There are several things I would like to talk to you about today, but there's only one that I'm going to talk about, because it is a discussion that needs to be had. If you haven't heard about the events of this past week, you are clearly living under a rock. I'm of course talking about the mass shooting in Uvalde Texas. I haven't done this in a very long time because I switched to one post a week and my input and timing were late, so unnecessary, but it is very much needed now. These are the victims of this horrible incident.
Makenna Lee Elrod, 10
Layla Salazar, 11
Maranada Mathis, 11
Nevaeh Bravo, 10
Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10
Xavier Lopez, 10
Tess Marie Mata, 10
Rojelio Torres, 10
Eliahna "Ellie" Amyah Garcia, 9
Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10
Jackie Cazares, 9
Uziyah Garcia, 10
Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10
Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10
Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10
Irma Garcia, 48
Eva Mireles, 44
Amerie Jo Garza, 10
Alexandria "Lexi" Aniyah Rubio, 10
Alithia Ramirez, 10
I want those names and ages to really sink in. These were children that only had 2 days left in their school year. They were thinking about spending time with their family and friends, maybe going on fun vacations to new places they've never been and now will never be.
Once again we are caught in the throws of, "this isn't the time to talk about this'. I've always thought that was a bunch of bull, because if now is not the time then when is it. It seems like once this passes, an we have all learned that it will, they will say why should we talk about it now, and this endless cycle of never getting anything done to, at the very least make the number of mass shootings to go down. I am now a gun owner, something I never really thought I would say. That makes me see things a bit differently, but not as you would think. I've always had a long standing belief that we need comprehensive background checks in order to buy a gun of any kind. I have gone through a number of background checks in the past few months and can truly say that if you are up in arms about getting a background check in order to buy a gun, you do not deserve a gun. Remember, the 2nd Amendment begins with "A well regulated militia". The word regulation freaking there. That means that a regulation can be put on you getting a gun. That doesn't mean that it is infringing on your right to have one, it just means that their can be qualifiers to you having one. Now that was written over 200 years ago and things have changed, but regulated still means the same today as it did then. Like I said, I've had 8 background checks performed on me in the last few months, and I have one more coming for a certain clearance I will be receiving very soon, so you can frag off about whining over a background check.
Where my view has changed a bit is in the training I had to go through in order to get my "D' and "G" licenses. One my "G" license it doesn't say Armed Security anywhere on it, it does say 'Statewide "Firearms License'. My instructor of the class mentioned several times how he wished that it was a 7 day course as opposed to a 3 day course, and I absolutely agree with him. I would have truly relished 4 more days of training, because the training I received in those 3 days was abundant and far more than I could have imagined, so how well prepared would I be with 7 days? The rest of my training now falls to me. There are more courses I can take, and I eventually will, but for the meantime, but training consist of me practicing what I was trained to do, and going to the gun range to improve my accuracy. It is a fact that most gun owners never practice with their firearms. They have them and expect that when the time comes they will just naturally be a marksman. That is not the case. Without training you will freeze up. I believe that in order to get a gun, every person that wants one must take a course similar to the 3 day course I took. That course covered firearms safety, the 4 universal gun safety rules, 4 step draw, proper storing of your weapon, proper discharge of your weapon ( actually shooting on a range ), and proper maintenance and cleaning of your weapon. It is my belief that if you think that by having to take a course like that in order to buy a gun infringes on your right to have a gun, then you shouldn't have a right to own a gun. Doing something in order to understand the proper use of a gun, and even though this course was for handguns, it can translate over to rifles as well, but I would say that a course specific to that would be in order, is a must. I'm not going to give a comparison for anything about what you need to do in order to be able to do other things, because you already know comparisons.
I'm truly tired of all the senseless death in this country, and that is not me condemning or saying I don't want to be a part of this country, that is me saying that I'm proud to be an American and I know that we can do and be better. Being proud of your country doesn't mean mindlessly following along with the status quo, it means standing up when you see a wrong and trying with everything you have to make it right. Stating when your country is wrong is not anti your country, it's saying you want it to be better. I want this country to be better, and right now we aren't doing it on so many fronts.
I only mentioned two things that should be done to make things a little less easier for a mass shooting to happen. There are so many more things that should and need to be done, but I will leave it at the two that I directly have experience with and I know can make a pretty big impact. We need to be better as a people and a country, peace in and good night.
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