Opinion | ‘I Can’t Sit Still. I Can’t Not Do Anything.’

Ed, Los Angeles: I have a gun, not because I enjoy shooting but because I got shot in an attempted holdup. I don’t carry, because I avoid trouble like the plague. And carrying a weapon is a pain. However, I sleep at home, and that is well-defended on multiple levels. I have also gotten proper training. These things happen in the blink of an eye.

I guess this is all the legacy of growing up in a settler nation where the original inhabitants were annihilated and many of their replacements were kidnapped and forced into slavery. As Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Violence is as American as cherry pie.

G.G.: Canada and Australia negotiated with Britain for their freedom. We shot our way out. It’s our creation myth. And when we were done with the Brits, we turned on the Native Americans. And now on ourselves.

ARNP, Des Moines, IA: I practice psychiatry. In that capacity, I bear witness every single day to the fact that most people — not just those with severe mental illnesses — pretty frequently exercise poor judgment. And when in an emotionally charged state, poor judgment is the norm. This is why I believe that most people should not have easy access to things designed to kill people. The more available a gun is, the more likely it will be used. The more powerful the weapon, the harder it should be to access it. Arming citizens to shoot each other for the “right reason” assumes most of us have more skill, foresight, emotional stability and self-discipline than we do.

G.G.: Couldn’t agree more.

Glen, Pleasantville: I enjoy shooting sports. I get that guns can be fun. I don’t have any problem with registering guns I own or with rigorous mandatory safety classes or with being required to store my guns properly or with not being allowed to carry them around with me to the movies. I don’t think my freedoms are destroyed if I have to stick with a shotgun instead of an AR-15. I think that my doctor should be able to order my guns temporarily held if I’m showing signs of psychosis or making threats of suicide.

So many other gun owners are sensible and responsible, but there is no place in the dialogue for us.

G.G.: I think you are not in the minority with those sentiments, Glen. I hope you act on them at the ballot box. That’s your place in the dialogue. And anyway, it’s not a dialogue. It’s a shouting match.

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