Gun Control vs. Gun Rights

Posted by Amanda on January 28, 2008 7:50 AM PST

Recommend this? YES NO

The LAX gun-range is by LAX Airport, which I found a little strange. My girlfriend and I were accompanied by her Russian friend who clearly was an expert in handling guns. He had a black .32 and a silver .45 neatly stowed away in an elegant carrying case. The first door we opened revealed an old security camera and a stocky guy behind a bullet-proof wall who promptly requested that any and all weapons and ammo be placed into the revolving chamber for clearance. After complying, we're granted entrance into the main area, which was a store that sold guns, knives, low-budget videos on how to effectively stab someone etc. My girlfriend and I then signed a form that cleared the establishment of any liability and then we gave them our i.d.'s to hold. With formalities out of the way, we're handed goggles to guard against the flying shells and earmuffs to protect against the sound, which was a shock to my system with each bullet released from its chamber. The kind Russian gave me a crash course in "lock and load" and that was that. "Aim over there." "Got it," I said. I notice my arms are stiff and shaking a bit. Could I really shoot someone in front of me? It was a Friday night and the place was nearly packed, almost like a bowling alley but with fewer spectators and no bowling. I slowly pull the trigger, praying that no freak accident occurs. Each time I fired was easier than the last, which was the most disturbing fact of all. I preferred the .45 to the girly .32 as the bigger gun allowed me to actually hit my target, which wasn't moving. A group of young musician-types look like they're having fun with their huge assault rifle. Their gun is definitely bigger than my gun and I feel a little envy. Then some jerk, a couple lanes down, does the rapid-fire thing, but is quickly reprimanded over the loud-speaker, "one bullet, one second." A grandmother walks in with a ten year old (maybe younger) and his father? The little boy sits and watches grannie shoot em' up. The blaring violence around me never ceased to unsettle, but with a gun in your hand, you're quickly rendered numb to any disquieting feeling in the air. As Mr. KGB schooled me on silencers, I thought of the random victims of stray bullets, the damage caused, how anyone could ever survive that chilling sound ripping through their flesh, and what in the world that little kid was doing in a place like this.

The debate over guns is a tricky one for me to enter into because both sides make a strong case. At one end, I understand why we need gun control and at the other end, a friend once made a well-argued point that the only reason the many masses/citizens of the world are controlled by the few elite and corrupt powers that be is essentially because they have guns and we don't. Fair enough--and so our founding fathers preserved a citizen's right to bear arms with first-hand knowledge of what it meant to dissent against tyranny and oppression. What's more, the Constitution spells out that it is our duty as citizens to not only have marches for peace but to overthrow those leaders that fail to uphold those principles that are spelled out in black and white. With all that said, I'm on the fence about it still and so I figured that challenging myself and confronting my fear of guns by gripping the steel and pulling the trigger would put the issue in perspective. It did not. I learned that I can hit the bull's eye more than once and that doing so was thrilling, I felt the dead calm of desensitization, and I saw the others share either a disturbingly detached air/giddy teenage glee.

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2 Comments

Lol!! You're soo hilarious, the way you wrote this is how every movement and action should be viewed from everyone’s stand point daily. But yea guns are crazy for sure…They’re very simple to use and give the beholder enough power to cripple a nation with one squeeze of the trigger. I believe in the right to bear arms! Life’s crazy, LA’s crazy, and I’m going to be prepared for anything this world throws at me.

The night my Irish friend flew into LA and came over to my house, the first thing I did was slap my gun in his hand and said “check out my gat” his jaw dropped with awe and he said if there are nuts like you running around in this city with guns, no wonder why there’s so many murders.

I think self-defense, mental strength training and over all confidence within our youth and general public is lacking. People need to be taught that life’s rough and cruel and to be aware of everything but know your place. People need to understand that as easy as a life can be taken with the squeeze of a trigger it can be taken with your bare hands, as well, if used properly. People should understand if loaded properly, if educated, as easy as you can kill and turn to a life of crime, you can create the next innovation that saves a life.

Posted by Brenden on January 28, 2008 11:36 PM PST

It brought to mind this past summer when I was traveling through Mexico with three of my French friends and one night one of them asked me casually how many of my family members own guns? Sort of confused, I said that none of my family members own guns. (none that I could think of at least). Then I thought about it and I don’t know if I have ever even seen a gun in real life outside of on a policeman’s hip or held by soldier at an airport. I told them this and they were amazed. “But you’ve gone paintballing, right?” “No. Never.” “Even I’ve shot clay pigeons,” one of the French girls said. I was genuinely amused. I actually felt like I kind of let them down by not living up to the gun-toting American stereotype, or even knowing one.

With regards to the subject at hand (In hand? Is that a pun? Maybe) my first impulse was the same as yours where guns are dangerous and there definitely NEEDS to be gun control. But then the comment about the elite having the power because they have guns and we don’t got me reconsidering my initial response. As I thought about it more, however, I just can’t help but feel uneasy about a whole nation of citizens taking up arms. I fear people would immediately resort to violence, rather than as a last resort. I think there are actually many ways to remove power from the elite, and it could just be that we’re too lazy to do so. When I was studying abroad in France I didn’t have classes for the majority of my first semester because professors were all on strike. This made it rather difficult to make up the work upon my return to the States, but it did make me think. Striking seems to be more of the norm there than it is here (granted there is the writer’s strike at the moment). In France, the postal workers striking leads into a railway workers strike, which leads into electricity workers strike. The people are not something to be ignored even though they are without weapons because these quick successions of strikes affects mail, brings chaos to the railway system, and knocks out the electricity grid. When the government forgets who they work for the people fight back. People from different walks of life come together to test the government. I haven’t thought too long on the subject, so I don’t have tons of examples and my only real experience with this was while in Paris. But think in this country I feel like we have a problem with unity. The higher ups have successfully divided us, and although the general public is dissatisfied with the present state of the country we don’t care enough to fight back. People don’t follow politics, people don’t follow the news, and then people don’t vote because they don’t think it matters. And I fall victim to this as well, but I do feel like in way we have given up power to the elite and given them free range to do what they want. Before we try to take power back with guns I think it would be worth considering alternative methods.

PS well done hitting the bull’s eye! I can’t even do that with darts standing five feet away.