The people in Texas say they need guns
to kill all the rattlesnakes and keep crooks on the run.
They say that guns are fun and their harm is minimal
But I say guns in the hands of madmen are criminal.
They say burglars and drug dealers might come to kill them;
but I say when they get cut off in traffic, they might want to use them.
They carry them around town in pockets and handbags, hatbands and jeans,
in places where children playing cowboys can find them with ease.
They think the government will crush them one day
and a six gun or magnum can keep them at bay.
But c'mon, the feds won't come in mini-coopers with guns!
They've got tanks, missiles, even drones that can ground
these fools deep if they want to put citizens down.
Like everything else in the state, old customs die hard;
but I say it's way past time for these guns to be barred.
© Gay Reiser Cannon * 4.24.14 * All Rights Reserved
i think that assault rifles are unnecessary in the hands of every day citizens...personally.
ReplyDeletei think that a psyche clearance should be mandatory.
i think that if your gun is used in the commission of a crime
there should be consequences.
of course these are all i think...ha
I can live with that -- but I wish we'd never had anything but rifles (the old fashioned kind) for the range and put them in an antiques cabinet when the range disappeared. Of course when everyone has one....people will buy them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's the people who own the guns that are the problem... I so agree, we've heard wayyy too many stories in the news about idiots leaving guns in easy to reach places and their kids find them... also, people are too damn quick to pick up guns over the smallest things... like the two men shot each other over who makes the best Kool-Aid... tsk tsk tsk
ReplyDeleteAgreed all around...do not understand the weight the NRA pulls to make it sound like it's fine the way it is; without rules is chaos.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone has lost their minds....guns are a problem!
ReplyDeleteI was amazed when I moved to the US how many guns there were and how easy it was to get a permit (yes I have one). I just wish there were more rigorous checks in place. I used to get road rage a lot in the UK but think twice about it over here, because you just never know how things can escalate.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that guns + drugs/alcohol/depression = dead people, and more people in jail which means higher taxes, broken families and about 45% of everything that is wrong with this republic.
ReplyDeleteso very true... we're not allowed to have guns over here in germany... and i think it's good cause they're used too quickly... i wouldn't feel safe anymore if i knew almost everyone would carry a gun around...
ReplyDeleteI would feel safer in Germany and pretty much everywhere else I've ever been except maybe Mexico these days.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough gun-laws are pretty liberal here... But they are limited to hunting rifles... And you have to keep your gun locked up... Otherwise you are fully responsible for what happens with your gun...
ReplyDeletewhat a sorry state of affairs...what's the need to keep a gun?....nice lines...
ReplyDeleteHear Hear. Guns breed guns in the same way that violence breeds violence. I simply cannot understant why so many Americans think they should carry a gun. Good topic, good poem.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with those who have guns to provide meat for their families (hunters)...but not to carry around on the streets.
ReplyDeleteCity people/country people. I grew up in the rural South, where guns are just a part of life. They are tools, not weapons, for the majority. My family are all hunters, and we eat what we shoot. My mother loved to hunt and eat squirrels. My children were raised on venison- I can't remember ever having a beef steak in the house in those days. Not one single member of the family has ever used a gun against another human in any way- we were taught better. Responsibility comes with gun ownership, and I agree they should not be in the hands of fools, but neither should baseball bats and big knives. It's a social problem, not a tool problem. Guns are demonized when the attention should be on the individual who is so disturbed that violence seems reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your saying that. (I did mean this just a little tongue in cheek...as Bjorn asked for). I agree with what you say. I was raised in the Texas Panhandle by people who worked the land. No one in my family ever owned a gun as far as I know, but they weren't opposed to them either. I suspect my grandfather had owned them before he moved to town and became a carpenter. I dated cowboys who had rifles and who hunted and had to humanely put down creatures with guns. But hoarding military weapons and using them not just for mass murders (although that is gruesome) but just showing off or getting drunk and getting mad. I went to the UK in 92. I stayed for 7 weeks. Right after I arrived a murder had been committed in Kent. The entire British Isles knew about it. Before I came home, the murderer was found, arrested, arraigned, tried and sent to jail! It was the only murder in that time period there. When I came home, I checked the number of murders (mostly by guns) in Tarrant County which includes my city of Arlington, and Ft. Worth Texas. There were over 300 murders and the few who had been arrested for the crimes were in holding waiting to be tried. Many were never caught. I have to think the difference is the gun laws.
Deletepretty nice blog, following :)
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you here!
DeleteI could do with fewer guns floating around public.
ReplyDeleteI wish it were so. Thank you.
DeleteWhen we lived in San Antonio, I as shocked to see guns in truck beds (seriously) and people drinking beer while driving… it is another country ! :) But, I do love Texas… it really does get under the skin and so many nice people…
ReplyDeleteThank you Margaret. It's a strange, strong, resilient, beautiful state with mostly fabulous good people, kind people, talented people. It's a place of art and architecture and lots and lots and lots of music from classical to blues, from funk to country, and always a thread of good time rock & roll.
Deletein the inner city of Cleveland lived an old lady with two teen aged daughters. One night at about dusk there was a noise at the window. Two men were coming through. While the girls hid, the mother came to the window with her gun and told the men she
ReplyDeletewould shoot them if they entered. They ran away.
some evil doesn't answer but to force, as sad as that it.
I know and realize that. I hear stories like that a LOT..and I guess we're past the point of return. I wish no one had them but the police.
DeleteNot living in a country were guns are the norm - I can't understand the need of the need of them.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I have seen 'real' guns is when on holiday in Germany.
Love your words BTW.
Anna :o]