I want to take your guns.
There. I said it.
I’m so sick of American gun culture. My husband and I lived in England for a year, where firearms were all but banned, and for our entire time there, there was only one shocking stabbing at a Liverpool mall.
Personally, if not one single gun existed in this country, I’d be thrilled. At one point I said: military and police? Fine. Hunters with rifles? Fine. I know most gun violence comes from handguns, and even though I read about more heartbreaking accidents or suicides than I do about a handgun saving someone, it now seems obvious that individuals see them as a sacred right. So fine — handguns, carefully registered and stored.
But automatic weapons? Militia-style firearms? You don’t need an AR-15 to kill a deer. If you think you need an assault rifle to protect yourself from the government, zombies, whatever, you need to go to a psychiatrist. I can’t buy fireworks, recreational marijuana, even spray paint in Chicago, but somehow, the bodies of men, women and even little children can pile up and the sales of these kinds of weapons continue. It makes me sick.
— Eileen Aldrin, Chicago
