I’m a Southern woman who grew up with hunting guns. They are tools of killing and are to be treated with caution. I’m also someone who…
1. had a coworker point a loaded pistol at me in jest – a joke I didn’t find funny;
2. lived in the dorm (albeit years before) at Virginia Tech where the first murders happened;
3. sat beside a friend and held her hand as she cried for her dead 9-year-old son, killed by the stupidity of an adult who couldn’t be bothered to store a handgun properly;
4. stood beside the coffin of said 9 year old and tried to comfort his grandparents (also friends);
5. found out that there was a shooting in the high school my children attended, and was able to send them back the next day, the day after that, and so on.
We don’t let people operate a 2,000-pound car that has the potential to kill and maim without demonstration of competence and insurance. Why let people have tools designed to kill without the same minimum requirements? That is what a gun is — a tool to kill.