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Guns and Cars...

3/24/2018

10 Comments

 
by Gwendolyn M Plano
​I grew up in the wild west, on an isolated farm in the California desert.

My dad left the house before daybreak and returned as the sun set. He spent each day in the fields, managing the water, driving the tractors. My siblings and I helped on the farm. I’ve been up to my knees in mud trying to fill a gopher hole, I’ve walked the fields to check on the irrigation, I’ve picked cotton.

Always Dad carried a shotgun in his pickup. And, he made sure each of us knew how to use it. When he took us into the Chocolate Mountains, however, he brought his pistol. We'd climb into his homemade dune buggy and drive through the rugged terrain. On one such trip, we discovered a cave and my sibs and I decided to explore the darkness. The chilling sound of rattles drove us back out. I never liked snakes. Dad didn’t like snakes either. He took his pistol, walked into the cave, and one shot later he emerged holding the rattlesnake by its tail.

I have many stories like this. Gun stories. But, I also have car stories.

By the time I was eleven, I knew how to drive. Dad showed me the gauges and taught me to manually shift gears. This proved invaluable one day as I needed to drive mom to the hospital fifteen miles from our home; I was just twelve at the time.

Dad made sure his kids knew how to handle guns and cars. They were a necessary part of our lives on the farm.

I currently live in the mountains, in a bountiful hunting area. Children are taught how to use a rifle and or a bow. It is part of their lives. There is nothing sinister about this practice.

Over the span of my career in higher education, I’ve been bedside in hospitals dozens of time with college students who drank too much, who drove foolishly, who got in fights, who overdosed on drugs, or did something else foolish. Young people do foolish things, especially when they are not taught consequences.

Guns and cars are dangerous in the hands of those who do not know how to use them appropriately. They are not partisan objects. Democrats and Republicans own guns and cars.

We must to do something about gun violence, rhetoric simply divides and most of us are sick of  it. Why are assault weapons legal, why are high capacity magazines available, why are guns sold to the unstable? The answer, from my vantage point, is that people would rather point a finger than insist on appropriate legislation. Our children are demanding change, and they deserve our thoughtful response through our elected representatives.  
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10 Comments
Jan Sikes link
3/26/2018 11:38:45

Another exquisitely expressed piece written from not only your heart, but from a mind of reason. There is NO reason on this earth that Assault Rifles should be in the hands of anyone except the military. Guns and cars don't kill people. People do. Thank you, Gwen, for expressing this in such a great way.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/26/2018 19:11:52

Thank you, dear Jan. It breaks my heart that people choose division rather than appropriate action to remedy a situation. If we all did our part, miracles would be the result. ♥

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John Howell link
3/26/2018 13:43:22

You so hit the nail on the head. People are waiting for a legislative solution which will never happen while the gun folks fund campaigns. The children who are saying enough is enough will carry the day. I believe in the right to bear arms. I do not believe that right extends to weapons of war such as an AR15. I think our children will show us the way.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/26/2018 19:13:31

Thank you, John. Mothers showed us the way when we needed legislation to stop drunk driving. Now children are showing us the way. Goodness, I hope we wake up. Blessings!

Reply
John Fioravanti
3/26/2018 13:57:05

Excellent post, Gwen! Thank you for the valuable perspective. I was pleased on Saturday as I watched the March For Our Lives event on TV that the students have specific goals and they are reasonable. Again, thanks for this eloquent post.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/26/2018 19:59:21

Thank you, John. It took mothers to change the drunk driving laws, now it is taking children to change our gun laws. One could imagine that thoughtful legislators would act, but alas, there are few, very few, thoughtful legislators.

Reply
D.L. Finn
3/26/2018 19:47:41

Well said Gwen. We all are tired of this. I felt hope when kids took the streets in protest. Maybe through their eyes a solution will come not the same old tired arguments that go no where.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/26/2018 20:02:26

Thank you, D.L. I'm with you. Let's hope. ♥

Reply
Karen Ingalls link
3/27/2018 08:14:40

People kill people, not guns, knives, bombs, etc. I believe in the first amendment, but there is no reason for anyone to have machine guns or AR15 or other military style arms. The answer is not legislation. The answer is better mental health care and better method of screening for purchase of a firearm. Great article, Gwen.

Reply
Gwen Plano
3/27/2018 16:22:30

Thank you, Karen. I very much agree with you. All the best to you. ♥

Reply



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Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ―Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning


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