Debate Gun Control All You Want But Let's Stop This Nonsense

The gun control debate was inevitable. When a psychopath entered a crowded theater in Aurora, Colorado armed with enough weapons to obliterate a small town, the victims had to be spoken for.

Even as the Constitution provides for the right to arm a militia, it provides us the right to free speech.

This debate that will play out for weeks to come, long past the funerals of the 12 innocent men, women, and children who were massacred during the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, is our right. It may even be our duty.

But my fellow Americans, is it so hard to ask for civility? For common sense?

Evil walked into that theater. There's no mistaking it.

But in arguing about what should come next, the anger and the vitriol is allowing that darkness to leak out of that theater.

America! We are better than this!

We can talk about this like adults, like sane, rational, NICE people, can't we?

I grew up here, in the country. My attitudes about gun control belie the bleeding heart of a liberal that beats in my chest. I'm not anti-gun. I've shot them. I see their use. I don't see any reason for ANY civilian in this country to have the type of assault weapon that cops say alleged shooter James Holmes had in his arsenal. You don't shoot your dinner with a high-capacity semi-automatic assault rifle, folks.

Perhaps it's my middle-of-the-road stance that makes me feel so uneasy at the moment. In the arguments I see online, the sick, twisted, angry arguments, I'm the type of person who is a target for both sides. I'm like a punching bag, and the fists are coming at me from the right, then the left, and back and forth. The fear of being pummeled to death has rendered me silent.

So much for my right to free speech.

So much for fighting back against the darkness that drives a psychopath to steal the lives of good, every day Americans.

We need to debate gun control right now. Now matter what side you're on, you need to stand up and be heard.

But as they tell you in kindergarten, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
We have enough hatred in America right now. We don't need yours too.


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