Who You Know

I know some people.

I know police officers.  I know jarheads, ground-pounders, wing-wipers and squids.  I know a bank robber.  I know people who catch bank robbers.  I have friends at NASA, in India, in Iraq, in Australia, in China.  I know at least three people with MS.  A handful of people with cancer.  A child that almost drowned in a swimming pool.  Several people who nearly died in automobile accidents.  People who have lost their homes to fires.  People who have been busted for DUI, others who have been busted for possession.  Alcoholics and drug addicts who can tell you, in years, months, days and even hours how long they've been clean; and those who can't.  Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Constitutionalists, Socialists, and every shade in between.  Saints, sinners, and the undecided.  Gay, straight, asexual.  Chinese, Irish, Afghani, Indian, Russian, Polish, English, German, French, Puerto Rican, Mexican, Canadian, Portuguese, Australian, Israeli, South African.  Legal immigrants, H1-B workers, illegal immigrants, American expatriates.  Militant atheists, evangelical Christians, staunch Catholics, Lutherans, reformed Jews, strict Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and Wiccans.  Lawyers, gunsmiths, programers, architects, engineers, mechanics, landscapers, pastors, priests, mayors, doctors, nurses, trappers, carpenters, counselors, machinists and shift workers.  People who have built their own homes, people who have built their own businesses.  People who ride the bus, drive fancy cars, fly their own planes, can drive a train or an 18-wheeler, walk to work or work from home.  People who work for the government, work for themselves, work to live, live to work.  People who have raised children, had abortions, adopted from overseas, fostered children, lived childless.  People who are single and hopeful, who have never married, who never plan to marry, who married early, married late, married more than once.  People who live in mansions, people who live on farms, people who live in section 8 housing, people who live in apartments, people who live in shelters, people who live on bases, people who live on call.

That's just off the top of my head, without really thinking about it.

I know an awful lot of people.  I know an awful lot of different types of people.

I do not know a single person, outside of those involved in law enforcement and the military, who has ever fired a gun at another human being.

Gun control?  Shouldn't be a major issue.  Heck, it shouldn't even be on the menu.

Yet it is... because after all, the "gun" bit is just a convenient adjective. Guns are just the excuse.  The "discussion" is about control.

Controlling all those people.

Make no mistake.  They may have the best of motives at heart; they may intend to rule you with the best of intentions.  When push comes to shove, though, their intention is to rule.

To turn citizens into subjects.

And before you can do that - before you can rule - you need to control.

Think carefully.  Choose wisely.

And don't think for one moment that you get to choose for me.