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The first time I ever shot a real gun, I was out hunting with my dad. Feeling adventurous, I asked if I could fire his .30-06 rifle into a pond. Now, my dad, either trusting or just really curious to see what would happen, handed it over without hesitation. Keep in mind, my only experience with firearms at the time was shooting a paper target with a BB gun at close-range. I pressed my left eye against the scope like it owed me money, aimed at the water, and pulled the trigger. What happened next left me LITERALLY scarred for life. The recoil slammed that scope into my face, splitting my eyebrow open like a zipper. Almost 20 years later, I still have the scar. It’s a permanent reminder that physics always wins.
I’ve been around guns my whole life; from hunting as a kid to plinking soda cans off my Nana’s back deck (RIP, Diet Coke). Now, as a cop, I carry a pistol on my hip and a rifle in my car. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this: guns demand respect. Hand one to the wrong person, and suddenly everything becomes a bad decision waiting to happen.
When I roll up to a disturbance call, things are usually somewhere between mildly tense and “Why did I skip coffee today?” But the second someone says, “Oh yeah, and there’s a gun,” the vibe shifts instantly. It’s no longer “Let’s sort this out like adults”, it’s “Alright, who here has a death wish?” The tension spikes faster than my blood pressure at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. Suddenly, everyone’s an expert on the Second Amendment, but somehow no one’s an expert on not pointing weapons at things (people) they shouldn’t. Funny how that works.
If you’ve read my other posts, you can probably guess my political stances. I’m open to hearing different opinions… debate is healthy! But pure ignorance and bigotry? Yeah, I’m about as receptive to those as my eyebrow was to that rifle scope. Hard pass.
I’ve heard all the arguments: “Firearm regulation infringes on the Second Amendment!” and “Every American has the right to protect their castle!” And sure, in a perfect world, where every gun owner is a disciplined, safety-conscious marksman with the emotional maturity of Mr. Rogers, that sounds great. But here’s the reality: a lot of firearms aren’t bought for ‘protection.’ They’re bought for reasons ranging from “I just think they’re neat” to “This’ll show Karen she shouldn’t have taken the last donut.” And as someone who’s worked more shootings than I’d like to admit, let me tell you: Most involve people who shouldn’t have been trusted with a Nerf gun, let alone the real thing.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m pro-Second Amendment. I have firearms and carry them every single day I work. But I’m also pro-common-sense, which apparently puts me in a minority these days. Right now, in Missouri, if you’re 18 and haven’t been convicted of a felony (yet), congratulations! You’ve just unlocked the ability to waltz into a store and walk out with an AR-15 faster than you can say “Wait, should there be a quiz first?” It’s like saying, “Hey, you’re 16! Here’s a driver’s license. Good luck figuring out what a ‘yield sign’ means on your own!” Sure, some 18-year-olds are responsible. But let’s be real, most of us at that age could barely be trusted with a lawnmower, much less something designed for maximum kinetic problem-solving.
The usual counter-argument? “Well, it’s the buyer’s responsibility to get proper training!” Ah, yes. Because nothing ensures public safety like crossing our fingers and hoping that the guy who just impulse-bought a rifle on his lunch break will suddenly become a disciplined firearms expert. Spoiler: They don’t.
Let’s talk about our current system where an 18-year-old can walk into a store and walk out with an AR-15 faster than they could buy a six-pack of beer – which honestly explains a lot about America’s priorities. We’ve built a society where domestic abusers can legally amass an arsenal right up until the moment they make the evening news, and where background checks at gun shows are treated as optional like that “Agree to Terms” button nobody reads.
Now, I need to be clear – I’m not against guns. I’m against dangerous idiots having easy access to weapons of war. My dear uncle, bless his heart (and his extensive gun collection), recently shared that tired meme of a criminal checking gun laws before committing a crime. It’s the same old argument we’ve heard a million times: “Gun laws don’t stop criminals, so why bother?”
By that logic, we should just scrap all laws entirely. Murder illegal? Nah, killers don’t follow laws anyway. Speed limits? Waste of time when bank robbers speed. We may as well just throw out the entire legal system while we’re at it.
I know so many people who treat the Second Amendment like it’s the only part of the Constitution that matters, clinging to their firearms with the same white-knuckled intensity as a kid gripping his Halloween candy. They love to shout that “a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun,” which is true in the same way that a fire extinguisher stops a fire, but maybe we should also think about not handing out flamethrowers to pyromaniacs while we’re at it.
Common sense gun laws aren’t about taking guns away from responsible owners. They’re about making it harder for violent offenders, unstable individuals, and impulsive teenagers to treat deadly weapons like they’re buying a used video game. Of course criminals don’t follow laws – that’s literally what makes them criminals. But that’s no reason to make their job easier by maintaining gaping loopholes in our system.
The argument that any regulation equals tyranny is like saying seatbelts infringe on your right to go flying through the windshield. True freedom doesn’t mean the freedom to turn every minor dispute into a potential Wild West shootout. There’s nothing patriotic about fighting to maintain a status quo where the leading cause of death for American kids is bullet wounds. We can respect the Second Amendment while still acknowledging that some safeguards might prevent a few less funerals.
And since we are still on the topic of children and firearms, because apparently we have decided this is fine, let’s talk about them. Did you know that in the good ol’ U.S. of A., gunfire has officially lapped car accidents, cancer, and drug overdoses to become one of the leading causes of death for children? That’s right! We’ve engineered a society where your kid is statistically more likely to catch a bullet than catch the bus. Progress.
And here’s the kicker: 3 million children live in homes with at least one loaded, unlocked firearm just lying around like a fucking decorative centerpiece. Because nothing screams “responsible parenting” like turning your living room into an unsupervised shooting range. “But little Timmy knows not to touch!” Oh, cool, good thing kids are famously great at impulse control, just like they’re great at not eating glue or trying to microwave the cat.
According to Everytown Research, there were at least 328 unintentional child shootings in 2023 alone. These aren’t “accidents.” They’re the predictable outcome of mixing a “guns everywhere” culture with “kids will be kids” negligence. Pro-parenting tip: If your child can access your Glock faster than the cookie jar, congratulations! You might be the problem…
But wait, there’s more! Nearly half of all teen suicides (ages 15-19) aren’t from pills or ropes. Nope, it’s good ol’ American firearms. And let’s not forget the 83 school-shooting-related incidents in 2024 (Gun Violence Archive) or the 47 firearm fatalities on school grounds in 2022.
If these numbers were about anything other than guns… vaccines and food safety for example… we’d have federal recalls, congressional hearings, and 24/7 news meltdowns. But because we’re talking about guns, and because some folks treat the Second Amendment like it’s more sacred than actual human children, we’re stuck in this endless loop of “thoughts and prayers” while kids are practicing “duck-and-cover” drills. Imagine if we reacted to any other public health crisis this way. “Sorry, little Timmy’s school lunch gave him E. coli. Our hands are tied—the Founding Fathers clearly wanted us to have the right to undercooked hamburgers.”
But instead of meaningful action, we get stuck in the same exhausting cycle: political stalemates, powerful interests blocking progress, and kids growing up more familiar with lockdown procedures than quadratic equations.
It shouldn’t be this way. Our children deserve to focus on dreaming big, not drilling for worst-case scenarios. We owe them more than justhoping for change. We owe them actually making it happen. But hey, at least the Founding Fathers would be proud—nothing says “well-regulated militia” like a toddler finding a loaded .45 in mom’s nightstand. We can do better. And we have to.
I’m not anti-gun. I’m anti-stupid. I’m tired of watching kids get turned into statistics while politicians offer nothing but thoughts and prayers and NRA-funded loopholes. I’m exhausted by a system where an 18-year-old can buy an AR-15 with less scrutiny than a rental car, where domestic abusers stockpile weapons until it’s too late, and where toddlers find loaded guns faster than their favorite toy.
This isn’t about taking guns away. It’s about keeping them out of the wrong hands. If we can require licenses for cars, training for jobs, and background checks for daycare workers, why is it radical to ask for the same accountability with deadly weapons?
We’ve normalized school shootings, accepted child gun deaths as inevitable, and surrendered to lobbyists instead of demanding better. Well, I refuse. Because if we can’t agree that kids not dying is more important than unchecked access to firearms, then what the hell are we even protecting?
The Second Amendment isn’t a suicide pact. It was never meant to be a death sentence for first graders, for teenagers in algebra class, for families at a grocery store. Yet here we are, paralyzed by politicians who treat “thoughts and prayers” as policy and “freedom” as an excuse for innocent bloodshed.
We’re not defending liberty by letting our children rehearse their own murders in lockdown drills. We’re betraying them. And if we truly believe their lives matter more than gun lobby donations, more than hollow rhetoric, more than cowardly inaction, then it’s time to prove it.
The world is watching. History is judging. And when our kids ask what we did while they hid under desks, “We did nothing” is not an answer we can live with.
For a Thought 
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