Some call it progress...............
I grew up on a farm, and we started shooting at a very early age. We never locked our house, and most times the doors and windows were open because it was hot in central Texas. I went to school where we parked in an unpaved area near the school (so called parking lot), and in nearly ever pickup there (usually dads), was a shotgun and typically a 30-30 in the gun rack on back window. It wasn't locked either. Never did we hear of a "school shooting". There were fist fights either behind the gym or at the rodeo grounds after school typically resulting in a black eye or two, and a bloody nose. The worst thing that usually happened was one of your best store bought shirts got torn, and you knew your mom and/or dad were going to bust your butt when you got home. Usually, the guy you had the fight with became a good friend, and all was well.
I'm not sure when it happened, but it was sometime during the time I was walking around in a jungle in some foreign land I didn't even study about in school, and for some reason an army wanted to kill me and my buddies, and did so to the tune of nearly 59,000. What happened was, "PROGRESS" dictated we close and lock our windows and doors, our vehicles, and we couldn't carry our weapons to public places anymore. Crime was on the rise, and people showed little respect for their fellow man and his property.
PROGRESS had dictated that neither parents nor teachers could bust the butts of unruly children, and it seemed it was "cool" to disrupt classes at school and tell the teachers to go to hell.
We brought all this PROGRESS and CHANGE on ourselves. We sat back "minded our own business", and allowed it to happen. Now we're in a state of affairs that may never get "right".
I've carried a weapon ever since I returned from NAM. I've shot competition all over this country back when I was young and could drive long distances without having to rest for two days afterward and could actually see the little dot in the center of the target.
I found it interesting that the shooters who pull these mass shootings manage to find those places where they know people WILL NOT be armed because they are in "gun free zones", and take advantage of the PROGRESS we have allowed ourselves to be victims of.
There is no doubt in my mind that if there had been just one armed citizen who was carrying when these shootings took place, there would have been less casualties. They might not have stopped them all, but I have to believe there would have been less killed.
