No More Guns

  Some years ago, West Hollywood became the first city in the country to outlaw the sale of small, cheap handguns otherwise known as "Saturday Night Specials". Though more a symbolic gesture reflecting the city's pro gun-control stance, the measure was vehemently opposed by the NRA on principle alone. I remember the local lobbying campaign, as well as the immense satisfaction I felt upon its passage and implementation. Here, finally, would be change for the better. One small step for a city... One giant leap for civilized man...

     Fast Forward to Present Day. A guy takes $700 (less expensive than most of my guitars) and purchases a .223 caliber Bushmaster semi-automatic assault rifle with sniper scope, and for three weeks terrorizes an entire region by randomly picking off one person at a time as if big-game trophy hunting on the plains of sub-Saharan Africa. The final tally: 10 dead, 3 seriously wounded, millions of dollars in lost business as well as the cost of massive law enforcement deployment, another emotional scar on a populous still coming to grips with 9/11, and NRA lapdogs demanding that no one "exploit" the tragedy by linking it to gun-control. Excuse me!? Exploit the tragedy!? We have rules for engagement, do we, vis-a-vis the NRA?  Debate must now be framed within a certain context with these people, otherwise there's no debate? My outrage has finally boiled over. If these weapons freaks really believe that, through revisionist interpretation, the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution guarantees them the right to possess a human-killing machine used in wartime (its only designed purpose), then they are bereft of all power of mortal reason, which, by itself, should preclude them from owning so much as a BB gun. We need weapons in our society like we need smallpox. What we really need is sanity, which translates to a total firearms ban for civilians. Period! All firearms, big and small. No private ownership. No exceptions. Just like in Europe. We must demand it in the same ways we demanded the end to the Vietnam War, with violence if necessary. No compromises and no negotiations. Those days are past, as is the era of Wyatt Earp. The NRA must be made to understand that America will no longer be terrorized and held hostage to their Alpha-Male worship. Too much is more than enough, and our society has had more than enough gun carnage. It's long past time to end it. You no longer have to hunt for food, venison and clothing. It's the 21st Century. The chances are great that you'll never be accosted in your home by an intruder, yet the danger of accidents, especially with children, remains high with  gun ownership. You want to sport shoot? Then you rent, with all the safety precautions that that would entail. You're a collector? Then the weapons must be inoperative. And if you still want to be a tough guy and have access to firearms, then join the Marines.

     Privately owned guns are not compatible with an enlightened society, their use to our lives having been rendered obsolete. Privately owned guns are potentially too lethal and destructive, their relevance having disappeared long ago. And privately owned guns, for the suffering left in their paths, should be made illegal, must be made illegal. The alternative is one nightmare after another. We have to make it stop. Only then will I be able to view the West Hollywood ban, enacted years ago, as truly the beginning of the end to this gun madness.