Why I Do Not Own A Gun

I do not own a gun. I have never owned a gun. I will never own a gun.  Why? Well, for starters, I don't hunt. I have a problem with hunting being a sport.  Sports are for pleasure and killing animals for fun is just wrong. If you want to hunt to put food on the table for your family, then go right ahead. Humans have been hunters since the beginning of, well, humans.  I had a friend ask me to go deer hunting with her.  I told her, "Linda, I will go shopping with you, play cards with you, scrapbook with you, but the idea of sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to come along so I can shoot it and gut it does not appeal to me. I would rather have a root canal."

The other argument about owning a gun is for protection.  I have an 8-year-old in the house with curiosity as big as the Mississippi River. No matter how many times I tell the nephew something, he will still do things that drive me crazy. For instance, the other day at Walmart he poked holes in the plastic wrapping of a steak at the meat counter.  I smacked him upside the head because, well, would you buy a steak that had holes poked in the protective wrapping?  I thought he learned his lesson until last Saturday. Yup. The boy genius did it again. If I can't get the kid to keep his cotton-picking hands from poking meat wrappers, how on earth will I keep him away from a gun?  Especially this child that is testosterone-infused by things like the Army, jets, football, baseball, basketball, guns, etc. I could lock up the gun in a safe. Bullets too. I am sure by the time I dial the combination of the safe, find the gun and bullets, load it, and fumble to take the safety off, I will be dead. What good is a gun if I have to keep it locked up?

My last reason for not owning a gun is probably the most important. It is simply too easy to pull the trigger and shoot someone dead. I've been pissed off enough at certain people that I am not so sure if I had a loaded gun nearby, they would still be living.  Beating, stabbing, or strangulation is too up close and personal and requires physical strength. If I were to murder anyone, it would be done with a gun. I'd like to believe I would never actually do it, but I am not taking any chances.  And chances are you are safe at my house.