Stop blaming guns.

With yet another mass shooting, with multiple dead and more injured, I already see that people are clamoring to eliminate firearm ownership in America. Let me be absolutely clear in my opinion here. This was a tragedy, something that just should not happen in modern society. But it does, and not because of the tools used. It happened because some person (In this case, persons) not in the right mind decided that killing people makes an impact.

This is not a gun problem, this is a PEOPLE problem. PEOPLE ARE THE ISSUE HERE.

My gun doesn't get up on its own, load itself, then decide to shoot people. I would have to consciously load, aim, and pull the trigger. I would have to carry my gun to a location and shoot someone. I AM IN CONTROL. The gun is an accessory to that.

But in the perfect world of the anti-gun movement, everything would turn immediately into a utopia if guns were outlawed. Everyone would live in harmony, no more racism, no radical religious zealot attacks, no war, no hatred. All sunshine and rainbows, right?

Wrong.

We will resort to killing with sticks, rocks, knives, bows, arrows, and our own two hands. Because human beings are violent. We always have been. There is a MINORITY of us who would not fight to protect those we love. Who would not kill if given the chance when a loved ones life is on the line.

Don't like it? Let’s take Scenario A.

You are in your home, safe and sound. Your family goes to sleep; you stay downstairs in the basement and watch TV. There is a loud noise, and your SO screams. You grab the nearest blunt object and run up. There is now a man in your living room, who when he sees you brandishes a knife and says he will kill everyone if he is not given car keys, money, electronics, etc.

In this situation, would you simply drop your baseball bat, and give the robber everything and let him do whatever he wants?

Same scenario, but you call the police. You do everything you are told, and lock the door. The police respond in 2-5 minutes, but by this time, your SO and children are dead and the men have left. Your car is gone. Of course, the scenario may play out where they simply take some things, threaten you and your family, then leave.

They have all the power. In your home. A home where you once felt safe and secure, and now you feel violated and vulnerable. Welcome to real life.

Yes, guns are lethal. They are designed to be as lethal as possible with minimal amounts of effort. But that same quality is what keeps people safe.

“But Dan”, I hear you say “A rifle bullet will penetrate all the walls and may hit the neighbors, or worse the people I am trying to protect!”

With modern defense loads, this likelihood can be dramatically reduced. They are designed, in some cases, where a missed shot will not penetrate two sheets of drywall, but will cause massive trauma to flesh.

Back to my point, we are in a situation where a quick fix is not what is needed, since the people who are currently shooting will simply turn to other means. Bombs, chemical agents (Simple chlorine gas can be made inexpensively), anything they can to injure or kill as many as possible. Some of these people are so beyond help that they will try to kill others with just their bare hands.

So what is the solution? That is where this gets complicated. And it begins not with stripping people of their rights. It begins with an oft heard solution of major reforms to mental health, where people are not ridiculed for seeking treatment, but encouraged.