A Few Bad Apples?

     Okay, I wasn't going to say anything, but I simply cannot contain myself. Though I've had cause on more than one occasion to question my sanity, I am currently wondering if there is more reason now to doubt it: either I'm not paranoid enough or I'm walking around in a state of denial so huge, therapy likely won't help. Or that is what many of the pro-gun activists would like me to believe.
     The activists love to point to the venerable document known as the Constitution of the United States and spout off about the right to bear arms, self-defense, and the responsibility to overthrow tyrants. What their real message is: you should be scared. In fact, you should be so frightened of the outside world and that it might enter your private world, arming yourself to the teeth is the only viable, sane solution.
      Then, horrific tragedies occur. Most recently, the shooting at Sandy Hooks Elementary in Connecticut  But this list is longer than that, of course. And the gun-control activists start in with their agenda and their real message is: you should be scared. In fact, you should be so frightened of the outside world and that it might enter your private world, that only a world without any weapons is the answer.
     The pro-gun activists then retaliate with "guns don't kill people, people kill people." True. Except for very rare accidents where a gun with no one around it has exploded and harmed someone close enough to the blast, guns do not walk or run around harming folks. People holding guns are people who kill people. But not all of them. I have held guns on several occasions and never shot anyone - not on purpose or by accident. Never even killed an animal that I'm aware of.
     These same pro-gun activists then point out the people who commit these crimes and cause these terrible events are mentally ill, unstable, and not the average responsible citizen. And, again they are correct. They are correct in pointing to a system which fails these people on multiple levels. Lack of health care coverage, ease of access to services, people who may have been able to help but were unable to for a variety of reasons...the list could go on. And what their real message here is: don't let a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel.
     I would agree with the sentiment except these are often the same people who bitched about Obamacare and Planned Parenthood and entitlement of any sort. And they point out, "Well, I know someone who gets such and such benefit and shouldn't because they then do this or this or this" or "I've seen people with an EBT card (Food Stamps) with cigarettes or a beer or a cell phone so they shouldn't get EBT". And they point out all the 'bad apples' and say we should become stricter or do away with social service programs altogether.
     I've got news for them all: you can't have it both ways. Either these 'bad apples' ruin everything for everyone or you discount all the 'bad apples' entirely. The argument is a double-edged sword; it cuts both ways or you turn it into a dull blade indeed.
    In a perfect world, tragedies like Columbine, Sandy Hooks Elementary, Virginia Tech, and all the others would never happen. Nor would such horrific crimes such as the knife wielding tragedy in China. In the perfect world, no one would steal, rob, rape, or murder. People with mental health issues would receive the appropriate services and treatment. The treatments would work perfectly. There would be no social stigma attached to mental illness, so no one would feel ashamed to reach out for help. There would be no limits to what services are provided to who or requirements for some sort of legal paper trail in order to get needed services in a timely manner. In such a utopia, everyone would feel safe everywhere they went and there would be no need for weapons of any sort, except for hunting.
     Such a world does not exist. Maybe in the future. I can only hold out hope. In the meantime, I'm sick of the fear mongering from all sides. We're inundated with it from our government, which uses fear to get us to give up many of our personal rights. We're force fed fear from the extremists, who want everyone to live their way and their way alone and want us to see everything through a veil of fear, ignorance, and hatred. We're simply buried in messages from all corners telling us to be afraid of something and everything.
     I'm not trying to lessen the tragedies, any of them, in any way. However, I cannot sit here and agree that arming teachers is a viable solution or that increasing armed citizens is a reasonable measure. There are far too many guns available to the law-abiding as well as to the criminals. There are only 2 solutions I can see: ensure that every gun owner is responsible and stable through yearly examinations, with spot checks, to ensure not only responsible gun ownership but mental health stability as well OR ban them all, except for those who really need them, such as law enforcement and military. For those who only own guns for hunting, then they get special permits and safety guidelines as well as limits on the number and types of guns they can own. Other countries have done this and their crime rates dropped and incidences such as Sandy Hook haven't happened since. Our country is way behind the rest of the world in so many ways...and we're paying the price in blood.