Hate and fear over "gun grabbing"

There are so many things to write about concerning the gun issue. Guns are in the news every day since there are 80 gun deaths a day, on average, in America. Minneapolis has suffered from an increasing number of gun deaths this year. Last year there were 19 deaths due to guns and many injured with perhaps life altering injuries. This year, however, it is only July 5th and the number has been surpassed already, standing at 26. Here is a story about the latest death from the Star Tribune. A 16 year old boy who purportedly was in the wrong place when someone was actually trying to shoot someone else, died from his injuries. So one person got lucky and didn't get shot. And another who was not the intended victim, is now dead. Senseless.

Didn't I mention in my previous blog post that gun deaths do not take a holiday? This July 4th holiday, the family and friends of Anthony Titus, are mourning the loss of his young life. Others are mourned as well who we don't know about. They become statistics in the time it takes to pull the trigger. According to this article in the Star Tribune, 54-year-old Steven J. Dianich of Ramsay, Michigan, shot and killed two men who had some drinks with his girlfriend. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". People with guns actually kill people. It is ridiculous that the gun lobby has succeeded in getting many to believe this nonsense. It is also ridiculous that the gun lobby doesn't think through their faulty logic when reading a story like the one linked above. When a gun is available in moments of anger, depression, while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or mental illness, people use them to kill in large numbers. Most of the gun deaths in our country are among people who know each other.

In thinking about the nonsense and hate spewed by the gun lobby, I must call your attention to the comments at the end of this OpEd in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune by Heather Martens, Executive Director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota. Heather wrote in response to an editorial by the Star Tribune editorial staff which was written several weeks ago. The premise of the editorial was that the series of articles about a Minnesota man who was running guns to Mexico for the drug cartel was about deaths caused by illegal drugs. Heather's accurate description of the problem is actually that the guns are causing the deaths. Without the guns, there would surely be fewer deaths. Guns are intimidating and make a deadly point. To read the comments about Heather's facts and description of the problem and some solutions, you would have thought she had suggested that the national guard start searching every home in the country for guns to confiscate. Nonsense again. The hateful and fearful comments reveal a group of people who just can't get past the fact that their guns are in no danger of being confiscated. Rather, their guns may be stolen by criminals or get used against them in their own homes. These folks are scary and yet, they seem scared of us. Why? We don't want their guns. We just don't want gun violence.