I'm not in a position to get this message out. I don't have the resources, the contacts, or the networking skills to do so. But this is the message we need to put out there: trivializing gun owners is a form of descrimination.
If I were to say that we should put mandatory background checks on blacks, I'd be considered racist. If I say we should register Muslims just in case, I'd be profiling. If I say we shouldn't let women have certain jobs, I probably wouldn't be in charge of hiring. If I say anything defamatory about any group based on religion, nationality, color, ethnicity, gender, orientation, or pretty much anything else, I am in the wrong.
Why is it, then, that just because I own a gun, the President himself can assume I am part of a cult that glorifies violence and wants to see more kids murdered? Why is it that just because I own a gun, most people want to treat me like a second class citizen? Why is it that just because a couple of people in the group of those who use guns, use them inappropriately, that we should all suffer?
Where have we seen this before? The Japanese attacked us, so we interned U.S. citizens of Japanese origin. Racial profiling by police officers. Both of these are abhorrent in modern society. Yet, just because of the acts of far fewer people, our whole gun culture is pushed aside?
This post may seem like a rant, and it is. People need to realize it is actually offensive to tell me that because I own a gun I'm likely to shoot up wall street. It is offensive to tell me what I need and what portion of my rights I should be allowed to keep. It is offensive to call me and people like me horrible names insinuating that I am selfish, callous, or bloodthirsty just because I believe in the second amendment. Frankly, I'm tired of it.
If I were to say that we should put mandatory background checks on blacks, I'd be considered racist. If I say we should register Muslims just in case, I'd be profiling. If I say we shouldn't let women have certain jobs, I probably wouldn't be in charge of hiring. If I say anything defamatory about any group based on religion, nationality, color, ethnicity, gender, orientation, or pretty much anything else, I am in the wrong.
Why is it, then, that just because I own a gun, the President himself can assume I am part of a cult that glorifies violence and wants to see more kids murdered? Why is it that just because I own a gun, most people want to treat me like a second class citizen? Why is it that just because a couple of people in the group of those who use guns, use them inappropriately, that we should all suffer?
Where have we seen this before? The Japanese attacked us, so we interned U.S. citizens of Japanese origin. Racial profiling by police officers. Both of these are abhorrent in modern society. Yet, just because of the acts of far fewer people, our whole gun culture is pushed aside?
This post may seem like a rant, and it is. People need to realize it is actually offensive to tell me that because I own a gun I'm likely to shoot up wall street. It is offensive to tell me what I need and what portion of my rights I should be allowed to keep. It is offensive to call me and people like me horrible names insinuating that I am selfish, callous, or bloodthirsty just because I believe in the second amendment. Frankly, I'm tired of it.
