81.4 Million

This has been a horrific week. There have been three "mass" shootings this past week. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. They were going about their lives and a single person acting alone choose to dictate their futures. 

One.

Single.

Person.

March 4, 1975, I was a seventeen-year-old girl going about my business. I was a senior in high school, I had a part-time job, and was paying for my first car, a 1969 Camaro, myself. I was eagerly awaiting the release of Elton John's album, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I left school that afternoon to go to a local department store to see if the album was out by some stroke of luck. 

As I pulled into a parking space, a man yanked open my car door and put a revolver to my head. He jumped into my car and drove out to a deserted road where he dumped me out and took off in my Camaro. He was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. 

Now you'd think I would hate guns. No. I do not. I have a great deal of animosity toward that man, however. 

The gun did not create the situation. The gun did not throw me out of my car on a deserted road. The gun did not steal my car and use it in the commission of several robberies. It was done by a person. 

If you think I was not traumatized by that event, think again. I live with it every time I park my car in a public parking lot.  

I am a legal gun owner. 

There are, according to a 2021 report, 84.1 million Americans who own firearms. As one of them, I am executing my Second Amendment right, which shall not be infringed, to keep and bear arms. 

84.1 million gun owners and only a few decide to -what? Make a political statement? We'd better dial back the emotions displayed on the television and on social media. We've upset some folks and driven them over the edge. Mental health is the real issue here. Normal, law-abiding and life and liberty respecting people do not aim their weapons at another person or themselves for any reason. 

84.1 million gun owners and only a few decide to - what? Grab their fifteen minutes of fame? Well, the rest of us have certainly given them that and encouraged the next deranged person to follow suit. Just go to YouTube and see how many clicks they've gotten. 

84.1 million gun owners and only a few decide to - what? Use the death of innocents to deny me and 84.1 million people their right to keep and bear arms because THEY don't like guns? 

Why would you or anyone else want to deny ME my second amendment rights? Who the hell are you to attempt to govern MY life? 

You are just like the man that put the gun to my head. You want to control me and take from me and you have no right to do so. 

And there are 84.1 million other people just like me. Why is it important to control ME? Why is it important to strip ME of MY rights? 

The gun does not pull its own trigger. 

The gun does not pull its own trigger. You do understand that, don't you? 

No, I don't think you do. As a victim of a violent crime involving a handgun, I certainly do. It was a person who kidnapped me and left me to die along the road. The gun had nothing to do with it. 

The Lady of Holly Tree Manor (The Hideaway)