fresh vegetables and guns

“I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.”
― Frank Lloyd Wright

Picking Tomatoes and targets

Bethany and I visited a farm outside Columbia MO last Saturday where Bethany discovered a hoard of fresh tomatoes and I discovered a hoard of historic rifles.

I'm a typical European in that I take strict gun control for granted. By American standards I know my politics and personal beliefs on how society should function makes me about three miles further left of President Obama! :)

Because of that and also because of my job I tend to meet and befriend Americans who approve of my position. As it always makes me uncomfortable to live only among those who will agree with me, I was delighted to meet John last week and hear him explain his view on the second amendment. He did so in a reasonable way with some compelling arguments to support his position. Then he graciously showed me his extensive collection of firearms. It did help that he had a small museum's worth of 20th century military hardware to woo this European history buff. I was stunned to see an 1898 Mauser,(German WW1 vintage rifle) a Lee Enfield that my grandfather would have carried into World War 1, a Garrant and a M4 that Bethany's grandfather could have carried in World War 2, a WW2 era Russian sniper rifle, and the list could go on and on.

The result was a day of stepping into history and firing weapons straight out of my history books, while Bethany collected a treasure trove of fresh tomatoes that we've been using all week.

Despite the pleasure of the experience and the reasonableness of John's position I haven't been converted to the idea that there should be no controls on what kind of weapons are easily purchased and the ease by which almost anyone can buy a high powered semi-automatic rifle. But I did see another side of the debate. The serious, safe collector who knows both the value and the potential danger of firearms and treats them accordingly is a compelling argument in favor of finding some way to allow our reasonable and qualified neighbors to continue to pursue their passion while also finding a way to make it more difficult for the less stable of our neighbors to get their hands on deadly weapons.

What do you think of my European perspective on your American world?