The God Given Right To Kill...

Growing up in western Montana I was taught to hunt. I learned to shoot guns at the age of 6. At 10 I was given my Grandfathers 30-30 rifle. At 11 I was out hunting with my father and killed my first deer that year. Over the next several years I was given many more weapons and purchased several more. At 13 I discovered archery. A bow was my weapon of choice. I stopped hunting with guns that year. We hunted for food, and every part of the animals were used. Nothing went to waste. We respected the prey.

I was a hunter until I was 20 and had become very good at tracking and killing. Then I had an experience in the woods that I see as clearly today, as I saw it 20 years ago. I never went hunting again. I kept all of my weapons until I was 34 when I gave them back to my father for safe keeping.

The NRA, National Rifle Association, was never my favorite group. I always thought they were just a bit on the radical side. Today I read an article that has confirmed that for me. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17307316/

The NRA is one scary bunch of people. They can see no farther than their own selfishness and they hide behind a 250 year old "amendment" to our constitution. Amendments can and have been changed. They are not set in stone. Remember prohibition?

Mr Jumbo was a life long member of the NRA and one comment about hunting with assault rifles has ended his career. Instantly. The organization he gave more than 40 years to, turned on him without mercy. Has the NRA bothered to read the rest of the constitution, say the part about freedom of speech? It looks like that right has no place in the NRA.

I have come to believe that in a truly "civilized society" there is no place for firearms. The main purpose of firearms is to kill, and make killing easier. The NRA says that we have the right to hunt, shoot for fun and keep guns for protection. How does any of this make this country or world a better place? To me these are the weakest of arguments. If your life is incomplete because you can't go shoot things you might think about getting some professional help. If you are a true hunter and not just someone who likes to kill, you can use a bow. If it's about target shooting, you can use a BB gun, a cross bow or bow, or a sling shot. If it's about protection. Statistics say that most gun owners have their own weapons used against them in cases of home break-ins.

If you ask me, and this comes from experience, guns are for nothing more than trying to inflict fear and killing.

I send my support out to Mr. Zumbo. I think he got screwed. I hope he spends the rest of his life fighting the NRA. They need to be stopped. Let's take these pin-heads bowling.

As my son grows, I will teach him the skills I learned growing up. How to survive in the wild. How to track animals. How to live in harmony with the world. How to respect nature. I will teach him how to shoot a bow. I will teach him how guns work and how to use them so he can be safe if he is ever around them. Ignorance kills. I won't let him have a gun of his own while he lives under our roof. I won't teach him how to kill.