Given the recent tragedies in Aurora, Colo. and Sandy Hook, Conn., and the extensive debate about Second Amendment rights, I felt compelled to share my thoughts on this subject.
I was horrified by what happened at Sandy Hook and subsequently organized a candlelight prayer vigil on the Cumberland Mall on Dec. 18. Many local pastors came to offer prayers and comforting words. Many residents of the area attended, despite the cold and windy conditions that night.
My heart truly goes out to all of the families involved, including the shooter’s family. I have prayed for all of them on a daily basis and will continue to do so.
However, I am outraged by some of the ludicrous statements made by so-called “journalists” (a better description would be narcissistic sensationalists), most notably, Piers Morgan from CNN.
We need to view these incidents with objectivity and common sense, versus knee-jerk responses. Yes, these terrible events spark intense visceral emotions. We want answers and solutions and we want them now. Unfortunately, there is no absolute readily available remedy.
Mr. Morgan, and other media personalities, would like to promote the idea that if we are stripped of our Second Amendment rights there will never be another massacre in our country.
Mr. Morgan loves to refer to how peaceful and non-violent his native United Kingdom is because guns are prohibited. If it is so safe there, perhaps he should return since he is not a citizen of this country.
He is only here because he is being paid an obscene amount of money to strut and pontificate before the camera lenses. Also, he faces criminal charges in Britain related to his former position with the Mirror newspaper.
The truth is, the U.K. is much smaller in size than the U.S. and the number of violent crimes committed there are high. People are killed with knives, bludgeoned to death, raped, etc. You don’t need a gun to kill someone.
We found out, sadly, on 9/11 that you can wipe out thousands of people with a commercial airliner and some box cutters. We learned from Oklahoma City that a truck filled with cow manure can kill hundreds and even thousands of people.
So, if we use Mr. Morgan’s logic, knives, planes, box cutters, hammers, baseball bats, motor vehicles, and animal feces should be outlawed.
Yes, I think intense background checks are necessary. However, as a mental health professional, I can attest to the fact that, unless a person makes a specific threat to harm themselves or others, HIPPA laws prevent the mental health community from reporting a person’s behavior to the authorities.
We are bound by ethics and law to protect patient confidentiality. Many mentally ill people are intelligent and treatment-savvy. They know what not to say to avoid inpatient treatment or arrest.
In closing, I would ask you to consider the fate of citizens in countries that confiscated guns in the last century.
Bottom line: Unarmed civilians were herded like sheep to concentration camps, gas chambers, prisons and firing squads. Torture, starvation and disease are also a means to kill thousands.
To those who say the Holocaust never happened, I offer my condolences for your intellectual deficits. I have seen pictures taken by my father of the concentration camps he helped to liberate as a World War II tank commander in the U.S. 14th armored division.
I’m sure those images haunt him on a daily basis. I’m also sure that he’ll fight to keep our Second Amendment rights viable.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Rogue governments and dictators have absolute power.
Renae D. Bloss, CAC-AD
Cumberland
Opinion
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