The path we took leads here.

"Guns don't kill people, people do,"
 We have all heard it, and many more.  Pro-gun is as American as rodeo's and college football. 

The gun issue has its own amendment--the second.
The first is 

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." 

The second is

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Interestingly, the amendment never mentions guns or firearms specifically.  They could be bearing anything from pocket knives, pitchforks, beany-flips, hunting rifles, muskets, slingshots, hand grenades or dirty bombs.  Arms is vague, and back when this was written, most people didn't even own a firearm and the usual firearm was a single shot packed just before taking a shot.  Soldiers used bayonets and tomahawks more frequently.  Less than 15% of the population owned guns at that time.

The purpose of the amendment was more to prevent the rise of a fascist government or the invasion by another country than to put firearms in the hands of every man, woman and child.

A well-regulated militia--the part that never makes it on the bumperstickers--implies the militia is-well---regulated.  It's organized.  Its members are known and some sort of training occurred.  The National Guard comes to mind, or a reserve.

In the late 80's there were a lot of militias.  They were not well regulated--as the capital of my home state can attest.  Everyone had a relative in a militia back then.  And while stories of black helicopters and groups building bunkers is now comedically portrayed in movies, there was a lot of fear--both of the government and of the militias.  The members spoke in NRA bumper sticker and wore camo to Walmart and bought lots of ammo and beef jerky and bottled water.  I was invited more than once to join one, presented like they needed Sarah Connors type females to fight for a free future, but with paper pamphlets with illustrations that combined the art of 1950's Betty Crocker and the appeal of Phyllis Schafly.  If their war had happened, I would have been shot right after the militia won.

This time was definitely when the NRA's message started overwhelming our history.  From 1620 to 1836, those guns made in the America were constructed one at a time by a gunsmith.  They were as good as that gunsmith, and not cheap.  Every little laborer was not packing heat.

Samuel Colt was first to mass-produce a revolver which was patented in 1836.   Guns aren't hooked to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  They are hooked to the Industrial Age.  If a good gunsmith could live a comfortable life making good guns one at a time--the owner of a gun factory could make himself into a tycoon.

http://business.time.com/2012/12/18/americas-gun-economy-by-the-numbers/

 The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) was founded in Virginia in 1871.

In 1975, the NRA-ILA, the lobbying arm of the NRA was started.  It is now one of, if not the most powerful lobby affecting our government. 

But politics alone did not create our gun-heavy, violence prone situation.  After reconstruction, we continued to move West, and we continued to find ways to make large quantities of things more cheaply through improved technology.  Things like 10 cent western novels and true crime novels--and America loved the gunslinger books.

When silent movies started, those same subjects, high drama, high violence--frequently called "shoot-em ups" were the rage------and still are.

It is estimated that 47% of U.S. households own guns.

Over 5 million U.S. citizens are members of the NRA.

Over 13.5 billion dollars revenue from guns and ammunition in U.S. in one year.

Over 229 billion dollars spent on the effects of gun violence in a year.

There are over 310 million firearms estimated to be in this country but less than 150,000 currently registered.

 http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/02/americas-gun-business-by-the-numbers.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/upshot/compare-these-gun-death-rates-the-us-is-in-a-different-world.html?_r=0

So, we went from less than 15% gun ownership when we built this country and its 2nd amendment to 47% gun ownership after we let the NRA lobby our lawmakers so heavily starting in 1975.

But the NRA is not the only For-profit fear monger with the ear of our lawmakers.

http://time.com/3984453/defense-contractors-lobbying/

Military contractors (53 different ones) spend millions on lobbying for increasing our budget toward defense spending despite the USA spending nearly 3x the amount of the next big spender (China) and more than all the others combined.

We cut social programs and tighten our belts to buy more weapons to store--or, god-forbid--use.  We could easily destroy the human life on this planet several times over without making another thing, but he need to keep building and stockpiling because the profit is in the making.

In 2012, I heard a podcast about "lonesome George", a 102 year old Galapagos Turtle, and the last of his subspecies.  It was one of the saddest stories I had heard, but not because of what they said or how they said it.  Empathy kicked in, and I realized that we humans WILL eventually have our own "Lonesome George".

Right now, it's hard to envision except on TV.  We have swarmed over the surface of the planet, sucking up resources, creating trash, fouling water both over and under the land.  We destroy other species for parlor decorations, facebook posts and fashion statements.  Our leaders are so far from where most of us live our lives that the 98% of us that are flailing about trying to survive and find our purpose are in a continuous low-level state of anxiety because of our own powerlessness and feared worthlessness.

We take our food money to buy guns, then use our guns to take money to buy food PLUS those highly advertised things that will prove we aren't worthless.

We drink and get high to mask that anxiety.

We search for hope--at church, at shrink, at retreat--where we can find something to take away that sourceless fear.

Or we watch a good thriller,  read a shoot'em up, do some target practice.

Because, what is a gun if not a symbol of power.  With power we are safe.

At least Lonesome George was not the author of his species demise.

Alas--that was us humans, also.

Don't shoot anyone.

Sitting on the porch

When I was a child, we regularly visited my parents friends that lived in an old bungalow on a basement apartment.  There was a porch and a porch swing and you could see the river while swinging.  I don’t remember an adult sitting in the swing, and was told to get off regularly, but always ended back on the swing, perhaps a sign of a 4 year old’s mind.  I loved that porch although I’m guessing that swing was 1 step from falling apart.

My grandmother had a porch that was enclosed, with strange windows that dropped into the lower wall and then were raised in winter using cords in the frame.  There was a manual water pump on the front porch that worked for quite a while after its need was gone, much to the joy of grandchildren and the chagrin of the person cleaning up the water we periodically dumped on the floor.  It eventually lost its function, the rubber apparently retired. 
There was no swing, but there was a rocking chair and it was a favorite place when visiting, or when reading or when just staring down at the fields across the road.  It was also a great place for snapping beans and shelling peas and removing cherry pits.

I now have a porch because those other porches convinced me of the importance of a porch for my soul’s comfort and delight.  It is a place of great greenness and color and light in the summer and wonderful breezes and smells in spring and crisp fall leaves and evening warmth.  And in winter, it provides a bit of comfort to stray cats and other creatures that don’t have the ability to hibernate.

Most houses now have a porch, although it is frequently not big enough for more than a tiny chair.  I don’t see many people setting on them.  Perhaps it is the speed we live our lives a that prevents this meditative practice.  Or maybe sitting there, where neighbors might walk by and wave…or not wave is too indicative of the disconnection people have from the people closest too them geographically.  Or maybe it’s the way the new porches are made, small, neat, architecturally pleasing but without a place to scribble with chalk or plant seeds in spring or lay yard tools when tired.  Our houses are so perfect these days, so without personality, so serious, and soulless.

Years ago, my first house had a single tiny bathroom.  The house had been splendidly decorated in late disco sparkle.  It was a perfectly coiffed little thing—except for a blue plastic radio toilet paper holder. 

I hated that toilet paper holder, but buying the little house made me unerringly broke for several years so it continued to serve its purpose valiantly.

On day, a friend told me that he loved that radio—that houses should not be so serious and homeowners should understand that they were a place to live, not a museum.  Wisest thing he ever said to me.

So while my neighbors decorate a chair that will never be sat on in honor of Halloween, while they spend every spare moment mowing and trimming and pulling—removing trees that make it harder to mow that perfect football field of grass, while they cover themselves in sunscreen and bug repellant and wear huge hats and face masks while pruning and weeding and spraying, I sit on the porch, rocking, reading, listening to the sounds of windchimes and bird calls and wind streaming through leaves and feel---happy?  Safe?  Relaxed?

I guess I just feel at home.

Just me and the weeds and bugs and little varmints that share this space—we are all at home.

At home on the earth, part of earth, sharing a little peace and contentment in that one point in space and time.

I highly recommend a porch.