Apolitical no more: ramblings on the gun control conversation

     For as long as I can remember, I have tried to remain apolitical. I've come up with every excuse in the  book to try and justify this attitude: no one tells the truth anyway, there are always two sides to a story and it's just too overwhelming to begin. The truth is, I am too afraid of polarizing my family, friends and acquaintances by picking a side or a battle. I haven't had enough faith that the people who love will me will do so no matter how I feel about women's rights, the debt ceiling or gun control. But, after reading so many posts on facebook and hearing so many things from so many different groups and individuals, I feel like it's time to let my own voice be heard, scary as that may be.
    What I have to say is that I'm tired of people presenting only two sides to the issue of gun control, only two possible solutions. I'm tired of both sides' stances that if you are not for us, you're against us. According to everything I've heard, if you support any kind of a weapons ban, you are trying to take away every single gun in the United States. Conversely, If you believe hunters should be allowed to have weapons, kept unloaded and locked in a safe, you are anti-gun control. These only two sided arguments are ridiculous and one of the many reasons our political system and country has become so divided. What happened to the voices of the majority of us who are somewhere in between?
   As it turns out, my voice is one of those. I have a husband who hunts, legally and safely. And, even though I despise guns, we have guns in our home. As a responsible gun owner, my husband keeps them unloaded in a safe. I also have taught my  kids what to do should they be on a playdate and see a gun, which is to run and tell a parent as soon as possible. This kind of warning might seem ridiculous to those of you who do not have friends who hunt but where I live, I think it is almost as important as teaching them about stranger danger.
    On the other hand, I have no clue why someone, even an avid hunter, needs a weapon that can fire many rounds in quick succession. My husband has given me a quick tutorial of what "semi-automatic" and assault means and the gradations are too minute for me to detail here. Also, in truth, he lost me when he started talking about the old rifles, which were still semi-automatic, as far back as the 1800's. Anyway, my point is, law enforcement and not the public should have access to the highest firepower in our country. If they do not, they will be at a loss when they are required to enter a dangerous situation in order to save human lives. For me, it is as simple as that.
    Now, there are those who say that government is the enemy and it is from them we  need to protect ourselves. For these people, I have no answer, except that an entire aresenal of guns in your home would have no effect if our government's military, the most heavily armed in the world, decided they wanted you out of your home. They have tanks, bombs and missiles that could subdue even the largest uprising of private gun owners. So, if our governement pulls a Hitler, or a Mugabe, we are screwed. Sorry, but that's the truth.
    At long last, here is the crux of my argument. All of our conversations about gun control, no matter which side you're on, are pointless without taking on our bigger problems. Lack of education, lack of positive opportunities, mental health stigma and poverty. We cannot think what happened to those innocent victims in Newburgh will not happen again if we simply make stricter gun control laws. Guess who will still have guns: all of the people who do so illegally, which are the cause of the majority of the 9,000 gun deaths a year in our country. Although I am a proponent of a crackdown on illegal guns, much like the war on drugs, it will be largely unsuccessful. There will still be people with unregistered guns who use them for violence. There will still be people who will break in to a safe and steal a gun in order to do violence. Let's try and stop them before they get to that point.
   Create and support programs for parents of children with mental health issues, create and support after school programs that give access to the possibility of a better life for those from troubled homes, educate teachers and caregivers as to what symptoms of mental illness are, give people a chance to live their own best life, regardless of where they come from. The positive fallout from creating these kinds of programs goes well beyond gun violence to address things like suicide, crime, domestic violence and poverty levels.
   So, I say to all of us, don't stop the conversation if Congress enacts a new gun control law like the Brady Bill was in its era. Keep it going. Get to the root of the problem which began far before a young man stole his mother's guns and used them to end lives.