Gun Control--Or Lack Thereof by Jayne Magee

     We had a homicide in my neighborhood yesterday.   A man three streets away from our house stabbed his girlfriend and slit her throat.  Then he was on the run, and the manhunt took all day.  It was well into the evening before they caught him.  My girlfriend called to tell me, so I immediately got up and locked all of my doors.  To be quite truthful, I was immersed in one of many many hobbies, and didn't think anything more about it until late afternoon when Gary called to ask me how I was.  As per usual, Gary is always out of town and out of state when these major events occur.

       For those of you who haven't been to my home, I live in a house filled with guns.  I can't even tell you how many guns Gary has.  There is always a pistol in the night stand (unloaded of course, with the clip not in the gun).  I grew up in a family of non gun owners and non hunters. I doubt very much if my Dad or my brother ever shot a gun in their lifetimes.  So guns are not something that I am comfortable using.  Gary has tried to teach me how to shoot a gun on two separate occasions.  The first time I was about 8 months pregnant with Meghan, our oldest.  He took me out in the back yard in Clear Run and handed me a rifle to shoot.  The kick from the rifle literally knocked me on my ass.

        So for our second shooting lesson many years later, he had me use a pistol at the local indoor shooting range.  Still in PTSD from the other gun lesson, I jerked the revolver and somehow managed to shoot the electric line to the entire indoor shooting range.  The whole place went dark.  I was politely asked never to return.  So that is the extent of my experiences with guns.

         Therefore when this this deranged murderer was on the loose yesterday, I did not rush up to either the bedroom to get the pistol or the basement gun safe to grab a rifle.  I just kept making jewelry.  I wasn't anxious or afraid--I figured that he was long gone, and he was.  They found him somewhere up in the woods near Penfield.  Thank goodness.  

          Am I against women owning guns?  No.  However, I can never see me using a gun to defend myself given my history.  Having said that, if someone broke into my house and started attacking one of my kids, I probably would lunge for a gun or a knife or maybe a knitting needle and take my chances.  My oldest texted this to me this morning, "You are never too old to learn how to shoot a gun. I'm sure Dad could find one that is right for you. But then you have to be willing to use it and not let it get turned on you in an emergency. Who are we kidding. Mom--you would pray with a criminal. Make them soup and tell them that they are better than this life."  To which I say, "Amen!"