A How-To Guide On Dealing With A ‘Gunsplainer’

[lapislzi]

31. In good faith...

I also get the point you're trying to make.

I don't exactly consider myself knowledgeable about guns. I know how to shoot one, and I know that they come with a whole lot of peripheral baggage that hardly anyone explains to you when you buy one--which is why I never want to own one again.

What a lot of (understandably) distraught people who aren't knowledgeable about guns are seeing is the same TYPE (visually; remember, most people are not sophisticated about firearms) of gun that is widely believed to be a mass murder machine. This upsets them. The sporting uses of such a weapon seem moot. The fact that this kind of gun is used over and over in mass shootings is outrageous to people who would like to see some sensible restrictions put in place to keep mass murder weapons out of the hands of dangerous people. Dangerous people include people with a history of domestic or other violent crime. It seems like common sense to me. Can we not agree on this small point that, in truth, will affect your right to own firearms exactly not at all?

To return to my peripheral baggage point, I've told this story on DU a few times and I apologize to those who've already read it. I lived in South Africa in the 1980s and early 1990s, on a smallholding farm far out of town. It was a dreadfully dangerous place, with no law enforcement services within a reasonable vicinity. My husband and I slept in a literal cage with a bed inside.

Reluctantly, we were persuaded by our cityfolk friends to each purchase a firearm. In South Africa, you can't be granted a gun license until you've passed a proficiency course (imagine that!). The young police recruit on the firing range, who looked for all the world like Rolf from "The Sound of Music" lectured me very sternly (now THAT was some gunsplaining!) about my responsibilities to my firearm. You must know the whereabouts of your firearm at all times. If it is not locked in your safe, it should be on your person, or, at the very least, you should have a clear line of sight between you and it. If your gun is on your person or out of your safe, you must remain sober at all times. All guns are loaded. If you do not defend your firearm--and by "defend," he meant "kill the guy coming at you," it will be taken from you and used to kill you. You don't shoot to wound. If you lift it up and point it at a person, be prepared to fire it.

The responsibility, when I got down to it, was horrifying. When drunks and vagrants would cross our property, which happened often, I would huddle in my cage, hoping I wouldn't have to pick up that thing.

I'm not one of those people who wants "no guns." I want gun safety and gun responsibility from dealers, owners, and gun organizations. I'm seeing little appetite for either. Can we agree on this small thing?