Gun Violence, My six year old, and complete frustration

[MrGrieves]

Last night at bedtime, Henry my six year old says to me "Daddy what will we do if there is a break in?" I said "what do you mean buddy? Like if someone comes into the house?" He said yes and then asked what would happen if the person had a gun and before I could really answer he says that "there wont be any survivors... Everyone will die" Now, I know where this is coming from. It is coming from the active shooter drills that they are doing in school. But, this is my little kindergartener boy..... I mean what the fuck? I am incredibly sad and angry about this. I am not naive enough to think that legislation can stop all violence but god damnit why is it so impossible to get gun owners to agree to just some small amount of sanity? To agree to some small amounts of inconvenience to them that likely will not result in any loss of gun ownership by law abiding citizens? If I have to sit and discuss his family being murdered to a 6 year old why is it completely out of bounds to demand that we start treating gun violence as an emergency? As an epidemic?

The irony to me is that every time I get into a conversation with someone clinging to their 2nd amendment they want to spout off about how patriotic they are and how they are responsible and law abiding they are. Yeah you know the type - they can have my gun when they pry it.... We lose an unbelievable amount of people to gun violence every year. And it is called patriotic to just be ok with that? How much more innocence do we demand be ripped away from kids that are 6 years old before we start thinking about how we can change the issue and start putting into place real action?

That conversation last night really fucked with my head. Knowing that my son is contemplating the possibility that his family will be murdered or that he and his friends will be murdered at school. And that the only thing that we are doing about it is basically showing kids how to hide in a closet. We aren't doing a damn thing about reducing the instances of gun violence at all. We are just putting it on the shoulders of kids like my boy. We are just making teachers sugar coat it as best they can that we aren't going to do a damn thing about it.

Sick. Just sick.

[hunter]

1. We have a dragon named Spot. He eats all the bad guys

Sometimes I find partially digested guns in his poop.



Sigh. I remember my own school days when we only had to worry about nuclear missiles.

[MrGrieves]

3. Right!

and the neurosis that was borne out of that for myself (I was one of the last groups that remembers going through that) is exactly why this bothers me so mich.

Fuck.

[cp]

2. Right there with you

Hugs to you and your son.

[MrGrieves]

4. Thanks cp!

much appreciated.

[Straw Man]

5. IMO, active shooter drills are a form of security theater ...

... that may actually do more harm than good. They're the contemporary equivalent of the "duck and cover" drills of the Cold War era.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/active-shooter-drills-erika-christakis/580426/?fbclid=IwAR17WtJBj3A5MePCcmti9oJLe9YxAzMYyWAu0eRa-KrCck9AI1R7DR1jfTs

As a gun owner, I have no problem with universal background checks, as long as they're done in a sensible and non-intrusive way. As a New York resident with a handgun permit, I was background checked extensively to get my permit, but I still have to be background checked again -- twice, actually, once passively by signing an affidavit at the sheriff's office and once actively with the NICS check by the dealer -- and wait 3 to 5 weeks for a judge's permission whenever I wish to purchase a handgun. I consider this pointless and excessive. My fear is that the new federal legislation will similarly overreach, perpetuating and deepening the divide.

I know that this is not a popular opinion around here, but my feeling is that the pertinent question is why so many people are getting the urge to slaughter large numbers of their fellow humans. Until we can address that issue, we're merely going to be playing whack-a-mole with their weapons of choice.