Let Them Shoot Guns!

You can take our lives, but you'll never take OUR ANGER!

While some simple rules for arguing on the internet have made my life a happier, quieter, more fulfilling place, I still manage to find myself embroiled in a conflict or three from time to time.

Perhaps it’s my Scottish heritage?

Be that as it may, a recent discussion bore some interesting fruit that I thought worthwhile to share.  This can only be considered an invitation to argument if you meet the following three criteria:

1 – You actually consider me a friend.*

2 – You know exactly what my stance on gun violence/gun control is.**

3 – You live close enough that you can buy me a beer while we argue.***

I like and love a lot of you out there. However, I prefer the warm, contented feeling I get when I go to bed each night, free of the running conversation in my head about various arguments and issues.

You, however, are more than free to argue the night away with strangers on the internet who don’t know you, don’t care about your feelings, aren’t interested in your point of view, and likely come into a discussion with no notion of changing their pre-conceived notions.  If you really feel like getting your argue on with other people, here are a couple of nice sites that just might lend you a hand.

And this is the end I point at things I want to die.

Mass Shooting Tracker—Since 2013, this site has tracked mass shootings defined as “four or more people shot in one event.”  The site owners feel that most mass shootings don’t make the news because not enough people die to trigger the media feeding frenzy.  So if three people are shot, but only one dies, they still track it as a "mass shooting".

The Trace—This site was set up under the belief, similar to Mass Shooting Tracker above, that a lack of information is holding back solid reporting on gun violence in the U.S.  “We take it as our mission to address that information deficit through daily reporting, investigations, analysis, and commentary on the policy, politics, culture, and business of guns in America.”

Enjoy!

*This post does not do that, and thus does not count.  Nice try!