How I Stopped Hating Guns
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This winter I turned on the light on the nightstand and stared at the 45-70 rifle propped up in the corner of my bedroom. After thinking for a moment, I got up and put it in the living room. This was the first time I had a gun under my own roof, and I couldn’t get to sleep knowing it was there. I’ve been prone to depression all my life, and it just seemed to be tempting fate. Mind, I’m not suicidal, but I gave myself one night to be a big baby about it.
The gun is on loan from my handyman and friend, Paul. “We’re gonna redneck you right up,” he'd grinned months earlier, while we we worked together to slop out and rebuild the flood-ravaged downstairs of my rental property, on a dirt road in rural Vermont.
Frankly, it was a small step to rethink guns after it became clear that the government recognized no natural or legal check on its actions.
The summer 2023 deluge couldn't have come at a worse time. I had bought the house in foreclosure years ago, originally to give family members an affordable place to stay. Now I was about to move in. I was in the process of selling my primary residence near Burlington, and I had to make this place habitable fast.
Burlington blight
Paul is right about needing to redneck me up. I’ve been a city boy my whole life. . .
People who hate firearms simply haven't been raised to respect them. I was lucky enough to get that type of education in the environment where I was raised. Respect for safe handling is vital, but having a need for firearm as a tool (for protection against dangerous wildlife...whether rural or urban) then there's no context.
Generally, city folk and those w/o true father figures (+the feminization of our society, which is obvs. a recurring theme in our comments) don't have these educational opportunities, and in many cases are taught the opposite by their firearm-fearing parents.
I like the way you roll. My small pistol and dead-eye aim will likely never be needed but in these times who can know. So happy to see you writing for other venues. Always let us know when that happens so we can follow you, like the stalkers we are😄