Want to Stop Mass Shootings? Talk to Gun Owners.
An anti-gun hipster goes to the range and learns some shit.
I am the proud recipient of many anti-gun friends because I live in Austin. I also have many pro-gun friends because Austin is located… in Texas.
That means I get to learn from both sides. And I have learned that the solutions, will not come from Twitter.
Whenever there is a mass shooting here is how the debate goes:
“Gun owners support the murder of children!”
“IF YOU ARE ANTI-GUN YOU SUPPORT THE MURDER OF AMERICA!
Cool.
Recently there was another mass shooting in Monterey Park California. 10 people were killed and ten were injured inside a ballroom Saturday night, on the eve of the Lunar New Year celebration.
A shooting happens, people die, and we all trample over the bodies to take to Twitter. We are so used to fighting online that we have started to treat casualties as talking points.
The left celebrates if the shooter was white and the right celebrates if the shooter was Asian or non-binary or some shit. Instead, we should all be mourning then battle planning.
I was a “ban guns” guy and even back then I knew we weren’t going to just ban all the guns.
“But without guns, there aren’t shootings!”
Right. But look at it this way.
Sex is the biggest problem when it comes to teen pregnancy, STDs, and sadly texting your ex. Does teaching abstinence-only work?
No.
It’s great in theory, but we should probably teach teens how to do it safely, JUST IN CASE.
Americans have guns, and teenagers are horny monsters.
This isn’t a pro-gun piece. But it’s not an anti-gun piece either. It’s a all hands on deck piece. Cause I promise you, there are good people on both sides, and we need both sides to help right now.
When I first moved to Texas I became friends with a lot of Navy Seals and SF operators. I assumed the only way I would meet these kinds of men is if I ended up on a terrorist watch list. But it’s just what happens when you leave LA. I traded vegan diners with Moby for the gun range with Tim Kennedy.
When they aren’t serving they are teaching. I watched them teach people from the left and the right. Teach cops, and teach people who have definitely protested cops (hi.). I watched them teach a LOT of women and people of color. I saw how much they care about protecting people.
So I asked them to teach me. This is still when I was an anti-gun guy. But fuck it, if I’m gonna talk shit I should know what I’m talking about.
They taught me how to handle the gun safely, (Even when using a toy orange gun, you don’t point it at someone or have your finger on the trigger until ready to fire), they taught me about situational awareness, the difference between cover and concealment, how to spot if someone has a gun on them. They taught me and others how to defend ourselves against someone with a gun.
Wait.
WHY ARENT THESE GUYS ON TV GIVING US STRATEGIES TO DEAL WITH MASS SHOOTINGS?
It’s because they are too busy being blamed for gun violence. They are fighting on their heels. Jeff Gonzales a Navy Seal told me when he is invited on TV he isn’t asked for tactical solutions but instead has to defend the second amendment.
We miss out on learning from the experts.
They know more about guns than anyone I know on the left. Who would you rather have protecting and teaching you? My military friends from Sheepdog Response or my old liberal friends who wrote for Mother Jones and would scream when the subway came by too fast.
The most shocking thing I learned from hanging out with this new gun-carrying crew is no one WANTS a world with violence except for very bad people.
In fact, a lot of people carry guns for the same reason a lot of people don’t. To stop violence.
You may disagree with the way they do it, but when you realize both groups want the same thing then you can have a conversation.
Here is where you start:
The right needs to call out their side. Everyone who owns a gun needs training. Cops should be at the range several times a week. Bad cops need to be called out by good cops. If you aren’t using your firearm safely, if your kid gets it, you shouldn’t have a gun. Also, the solution to school shootings isn’t to just arm ALL the teachers. I don’t think they can afford bullets let alone tactical training. When a shooting happens lets propose solutions instead of posting a photoshopped picture with you and Kyle Rittenhouse that says “Come and try to take my gunz”!
The left needs to be honest about some things as well. When there is a good guy with a gun we need to hear that story. We make fun of that talking point ALL the time, but the truth is we don’t see how many stories there are where a mass shooting gets stopped by a trained armed citizen. I’ve started listening to Colion Noir, Dan Hollaway, Shawn Ryan, and Mike Glover to learn more about what I don’t know.
For example, last year Elisjsha Dicken was shopping with his girlfriend when a gunman opened fire at an Indiana, mall in July. From 40 yards away (which is insane) Elisjsha took out the gunman. He carried concealed, and he TRAINS. He stayed calm, and to me, the most impressive thing was as he was firing he was moving people behind him to cover.
Good guy with a gun.
I wish that shooting never took place. I wish neither person had a gun. I don’t want to live in a Mad Max world. I’m a Jesus guy, I will preach love before I will ever fantasize about drawing my weapon.
But if both sides are ignoring facts on both sides, how are we ever going to break out of our echo chambers and come up with solutions?
If every time the right brings up mental health, the left goes, “THAT’S A DISTRACTION!” when are we going to do something about mental health?
I know a bunch of healthy people who own guns and they aren’t shooting up malls.
We need to work together. We need to use democracy the way it was meant to be used. Talking. Learning. Compromising. Then we can all find solutions that will save lives.