The Difference Between Price and Cost

Saw on the news that yet again, some idiot bought himself a gun- a 9mm something or other handgun, very manly and all- to 'protect his family', went to put it in the glove box of his car (which is a really stupid place to keep it, btw- kinda like a woman keeping hers in her purse) and it went off

killing his 7 year old son.

I am beyond sad, beyond pissed, beyond infuriated at this shit.

How many lives will need to be lost FUCKING NEEDLESSLY in the name of "freedom and protection of the 2nd Amendment"???

No one want to take away the guns. Just like no one wants to take away cars.

But in order to have a car, you must register it and it must be inspected for safety- because it's going to be on the road with a mess of other cars and to protect everyone else and yourself, you need to show that your car works right and will not cause any wrecks.

In order to drive a car, you need to get a damn driver's license to show that you can work the thing correctly because it's a huge chunk of metal filled with gasoline on wheels and it could hurt someone if you don't know how.

What the fuck?

In order to HUNT- you need a license, or you're a poacher and the NRA hates those.

If you are under 18 and want a license, you have to take Hunter Safety courses to be sure you know how to use your gun without killing your father or friends out in the woods.

What the fuck?

The same crowd who screams that it's A-OK to make people have voter ID's to cast a ballot because "even to rent a video you need to show proper ID" have a damn apoplectic fit if you say one word about registering guns and requiring people to show proficiency in using an item whose ONLY purpose is to put a hole in something/someone and make it dead.

What the fuck?

It's not a slippery slope to anywhere, you dumbasses.

What kind of pit is that father now in, never to be able to crawl out of?

It's not "freedom" to be able to walk into Walmart or a sporting goods store, prove that you've been clever enough to avoid being convicted of a felony, and walk out with a gun you have no fucking idea how to use.

It's lunacy.

Don't give me that crap about "Guns don't kill people, people kill people".

Because yes- a gun did just kill a 7 year old boy. And thousands of other people just in this country every damn year.

What the hell would it hurt for everyone to have to complete the same course now required to carry concealed before purchasing a gun?

What the hell would it hurt for everyone getting a hunting license to complete a hunter safety course?

Would people still get killed accidentally? Yep. But not nearly as many, I guarandamntee it.

Would the bad guys still be able to get guns? Of course they would. They always will. But what the hell would it hurt to make sure law-abiding citizens were not more dangerous to be around than the bad guys? Seriously.

Americans' ease in obtaining and owning weapons is NOT making us safer- it's not.

We have a hugely violent society, a horrifying amount of gun deaths both accidental and with intent and the largest percentage of our population incarcerated of any 1st world nation on the planet.

Yes, on the news you see every morning in the big cities- how many dead overnight, and people are afraid. What you don't hear is that 99.9% of those are not random acts of violence. That doesn't excuse the violence, but it does bring it into balance. Joe or Jane Average does NOT need to be armed to be safe.

Without proper training, Joe or Jane Average stands a huge possibility of
a) being shot with their own weapon by Billy Bad Guy who takes it from them
or much more likely
b) killing little Dick and Susie Average- their own children.

I have guns. They're tools. So I'm not anti-gun.

I'm anti-"any fucking idiot with cash at a gun show can buy whatever the hell he/she wants to from a private party without any background check whatsoever".

I'm anti-"NO regulations because that's the first step to disarming us".

I've worked in the veterinary field for most of my life and the first thing I learned was you can't reverse dead.

It happens in a heartbeat and cannot be un-done.

Americans are killing each other every fucking day out of fear and ignorance- killing neighbors and children and all sorts of people who should not have to die, who DON'T have to die.

That's not the price of Freedom.

It's the cost of stupidity.