Our Gun Attitudes Must Change

   It is our attitude toward guns, the uses we assign to the gun, that get us in trouble as much as anything. You cannot legislate attitudes, but we should change how we view the gun.
   One of our attitudes is that the gun is there to protect private property. Another is shoot to kill. (I understand shoot to kill is actually taught in our concealed weapons classes.) Last week, a group of teenagers pulled into a driveway, thinking it was the home where a friend lived, and the homeowner came out with a gun, fearful his home was to be burglarized, and blew the driver away. The homeowner was a church-going man, with no criminal background, but now might face manslaughter charges or whatever. 
   Yes, I do wonder if he had been taught to protect his property with his gun.
   In another incident, this one in Utah, a man came home to find someone trying to break into his home. When the would-be burglar began to flee, the homeowner shot at him. We teach that if someone is breaking into you home, their life has no value, and they should be shot. I think we need to teach that all life has value, even the lives of criminals.
   We teach that if our rights are being taken away by our government, we should take up arms. Tell me that is not a dangerous thing to teach? It is great to protect freedom, even to fight for it, but sooner or later, someone is going to organize a sedition without sufficient cause. For all I know, the attack on the federal building in Oklahoma City was at the hands of someone (Timothy McVeigh) who had been taught to put government in its place with armed force. It was a bombing, but such bombs are a form of arms and fall under the Second Amendment. Was McVeigh influenced by public sentiment that the Second Amendment is there so we will have weapons to fight abuses in government, and, is that all he felt he was doing?
    Such things as protecting one's property, and standing up to tyranny are good things. But, we should be able to see the dangerous side of them, as well. If we are to teach them to each other, it would be good to teach the restraints that go with them, to teach that protecting property does not mean blowing someone away for trespassing, and that if use of a gun is not required, it is best not to use the gun at all. 
   Shoot to kill? If, per chance, we see a need to teach that there are times when you shoot to kill, then we must also teach -- and emphasize, greatly -- the times when one should not shoot to kill. And, we must teach about the sanctity of life. Perhaps as much as anything we should teach, it is this sanctity of life. Weapons are instruments of death. If someone is to have one, they become someone who can administer death. Would we not want to give them values, teach them that all life is valuable, lest they unnecessarily take the life of another?
    And what should we teach those who view the gun as a defense against tyranny, against government? I suppose we could teach them history. I understand our forefathers worked through civil means long before they took out their muskets and went to war. I suppose we could teach them that some injustice might need to be suffered, even some loss of freedom, without taking up arms? And -- this one will be a hard one -- I suppose it would be good if we didn't harp on and teach so much to each other about the evils of our government, that it is wicked. We are a country that loves to hate our government, aren't we? Is there any among us who does not decry, condemn, and castigate our country, our government? 
   Perhaps we should counter such thoughts, whenever we utter them, with comments on what is right about our current government, and what is good about our current government leaders. All I know is, giving someone a gun and telling them it is to be used to defend freedom when the government tries to take it, and then to teach hatred of that government could have a dire effect.
   We don't need to take guns away from people, we need to teach them what they are for -- and not for.
   That said, one of the values we should change is that everyone should own a gun. Some read the Second Amendment and assume it is their patriotic duty to go out and buy a gun. It is said America, with only 5 percent of the population, has 50 percent of the world's guns. We have, it is said, 600,000 guns stolen every year, and a large number of our violent crimes are committed with stolen weapons.
   Back in the days of the Wild West, they could see that just having guns around was dangerous. Dodge City, Kansas, and Tombstone, Arizona, both had laws requiring you to check your guns in at the marshall's office upon arriving in town. Today, our military bases require people to leave their guns at home, off base, when they are not being used. If the military can see the danger of everyone having guns, we all should.
   Everyone does not need a gun. I've lived all my 58 years of life without having need to use one.
   Guns can be good. I've heard mass murders often take place in gun-free zones, where the murderer feels he will not be opposed. I say, put the guns where you need them, but don't just scatter them at random.

  (I will finish writing this and edit it later. I'm late for work.)