Sadly, this week has been dominated by discussions of horrific things and uncomfortable questions and polarized opinions in the wake of the monstrous attack in Las Vegas. As I write this, 58 are dead and 489 were wounded. It is an unspeakable tragedy and a sad fact of our modern life that as the week has gone on, it seems more and more likely that nothing of substance will be done about this.
I felt the need to write something about this event and my feelings on the inevitable debate on guns in America that it naturally brings up. Rather than engage in back and forth debates on social media that seem to only alienate people, I wanted to put my thoughts in a longer format that maybe allows for a more polite and reasoned discourse.
I structured these thoughts into several main ideas that I want to discuss - many of them will read as though they are "myths" that I wish to dispel. However, that is not the intention - they are not myths, but rather opinions that I have continually heard from people that I respect, love, and know to be thoughtful, intelligent human beings. I may disagree with them, and believe I have evidence to support that, but I present this in the hope that I can also find discussion and evidence from those with differing opinions, life experiences, and viewpoints that may help me to further my own understanding of the issues involved here.
