By James B. Jacobs
I was a member of the NRA for over 25 years. I do and have always loved guns. My first real gun at eleven years old was a Winchester Mod. 37 410. I was an amateur gunsmith, built and repaired guns for years. Then in the mid 1980's things to began to change. The guns I loved, the finely made and engraved, inlaid guns of craftsmen/artists gave way to machine stamped cheaply made, plastic tools for killing. I had a SKS wood stocked rifle, the best of that make I would say, it was junk. I gave it away. I quit the NRA in the late 80's. LaPierre ran it into the ground. I had joined a gun club and it is now a political arm of the Republican party and backed by big business.
I believed in the right of law abiding citizens to carry guns. I WAS WRONG! I do not carry a gun now. Why? Because I would shoot someone. Having a loaded firearm on your person is an invitation for trouble, most folks, myself included, are too short tempered and on edge these days to carry a loaded firearm.
We now have a problem 30-40 years in the making. The worst since the Civil War. We are divided as a people, by our religion, our sex, our national origins, money, the part of town you live in, gun control/no gun control, political ideologies and on and on. Everyone hates.
This has got to stop! Turn off Fox News and fear-mongering talk radio propaganda programs and look around. We are all human beings. Most of us just want to experience happiness, and a make a decent living. Put down the weapons of war, folks. It's past time to turn off the hate!