WE CANNOT BECOME THE UNITED STATES OF GUNS. BUT WITH ABOUT ONE GUN PER PERSON... ARE WE ALREADY THERE?

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     Today's column is a bit out of the ordinary.  But I trust it should make for interesting reading by those of you who - like me - wish that guns were never invented...and by those of you who - for some strange reason - would like America to return to the days of the "Wild West."  It's a peculiar thought, but I'm convinced that many of you would like to emulate such fictional television characters as Marshal Matt Dillon or "The Rifleman" Lucas McCain...and live in an era where people wore handguns or carried rifles twenty-four hours a day.  But America has come a long way since Wyatt Earp and the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  So if nobody owned handguns...and nobody had any assault weapons...(military-style rifles and the like)...then gun violence in America would plummet to an extremely low number. Perhaps to nothing at all.

     On Thursday, March 1st, 2018 - in the aftermath of the February 14th Parkland, Florida massacre... where fourteen teenage students and three faculty members from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were tragically shot to death by an evil sociopath - I shared an abbreviated, two-minute video on my Facebook page...part of a full video that had been originally posted by admitted gun enthusiast Scott Pappalardo of Scotchtown, New York.  Pappalardo is a devout supporter of the Second Amendment..."a firm believer"...which - as most everyone knows - protects Americans' right to bear arms. The video shows Pappalardo destroying - what he described as - his "pre-ban, legally-registered AR-15," which he purchased more than thirty years ago.  But Pappalardo asked himself a momentous question...and then answered it.  "Is the right to own this weapon more important than someone's life?  I don't think so." Therefore...Pappalardo used a high-powered electric saw to cut the weapon in to pieces.

     After the carnage - on December 14th, 2012 - at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut...where twenty first-graders and six educators were savagely murdered by a psychotic gunman...Pappalardo told his wife that he'd "gladly give this gun up if it would save the life of just one child."  But he admits those were nothing but "empty words."

     However...following the Parkland shootings...Pappalardo pondered once again... the possibility of selling his rifle.  But he was worried that the AR-15 would end up in the hands of someone who would use the gun in an act of violence.  "In the back of my head, I say, well...what if...whoever buys this weapon, their child gets hold of it...and brings it to school one day...and shoots a bunch of people...can I live with that?  I don't think I could.  So...I've decided today...I'm gonna make sure this weapon will never be able to take a life.  This barrel of this gun will never be pointed at someone."  

     On my Facebook page - accompanying the link to Pappalardo's video - I added my own short commentary.  It is what sparked a back-and-forth conversation among three of my high school friends and me.  It is this dialogue that I believe Democrats and Republicans alike will find fascinating.  Since my friends' names appear with their remarks on Facebook, I am publishing them with this column.  First is my debate with Joe Percevecz...a friend who is a school teacher.

     Gary B. Duglin...Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 7:55 p.m.:  Applause, applause and kudos to an American who cares more about saving lives than his "right" and his enjoyment.  Give this man - Scott Pappalardo - a standing ovation...and a great big thank you.  Now if more AR-15 gun owners...and if Donald Trump, the Republicans in Congress and every Republican governor...would feel the same way as this hero - and yes he is a hero - then more families will not, in the future, have to suffer the same pain that families in Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown and elsewhere have had to endure after their loved ones were murdered by a mentally deranged killer.  I hope anyone who is reading my words...who happens to own an AR-15 - or any so-called military-style assault weapon - will do as Scott Pappalardo did.  Or perhaps you care more about yourself and your own personal pleasures...than the safety and lives of others.

     Joseph Percevecz...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 12:13 a.m.:  Applause for creating an illegal SBR?

     Gary B. Duglin...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 12:24 a.m.: Joe, what you're not seeing in the video is the final destruction of Scott Pappalardo's AR-15.  Check out the photograph of his rifle...cut in pieces.  No short-barreled rifle there.  And Scott's name is posted on the original image.  You can Google it and see his name corresponding to it. (Additional note for The Controversy:  The original picture is also posted on Scott Pappalardo's Facebook page.)

     Joseph Percevecz...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 12:36 a.m.:  Poor, innocent, rifle, never did anything to anyone.

     Gary B. Duglin...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 12:38 a.m.:  And now, thanks to Scott Pappalardo...it can't anytime in the future.

     Joseph Percevecz...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 12:51 a.m.:  He must have been really concerned about his own mental state.  No firearm has ever climbed out of a safe, loaded itself and killed anyone alone.

     Gary B. Duglin...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:25 a.m.:  If you watched the video, he wanted to be sure that whomever wound up with his gun, wouldn't use it for killing people.  The destruction of his rifle had nothing to do with his own mental state.

     Joseph Percevecz...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:42 a.m.:  Only 300,000,000 to go!

     Gary B. Duglin...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 11:30 a.m.:  Joe, as I say to other Republicans, you can't spin this YOUR way.  There are NOT 300-million AR-15 assault weapons.  The National Shooting Sports Foundation estimates there are approximately between 5 million and 10 million AR-15 rifles owned in the United States.  So let's - for argument sake - say there are seven-and-a-half-million AR-15 guns...NOWHERE NEAR 300-MILLION.  (Additional note for The Controversy: According to the Congressional Research Service, there is a total of about 300-million guns, of all types, in America.  And Census.gov says the U.S. population is approaching 328-million people.)

     Joseph Percevecz...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:12 p.m.:  OK, let's use your guesstimate.  Only 7,499,999 more to go!  But if you think H.R. 5087 is going anywhere at all, there are quite a few more weapons on that list!  But that bill was only written for political posturing, not reality.

     Gary B. Duglin...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 12:49 a.m.:  Joe, you're doing as most of my readers at The Controversy do...and that's to go off topic.  The issue we were discussing was ONLY the AR-15 rifles - the one that Scott Pappalardo cut in to pieces.  That is why I gave the numbers I noted above. However, I don't believe H.R. 5087 - THE ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 2018 - goes far enough. It is true that bill, if passed, would ban all semi-automatic "repeating" pistols, all semi-automatic "repeating" shotguns, all semi-automatic "repeating" rifles - all of the above including detachable and fixed magazines - plus a variety of other weapons, so there are a hell of a lot more of those weapons than the 5-million to 10-million estimated AR-15 guns.  But that's NOT what we were discussing.  As I wrote to a reader at The Controversy the other day, following the announcement by Dick's Sporting Goods that they will no longer sell AR-15 assault weapons in any of their stores to anybody...plus the announcement by Walmart that they will not sell any guns to anybody under the age of 21, I then wrote..."Watch and wait when big companies like Walmart and others stop selling guns altogether.  It's going to happen.  When?  I can't tell you.  But it's going to happen.  The bottom line is...guns have got to go. The question is...how can America legally do it?"  As I also wrote to a reader recently, "In a perfect world - which we don't live in - every gun on the planet would be placed in a rocketship and launched in to deep space.  But that's never going to happen, so we must have better gun control laws.  Otherwise, more and more people are going to tragically and unfortunately die."  But I will add this - as I have written in other columns about gun control, over the last six years - the Second Amendment needs to be changed, or better yet, abolished.  It probably won't happen in my lifetime, but it IS going to happen at some point. I just hope it happens sooner... versus later.

     Joseph Percevecz...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 1:02 a.m.:  Not going to happen GBD.  H.R. 5087 is politicians playing politics.  It won't pass because it is unconstitutional, goes too far and only has "D" sponsors hoping to win the "outraged" voters.  That way they can thump their chest and scream, "We tried, but those evil "R" and demonic NRA monsters..."  Then voters line up just exactly like your worst nightmare again.  Keep believing the lie GBD.  Your politicians always have YOUR best interest at heart.

     Gary B. Duglin...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 1:15 a.m.:  Joe, I will leave you with this thought. A new common sense gun control law has to be passed. If not, we are sadly and tragically going to witness school shootings...and other mass murders by guns...on a weekly, if not daily, basis...not to mention that there are already about 96 people in the United States killed everyday by guns.  As for my statement above, though, about school shootings and other mass murders...I just hope to God that I'm proved wrong.

     Joseph Percevecz...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 2:32 a.m.:  Just as soon as the zealots on both sides of this debate arrive at a valid understanding of "common sense" then the conversation can begin.  As long as each side is determined to "win," nothing will happen because each side has to prove the other wrong.  I will leave you with that thought.  And we will see who is closer to reality.

     Gary B. Duglin...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 1:17 p.m.:  I'm not that cynical, Joe.  I guess you are. 

     Joseph Percevecz...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 1:35 p.m.:  GBD, I'm an optimist with realistic tendencies and an observer of the human condition.  I want success in making schools as safe as possible without undermining the very freedoms that make the world want to move to America.  That will require many more difficult conversations beyond "please make all the bad guns go away."  That is not a solution.  That is fear in action.  I prefer actionable, common sense solutions that ACTUALLY make school kids (and teachers!) safe.

      Gary B. Duglin...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 6:29 p.m.:  The only "common sense solution that (WILL) ACTUALLY make school kids (and teachers) safe" is to GET RID OF THE ASSAULT WEAPONS.  And if I had my druthers...to GET RID OF ALL GUNS.

     Joseph Percevecz...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 6:40 p.m.:  And when one side of the argument begins and ends on that perspective, we have nothing more to discuss.

      Gary B. Duglin...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 1:54 a.m.:  As I always say...if the Founding Fathers had a crystal ball in the late 1700s...and they knew how guns would be used by certain people...many years in the future...the Second Amendment would not have been written as it is...and there would be no "right" for Americans to own guns.  What a shame there was no crystal ball. 

     Joseph Percevecz...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 6:52 a.m.:  Then you need to go back and study your history of America and read the writings and letters of Jefferson, Washington and the rest.  By your logic the First Amendment would only apply to the printing machines of the day.

      Gary B. Duglin...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 11:19 a.m.:  You just don't get it, Joe...and you never will.  I'm done here.

     Joseph Percevecz...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 3:36 p.m.:  Bye-bye, GBD.  I get that you don't support the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of Law.

      Gary B. Duglin...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 3:48 p.m.:  Joe, I'm amazed to hear you express those words. I've had Republican readers at The Controversy who accuse me - and other liberals, progressives, Democrats - of not supporting the U.S. Constitution. To make such a hateful remark is like saying we are un-American... which we are not.  Shame on you, Joe.  Shame on you.  Perhaps you should take a lesson from Debbi Johnson Sands.  She and I disagree on the issue of guns and gun control, but we exchanged thoughts in a civil manner.  Debbi didn't call me un-American. And I certainly didn't offend her...or you...with the heinous words..."you don't support the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of Law."  As Debbi said..."Everyone is entitled to their opinions...though they may not always be the same."

     Joseph Percevecz...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 5:40 p.m.:  GBD, you know I don't hate you, and I said nothing hateful to you.  And I never said you were un-American. Don't put words in my mouth.  I was only pointing out what you have already said in this very thread.  You don't support the Second Amendment because you don't agree with it.  There is a method of making changes spelled out in the Constitution. But don't deny me my rights without due process. 

      Gary B. Duglin...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 12:06 a.m.:  Joe, I never said that you hate me.  I said you made a "hateful remark."  By you saying that I "don't support the Constitution (and) the Bill of Rights"...or anyone who claims that any liberal, progressive, or Democrat in general does not support the U.S. Constitution... that is hateful...and is the same as calling us un-American.  So I don't need to "put words in (your) mouth," Joe.  You put the words there yourself by making the statement you made.  It is the SAME as calling me un-American.  I don't deny you your rights.  You do have the right to own a gun, as per the Second Amendment.  I don't agree with it, but you have that right.  As I have the right, as per the First Amendment, to, in fact, disagree with you...and to disagree with part of the Constitution, should I so desire.  The Constitution is a piece of paper...a piece of parchment, if you will.  We...that's you...me...and every American...are living beings. And we have the right to debate issues.  And although Donald Trump doesn't seem to believe it...America IS great.  And our Constitution is one of the chief reasons why it is.  

     Joseph Percevecz...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 4:11 a.m.:  On that we agree.

     During my debate with Joe, you will have read that I referenced another high school friend, Debbi Johnson Sands.  That's because a separate, but much briefer conversation began with Debbi and me when she responded to my remarks and those expressed by Joe.

     Debbi Johnson Sands...Saturday, March 3, 2018 at 1:36 p.m.:  Everyone is entitled to their opinions...though they may not always be the same.  I don’t feel someone is a hero for cutting up a weapon. The heroes are our men and women defending us in the streets and overseas.  My son...my Marine...is my hero...and he can bring as many guns as he wants into my home.  He has taught me how to shoot them and to defend myself as well.  I am a proud carrier of a concealed weapon license.

      Gary B. Duglin...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 1:06 a.m.:  Debbi, I do agree with you that "everyone is entitled to their opinions."  Our most important Amendment in the U.S. Constitution is the First one, which gives each and every American "freedom of speech."  But I do disagree with you that Scott Pappalardo is not a hero because he cut up his gun.  He has perhaps saved lives because he did not want his AR-15 to someday end up in the hands of a mentally deranged killer who would want to murder other men, women and children.  As for those Americans who serve our country - either wearing the uniforms of the Air Force, the Army, the Coast Guard, the Marines, the National Guard and the Navy...as well as those first responders such as police officers, firefighters and paramedics...they are without question, American heroes. Your son, Debbi, is definitely a hero, as he serves our nation in the United States Marine Corps...and I thank him for his service and I wish him safe return to you and his other loved ones.  But...I do not support any law...that allows anybody - besides the military or law enforcement - to carry a gun or to have a concealed weapon license.  I do understand you have that right based on the laws of your state, but I do not agree with it or support it at all...and I never will.  But then...as you said...we are all "entitled" to our own opinion.

     Debbi Johnson Sands...Sunday, March 4, 2018 at 10:43 a.m.:  Gary, love you my friend and appreciate your views.  The areas I work in at times are like the back streets of Newark.  If it is them or me, I choose my life over theirs.  Just saying.

      Gary B. Duglin...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 2:27 a.m.:  Debbi, I wish you much safety in those areas you need to travel for work.

     And then there was another short chat I had on Facebook with high school friend, Mark Hatton...now a doctor.

      Doc Mark Hatton...Monday, March 5, 2018 at 11:07 p.m.:  Gary, not looking to open a whole debate, but do you really think schools will be “safe” and there will be no more mass killings if we get rid of assault rifles (which, by the way, I’m in favor of) [or even “all guns”...which, by the way, I am not in favor of]?  I think that's naive at best.  There are multiple issues intersecting here.

      Gary B. Duglin...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 12:39 a.m.:  Mark, I provide you with the following from a February 20th, 2018 article in Fortune magazine.  After a 1996 mass shooting in Australia, which resulted in the murders of thirty-five people, along with eighteen others wounded..."within just weeks of that tragedy, elected officials in each of Australia's six states and two mainland territories - pressed forward by police chiefs across the continent and by the then newly-elected prime minister - banned semi-automatic and other military-style weapons across the country.  The federal government of Australia prohibited their import, and lawmakers introduced a generous nationwide gun buyback program, funded with a Medicare tax, to encourage Australians to freely give up their assault-style weapons.  Amazingly, many of them did."  Fortune continued..."So what happened after the assault weapon ban?  Well therein lies the other half of the story.  Nothing.  Nothing, that is, in a good way.  Australian independence didn't end.  Tyranny didn't come. Australians still hunted and explored; and they big-wave surfed to their hearts' content.  Their economy didn't crash.  Invaders never arrived.  Violence, in many forms, went down across the country, not up.  Somehow lawmakers on either side of the gun debate managed to get along and legislate.  As for mass killings, there were no more.  Not one in the past twenty-two years.  In 2002, a mentally impaired student at Monash University in Melbourne shot two people dead and injured five others.  He came to his rampage with six handguns, not an assault rifle.  Had he been carrying an AR-15, the toll would have been far worse.  But even so, Australian lawmakers added a new National Handgun Agreement, a separate buyback act, and a reformulated gun trafficking policy to their legislative arsenal.  There has been no similar shooting spree since.  But it wasn't just the murderous rampages that faded away.  Gun violence in general declined over the following two decades to a nearly unimaginable degree.  In 2014, the latest year for which final statistics are available, Australia's murder rate fell to less than one killing per one-hundred-thousand people - a murder rate one-fifth the size of America's.  Just thirty-two of those homicides - in a nation of twenty-four-million people - were committed with guns."  If Australia can do it, Mark...there's no reason the United States of America can't.  So no, Mark... with regards to my thoughts on guns and gun control...I am not at all naive.  And another country...is proof of that.

      Doc Mark Hatton...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 10:01 a.m.:  The United States, its' citizens, and the issues surrounding mass violence are quite different than Australia.

      Gary B. Duglin...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 10:29 a.m.:  You just don't get it, Mark.  And as I've said to others...you never will.

      Doc Mark Hatton...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 11:01 a.m.:  As always... "getting it" is in the mind of the beholder.  Most times we agree.  This time we don't.

      Gary B. Duglin...Tuesday, March 6, 2018 at 12:31 p.m.:  And as Debbi Johnson Sands noted above..."Everyone is entitled to their opinions...though they may not always be the same."  I will agree with you on this, Mark.  This time...we don't agree.

     No doubt I will be disagreeing with many of my Republican readers...and perhaps others.  So liberals...progressives...and Democrats in general...who are as opposed to guns as much as I am...it's up to YOU...to speak your mind too.

     Meanwhile...several days after my above Facebook conversation...tens of thousands of students - on Wednesday morning, March 14th - followed the lead of survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School... and participated in a nationwide walkout to protest gun violence in the United States and to demand action from state and national politicians for better gun control laws.  It was a month earlier...on February 14th, 2018...when the fourteen students and three teachers - who I mentioned at the outset of this column - were shot to death in a tragic massacre by a homicidal maniac who had recently been expelled from the Parkland, Florida school because of disciplinary reasons.  At exactly 10 o'clock a.m. local time...in each time zone...students from across the country walked out of their schools for seventeen

minutes...one minute for each of the seventeen people who were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.  Reportedly, there were an estimated 185-thousand people from about 3,100 schools in our 50 states and the District of Columbia who joined the National Student Walkout. 

     I know that people throughout our nation have been saying it for nearly a month...and I expressed similar sentiments in my February 24th column...but it's worth echoing such words again...especially after the national walkout.  "These students have a tremendous drive that is being fueled by their passion...their peaceful anger...and their tears. These are intelligent and creative youngsters with wisdom far beyond their years. It's incredibly inspirational to watch them...and it just may take these 'kids'...to do what adults have never been able to do."

     I am so very proud of the youth of America.  These young people are joining together...and standing together...in solidarity...and I am totally impressed.  But

it's not enough to just admire and respect them.  This is not just their battle.  This is everyone's war.  At least it should be.  And, therefore, it is a fight that we must all engage in so that no sick-minded son of a bitch is able to steal the lives of another person by shooting bullets from a gun. Nevermore can we allow such tragedies in America.  Adults can certainly learn a lesson from our country's children.  And although they are performing in adult ways...let us remember that they are still children.

     A link to Scott Pappalardo's complete six-minute video is printed at the bottom of this column...as is a link to the shorter version, which was edited and aired by ABC News.  But it's going to take more than just one person to give up one assault weapon.  And it's going to take much more than seventeen minutes to force the President...the Congress...and the governors and state legislators from our entire nation...to end this war.  Because if they don't...more and more people are in all likelihood - dare I say, definitely - going to die.  And the next time...one of the persons killed might be someone YOU love.  Or one of the dead...might be you.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.

Now please express your personal opinions by following the instructions above.  And thank you for reading The Controversy.

Scott Pappalardo's complete six-minute video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/EMIxb6T0Ous

Scott Pappalardo's video (two-minute edited version): https://www.youtube.com/embed/iNGz-kO4VYE

Scott Pappalardo's Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007513365065

Photo credits: Scott Pappalardo and Huffington Post (Scott Pappalardo)...Scott Pappalardo (Scott Pappalardo's destroyed AR-15)...Time (National Student Walkout Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida)... Thomas R. Cordova/Daily Breeze and Long Beach Press-Telegram (National Student Walkout Day at Woodrow Wilson High School, Long Beach, California)...and Timothy A. Clary/AFP and VOA News (National Student Walkout Day at Harvest High School, New York City, New York)

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