Let\u2019s talk about guns, because I think we have to right now.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard talk over the last 10 years about the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. Let\u2019s remember that things were very different in 1791 when the Constitution was originally drafted and that the amendment was included to provide for a well regulated militia to protect free states rather than a standing army. Some might consider ICE that militia, but they\u2019d be wrong because ICE is obviously not well-regulated.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard from friends about their need for a gun to either protect their families or for purposes of hunting. It should be noted that the risk of a shooting in a home with a firearm increases two or three times, with the rate of suicide increased by five times. An AR-15 is commonly employed for killing feral pigs, varmints and medium-size game. No one has yet suggested their use on Staten Island turkeys, thank G-d.<\/p>\n
Approximately 46,000 to 48,000 deaths in the United States are gun related. That\u2019s about 130 deaths every day. In 2025, there were 233 school shootings. You know the names of some of the more infamous\u2026Parkland, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook. Some folks suggested that teachers be armed and trained to ward off these shootings. As a teacher, I can assure you, that\u2019s a really bad idea. <\/p>\n
Alex Jones said the kids at Sandy Hook were \u201ccrisis actors,\u201d not victims. He paid $1.5 billion in defamation suits for that lie.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m quoting these facts because the last time I wrote about an ICE shooting, people commented that I was stating my opinion. So, what I\u2019ve just written is data based. Now, I\u2019ll state my opinion.<\/p>\n
It appears to me that Congress has been shockingly slow to pass any meaningful gun legislation since 1999 and Columbine. I understand that the NRA fills politicians pockets, so I\u2019ll ask the question again: Is whatever you\u2019re receiving worth the life of even one child?<\/p>\n
Yes, some people need guns to either provide food for their families, or protect themselves from infestations or even perhaps protect themselves from intruders. Of course, if you safely store your gun away in a lock box, and have to open the box and load your weapon, you might be dead before you can use it. And the danger it poses to family members is equally concerning.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 24, federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who administered to veterans. Alex was trying to prevent them from arresting a woman. According to documented evidence, agents dragged him away from her, threw him to the ground, pepper sprayed him and then shot him five times. Alex had been carrying a gun, which he had a permit for, that was taken away from him before he was shot.<\/p>\n
So, where was the \u201cimminent danger\u201d I keep hearing about, that was the reason for Renee Good\u2019s shooting? Alex was already on the ground. He had been sprayed. He no longer had a weapon. What was the reason to kill him? Did the agents feel that, even unarmed, on the ground, sprayed, he posed a threat to the group of them?<\/p>\n
\u201cImminent danger\u201d was used to justify Renee Good\u2019s death. In all, so far, there have been 35 people killed by ICE agents. Agents who are not police, who are not law enforcement agents, but are there specifically to enact laws dealing with immigration. And, last I looked, protest was still legal in the United States. Maybe that\u2019s why we keep hearing that these protestors posed a threat, even though it\u2019s now obvious that they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Online, as well as invoking Ashli Babbitt, who was shot while breaking into the Capitol building on January 6th, I see the name Laken Riley. She was a 22 year old nursing student who was killed while jogging by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela who, subsequently, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Commenters ask where our moral outrage was when she was killed and why we so publicly mourn the deaths of Good and Pretti. They also wonder why we \u201ccheered\u201d the death of Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m aware that folks on both sides don\u2019t have the same news sources. Maybe ours just stressed that she was killed and not that it was an immigrant who killed her because maybe that\u2019s not important. Maybe the status of a killer isn\u2019t as important as the death of the person they killed. Maybe instead of using somebody\u2019s status to make your point about immigrants, you should be mourning their death. And, we didn\u2019t cheer when Charlie Kirk was killed. We just didn\u2019t elevate him to sainthood because, by all accounts, he didn\u2019t deserve it. <\/p>\n
Arizona AG Kris Mayes suggested that Arizona\u2019s existing \u201cStand Your Ground \u201c law could allow residents to use lethal force against ICE agents that they feel threatened by. If I were ICE, I\u2019d read the room. When the Governor of Minnesota calls out the National Guard, you\u2019ve overstepped your bounds.<\/p>\n
So, again, let me ask\u2026is it worth the lives of countless people, 130 a day, just so you can have a weapon in your possession that, hopefully, you\u2019ll never have to use? That will make you feel safe and secure while men in masks are wandering the streets, shooting people because they feel like it? Is that what security feels like? I don\u2019t think so.<\/p>\n
We need to keep an eye on the border. We need to protect children from harm or death. And, finally, we need better gun legislation now.<\/p>\n
Hold those magnificent grey heads high. <\/p>\n
Comments may be submitted to \u201cTalk To The Old Guy\u201d on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s talk about guns, because I think we have to right now. I\u2019ve heard talk over the last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7684,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-126271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}