When someone shot off fire crackers in our neighborhood on Friday night, I thought the noise was gunfire. I'd heard similar sounds earlier in the week and posted the concern to our online neighborhood forum--which triggered (pun intended) a host of responses. Many people, like me, thought they'd heard gunfire.
The next day I ran into our neighbor who manages the forum. It turns out he's had guns all his life, having received his first weapon when he was eight, and he still wasn't convinced that the sounds were fire crackers; in fact, he'd been pretty sure at the time that he'd heard gunfire.
Which made me wonder--if an experienced, long-time gun owner is no better than I at telling the difference between fire crackers and gun shots, how reliable is anyone's judgment about firearms? We're led to believe that responsible gun owners are trained appropriately in handling weapons, but what does this really mean when something unexpected happens?
I don't think it means much. When someone shoots a gun, the circumstances are rarely planned or orderly. Chaos and confusion reign. Imagine if all of us who heard gunfire Friday night raced out with our weapons to take matters in our own hands. This is what the NRA envisions?
No thanks. The fewer of us who wield these powerful machines, the better. Support any and all restrictions; it's the only sane way forward.
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