(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . I carry a firearm daily. Second Amendment rights are not absolute. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-04 As a Floridian, I have carried a concealed firearm for years, everywhere, except where prohibited by law or a business’s policy. Hanging in my office is a 100 percent American-made Gadsden flag. I once voted solely for Republicans, including twice for President Donald Trump, and once for Gov. Ron DeSantis (in 2018). I was once a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. I have publicly spoken at gun owners' groups. I once owned an AR-15. And I'm here to tell you that Second Amendment mythologies and revisionist history continue to result in needless firearm-related deaths, suffering and trauma. If law-abiding gun owners do not start publicly speaking up, we cannot expect to find solutions to our nation's unacceptable levels of gun-related violence. I understand and appreciate why gun owners — the large majority of whom are law-abiding — are reluctant to risk the slings and arrows of the Republican Party, the Fox/Breitbart/Alex Jones/Tucker Carlson conspiracy theorists and pundits, and, perhaps, even their friends and family. I ask gun owners this, respectfully: Which is more uncomfortable — the pain of potential ostracization, or the pain of a nonstop loop of stochastic and targeted terrorism, aided and abetted by an endless supply of handguns and rifles, the latter often equipped these days with 30 bone-shattering rounds per magazine? If you're a parent with school-age children, the fear of a Columbine, Parkland or Uvalde-type event is impossible to fully suppress. A little over a month ago, in Jacksonville (Florida's most-populous city), we saw a ghastly mass shooting perpetrated by a delusional neo-Nazi yearning for the resurrection of the mythical Aryan super-race; in addition to taking his own life, he made his contribution to the ever-growing tabulation of gun-death statistics gun-dead, murdering Anolt Joseph "A.J." Laguerre, 19; Jerrald Gallion, 29; and Angela Michelle Carr, 52. Such a violent death — from machines with the sole purpose of killing so swiftly that their victims are rarely allowed time for the dignity of final breaths — is uniquely American. A victim of any age is of course traumatic for their bereaved, grieving families, but the death of a teenager qualifies as yet another Molochian offering. Jacksonville's mayor, Donna Deegan, took office in July; it took less than two months for her administration to be christened with the blood of gunned-down innocents. Responding to a mass shooting is a rite of passage for every elected executive of virtually every jurisdiction in America. Deegan now joins the club of elected officials whose membership increases daily. And what about our governor? As a husband and father of three, he doesn't want to be surrounded by too many guns himself, even as he peddles the inane hypothesis that more guns make us more secure, which I suspect wasn't part of the curricula of his Yale and Harvard Law educations. DeSantis signed a permitless carry law earlier this year, and would surely sign an open permitless carry law if our legislature passes it. I'm relieved he thinks that anti-Black murder (not "racially-motivated" murder, whatever that means) is "unacceptable," but I wish he could have mustered up even half the righteous indignation he exhibited toward Dr. Anthony Fauci at the recent 2024 candidates debate aired by Fox News. Oh well. Google the name of a municipality name, and odds are the next word in the search will be "shooting"; if that word does not appear, consider that place very fortunate, and pray it remains that way. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that your town or city will remain unaffected by this bloodshed forever. Oh, for all the flack that Democrat-majority cities receive from the right, Jacksonville has long been the most-populous GOP-controlled city. Even with the recent election of Deegan, a Democrat, 13 of the 19 city council seats are held by Republicans; the local sheriff, supervisor of elections and state attorney, among other local elected officials, are also Republicans. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/4/2196183/-I-carry-a-firearm-daily-Second-Amendment-rights-are-not-absolute?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/