Last year, I think most of us were convinced it was one of the worst years in a long time. For me, I know, there hadn’t been one quite that bad in about twenty years, which is when my husband died.
This one, however, is a doozey.
I was raised with guns. My dad took me to the Hunter’s Safety course when I was a kid, and took me out hunting before my brother was old enough to go. I was a good shot with a rifle, but not so much with a shotgun, and I hate cold weather, and fall and winter are both cold and wet. I whined. He stopped insisting I go, and waited another five years for my brother to be old enough to go. We ate a lot of pheasant, duck, quail, wild turkey, and venison growing up. No rabbit. They were too cute.
So I have no problem with hunting, or even handguns.
But.
I’ve traveled, alone, all over the country for the last dozen years. My dad has tried to convince me to buy a gun. I can shoot – beyond the junior high course – but I don’t want to.
America should be a safe place to live. Americans are so proud of our freedoms, but one of those should be the freedom to travel the country – or even your state, city, or neighborhood, for crying out loud – and not worry that some evil, messed up person is going to pull out a semi-automatic and start shooting up your house, church, school, or you and a bunch of people you have something in common with, like country music.
And, goddammit, RIP Tom Petty. 🙁 Again.