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Wake Up, America, And Start Listening

The world we live in has been changing for many years. I remember sitting at the feet of my grandfather and hearing him say the same thing. Every generation feels the issues they face are life changing. Whether it was rock and roll music in the 1950s, the racial injustices of the 1960s or the economy in the 1980s, every generation has its separate challenges. If you are 40 or older, you may be able to relate to how things used to be.

Now I’m not going to get into a huge debate on recent events in this great country’s schools. While there are many that are worthy of debate for sportsmen and legal gun owners, these mass shootings hit home hard. For me it’s so much the attack of the Second Amendment. While that is part of the puzzle, it is the loss of human life — young lives, children — that rips at my soul.

As I get older, I tend to take more of a step-back-and-wait approach. This is not to say that I will not voice my opinion when pushed, but it seems that I have been one to take a long look at whatever the topic is and gather my thoughts before opening my big mouth. Dale Carnegie once said, “The good Lord gave us as humans two ears and one mouth and we should use them accordingly.” Good advice from a wise man, but many times it’s hard to adhere to.

If you are reading these words thinking that I’m going to stand on a soapbox and hold on to the Second Amendment and cram my beliefs down your throat, well, there is no reason to continue, because that’s not what I’m going to do here.

I hope that maybe a conversation can be started about how to fix school/mass shootings. “Pretty tall order, Robbins, you say.” Well maybe it is, but, let’s at least attempt to start the conversation anyway.

School/mass shootings are, first and foremost, crimes against humanity. Personally, I put these types of events in a different column than what has happened throughout world history. School/mass shootings cannot be the norm in any society and we as sportsmen need to work to make sure they stop.

The way I was raised, like others of my generation, there is only one that is in charge of life and death. Now I’m not going to get the Bible out and start preaching. I will leave that to those who are more skilled than I, Dad. What I will say is this: only God has the right to give and take a life. Nobody on this earth has the right. Hence, that’s the reason we all live by laws. Without them life would be lawless. In a world without God, everybody would have to trust their fellow man’s moral compass, and history has shown us that doesn’t work out so well.

Ah, the worlds moral compass. The one part of the moral compass that needs to be addressed is today’s youth and society, believing it’s OK to get a gun, pull the trigger and kill others.

How do we fix this, you ask? Well I’m no scholar or psychologist, and don’t want to be, but it seems we need to start with today’s youth.

I know every generation has their challenges, but our current generation of young folks are dealing with issues that no one has ever dealt with.

In a world of social media and the 24/7 news cycle, everybody knows in a second what is going with so and so and why is so and so wearing that awful dress or why is so and so talking to him. Today’s youth live in the now, they don’t think about the future, they don’t worry about the what they say and how it is going affect themselves or others. Folks, what happens on the Internet stays on the Internet. Forever.

The days of folks just talking amongst themselves is over. In today’s world, anything and everything can be put on-line where millions can see it a blink of an eye. This is a world that today’s youth live in. Just think about that for a minute.

It seems folks don’t worry about what they say or how they say it. Words can be hurtful, so what we say and how we treat others is important. Just because someone at work is having a bad day, then takes it out on somebody isn’t a reason to go off the deep end. Folks have bad days. Don’t take everything that comes out of somebody’s mouth as gospel. Nobody is perfect and we all have bad days but it’s how we react to those bad days that will affect the rest of the days.

Today’s youth live on-line and in front of video games. In the world of video games, if you don’t like the game you can start over again. If you “shoot all your enemies,” you can start another game and play again. Folks do not understand that this is not real life but, in some minds, it has become real life or, in my day, we would call it escaping reality. Some folks escape reality with drug or alcohol or video games. Pair all three and that is a danger that this world does not need.

Back in the day, my high school had an indoor shooting range and we had shooting club in school. Heck, many times we would have our gun in the car so we could head to the woods right after school. We learned, we understood and took reasonability for our actions. We knew that the reality of the world was when you pull the trigger something dies, you can’t just reboot the game and start over. Ah, there is another word we don’t hear much of these days — responsibility.

Responsibility means many different things to many different people, but in its most basic form it means whatever you do in life is your responsibility, nobody else’s. Again, I’m not here to put myself or anybody else on a tower, but it’s just an opportunity to discuss what we can do to start the process of fixing a major problem.

I will be the first to tell you guns do not kill people, people kill people. A gun no matter style, type, caliber or make can and will sit in a corner or closet or hopefully locked in a gun safe for years and not do a thing. It’s not until that firearm is picked up by a human does it become a weapon.

If we start with that understanding, we can only begin to fix the problem of school/mass shooting.

It pains me beyond words as a father and grandfather when I hear of these school/mass shootings. As a sportsman and law-abiding gun owner, I understand that my lifestyle is going to come under attack. The lifestyle of sportsman is not always easy and is often times painful.

OK, how do we begin to fix this. Again, it’s my belief that it starts with my family and church. God is only one who is in charge of life and death. If a child understands firearms and is taught a respect for them, they will learn that once that bullet leaves the barrel, there is nothing on this earth that will stop it.

Teaching youth responsibility is a step. If they do something let them take responsibility for their action. Understanding a game is a game. It is not real life.

There is an old saying that we have lived by and it is this: If you hunt with your kids, you wouldn’t be hunting for them.”

Another piece of the puzzle is mental health. Heck, it’s no secret some folks should not be near, close to or own a firearm. How do we stop this? By no stretch am I saying that we should live in a police state, but there needs to be more checks and balances.

Maybe we need to address age limits. I personally don’t agree that anybody who is not mature enough under the letter of the law to drink, should not be able to purchase a firearm. This all goes back to family. In today’s world, the days that I was blessed to grow up in, where dad worked all day and mom stayed home to watch the kids, are not the norm. Today’s world is made up of single parents that often times are just struggling to make ends meet. This the norm.

The talking heads on TV are also fueling the fire. When the people choose to take another human life, they are made household names. Folks, they don’t have anything to live for no matter what the cost. I would ask don’t use names and faces when the arrest is made. I cannot, and will not, take any of what is left of my brain to waste it on remembering their names and faces. They aren’t worth the space in my head.

Our children need to feel safe in school and we as adults have the power to do that. No matter what is takes, we need to take that step. No matter what cost, it needs to be done.

I pray and I’m heartbroken for the students and staff of MSD High School in Parkland Florida. We as adults need to stop the deaths of today’s youth. Some would say it’s up to federal and state officials. I would say, heck no. We all need to start in our own community.

I would say that all parents should know what a school’s plan is and why they have that plan. It is part of responsibly to your children to ask the hard questions. I also ask that all school officials give parents and community members the answers they deserve. On the eve of celebrating the birthdays of two of this nation’s greatest president on Presidents Day, I urge that we need to do our jobs as adults and protect our children.

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