When Did We Stop Taking Personal Responsibility for Our Actions?
I made a post on social media about personal responsibility and the insane idea that we are now blaming objects (guns) for evil deeds and doing harm to people versus the person whose finger pulled the trigger or acted in a malicious way. So, for starters, let me share what I posted on social media below (as Facebook may have deleted it by now since it doesn’t fit their narrative).
I want to ask a question here… when a disturbed individual shoots people, we blame guns. When a disturbed individual stabs people (like the other day in LA which didn’t get near the press as a shooting would have), we blame his past as a gang member. Go read that again. What is wrong with people? I’m sorry, does banning knives not fit the narrative? Or will that be next in your effort to disarm Americans? Guns, knives, swords, vehicles, nunchucks, tampons, and chopsticks can all be used as weapons. Know what else is true? THEY DON’T FUCKIN HURT PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN! Is America really that dumb that we blame OBJECTS for murders? I’m worried about our future when we as people can’t take responsibility for our own actions and need to put the blame on objects. /rant
Here is some additional commentary I made in the comment section of my post:
Example (don’t do this in real life): If you were to take a baseball bat and start smashing up the cars of politicians who want to confiscate guns, what do you think will happen? Your ass is going to jail. Guess what else? Those politicians are going to say you’re nuts yet not an ounce of blame will be put on the bat. So, what’s the difference?
I just don’t understand. It’s infuriating. Cigarettes kill more people than guns. Why aren’t politicians fighting that? Is it because tobacco makes them millions of dollars? So, they look the other way? Or is because the government wants full control of us to the point where they want to disarm us so we can’t fight back? I mean, that’s spelled out pretty clearly in the 2nd amendment.
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It Seems Personal Responsibility Only Takes Place for Non-Firearm Crimes
When shootings take place, politicians start licking their lips and jump on their soapbox to start spouting for more gun control. Meanwhile, their security stands within arms reach packing their own heat to protect the politician. Does no one else find that funny? Why should they have people around them with firearms to protect them but we can’t have firearms to protect ourselves? Seems pretty hypocritical. They have people who protect them yet it’s our own personal responsibility to protect ourselves? That makes no sense at all. I mean, why do Presidents have secret service with high powered weapons ready to drop the hammer if something goes down?
I’m sure they will say they have secret service there to protect them in case something happens, not that they expect it. And my argument would be the same for my right to carry a gun. I don’t carry a gun because I expect to need to use it, but should a life or death situation arise, you can bet I’d be glad to have it and the ability to stop a threat.
At the time of writing this, we are coming off of a week where there were two mass shootings and one mass stabbing event. The shootings made all the headlines while the stabbing you basically needed to go Google in order to find out the details. Why is that? Could it be that because mass media is run by corporations who are run by the government and are TOLD what they can and can’t talk about? Is it because a stabbing of multiple people with fatalities is “less important” than deaths by firearms? Is it because knives or other objects aren’t part of the narrative they are using to disarm Americans?
Is THIS Really Our Biggest Concern?
We have people dying from cancer at a rapid pace. We have people killed and injured in automobile accidents. We have people dying from drug overdoses. We have homeless people in every city that need our help. The list goes on and on. Yet, all politicians want to talk about is gun control and gun confiscation. Seems to me we have our priorities all messed up.
Now, I’m not downplaying that we have an issue here in the United States. But we certainly don’t have a gun problem – we have a people problem. I fully understand that not everyone is going to see eye to eye with me on this debate and I’m not here to change your point of view, I’ll let you come to your own conclusion on the subject. What I do expect is for everyone to respect each other’s opinions and agree to disagree if that’s the case versus personally attacking individuals.
I Didn’t Do It… The OBJECT Did It
Doesn’t that sound stupid? It sounds like a five-year-old who got in trouble and was deflecting the responsibility onto something else versus taking personal responsibility for his or her actions.
You see, a gun is an object. It is not artificial intelligence that it can act on its own. We aren’t in the movie iRobot (at least not yet). An object is defined in the dictionary as follows: “a material thing that can be seen and touched; a person or thing to which a specified action or feeling is directed.” Nowhere in there did I see anything saying an object can act on its own free will. The fact is, objects need to have a force put upon them to move or function. A pen will not write on its own. A book cannot turn pages on its own. A person must take personal responsibility to act in such a manner for those examples to take place.
I can sit a gun on my desk for a century and it will not pull the trigger on its own. It doesn’t have a brain and majority of firearms out there today have one if not several external and/or internal safeties on them. The issue arises when someone who is uneducated on proper firearm safety and manipulation gets their hands on one and causes a negligent discharge. Even THEN, there is personal responsibility. The gun did not shoot the individual. The individual, unfortunately, shot themselves.
There’s Actually a Process That Needs to Take Place Here
There is a process that takes place here that many people are failing to understand.
- When a gun is purchased, it does not come with ammunition. An individual needs to make a conscious effort to go out and purchase specific ammunition for the firearm as not all ammo will work.
- Then, the individual must load a magazine or magazines full of that ammunition.
- Next, the magazine needs to be inserted and seated in the firearm. EVEN THEN, the gun will not fire with bullets in it.
- The slide must be racked and a bullet must be chambered. Even at that point, the gun will not fire a single round sitting there, untouched, with a bullet ready to be fired.
- When and ONLY WHEN the trigger is pulled through force (such as with a finger) will the firing pin hit the primer and set the bullet in motion.
IT’S A PROCESS NEEDING HUMAN INTERVENTION. There are steps that need to be followed. Premeditated steps. If that isn’t clear enough, please reread this section.
EVERYTHING Comes Back to Personal Responsibility
The things I do. The things I say. They all weigh on MY shoulders. Me. The individual. I take personal responsibility for making mistakes. I can’t blame a hat for causing me to have a bad hair day. I was the one who put the hat on in the first place. I can’t blame my glasses for breaking because I sat on them. That was my fault. I can’t blame my car for running out of gas, I simply didn’t pay attention to how much I had left and now I’m sitting on the side of the road. So, why then will we put the blame on firearms for shootings and not the person whose finger was in the trigger guard and pulled the trigger straight to the back and fired off a round?
Why is it that when someone goes around stabbing people with a knife, we blame the person and all their issues and not the knife then? Seems like a double-standard, no? Why can you blame the object in one instance but not the other?
Personal responsibility seems to lie in the hands of everyone except for when guns are involved. Look, we like to blame drugs for all of the overdoses out there. But why? They didn’t go into someone’s body on their own. They were injected, smoked, inhaled, or consumed. That was the individual choice of the person to use that drug. I understand this, too, is a sensitive subject but it goes hand-in-hand with the subject we are discussing.
I’m not saying we are going to solve all of the world’s problems from this blog post. Nor do I care if you’re a democrat or republican reading this. We are all PEOPLE. We can have our own views and opinions and while we aren’t all right with our beliefs, we can agree to disagree on many things. This post was not created to promote violence or downplay the problems we face in American. I wrote it to make us all think and how stupid it sounds to take all personal responsibility from ourselves and put them on objects that can’t even move without our interaction. We’re fighting the wrong battle here and I hate the fact that politicians are trying to divide us through scare tactics regarding firearms.
Criminals will always find a way to do harm. If not with guns, then with knives. If not with knives, then bats. The list goes on and on. Disarming responsible Americans only makes them easier targets for criminals. Because the fact is, criminals, don’t follow laws. Now, if you don’t feel comfortable carrying a firearm or can’t in a certain state you are traveling to, I have some EDC options for you to consider which is what I recommend and use when I’m in such a situation.
Gun-free zones do not make us safer – they make us sitting ducks. Let’s put people in a room with four walls without any means of protection and see what happens when someone walks in with a gun to do premeditated harm. The outcome will be horrific. Yet, if we had even one law-abiding citizen in that room who carries a firearm legally and has been trained to use it in self-defense, that individual can save many lives. It all comes down to personal responsibility. And that individual put that personal responsibility on him or herself to say I will do whatever means necessary to protect myself, my family, and those around me. Not everyone with a gun is evil – despite what the news and politicians are telling you.
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