he decided not to turn the light on or call out.
My question here is why do we live in such fear? Or live with the idea that we have the right to shoot anything? Some people pay for taking such license while the rest of us sit in judgement.