Are we selfish?

 Selfish is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as follows:

(of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for others; concerned chiefly with one's own personal profit or pleasure. 

With everything going on in this country today; with everyone concerned for themselves; with politicians and voters alike speaking out on "their" rights; we have come to a crossroads in the history of our country. 

Thoughts and prayers are great but they don't stop the brutal truth of mass shootings. I want doesn't mean you always get your way regardless of what you think your rights are. 

I watch people form opinions using opinions instead of facts because they don't know who to believe. I see people question what is going on and then turn their backs and state to whoever is listening, "This doesn't concern me." But truthfully, it does concern them along with every other person in this country.

Twenty two years ago, I watch footage of two teenagers brutally shoot and kill 13 and wound 21 people at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and was horrified. At the time, politicians and parents alike wanted something done. Nineteen years later, the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida hit even closer to home. Two days ago a gunman walked in to a store in Boulder, Colorado and killed 10 people after another shooting in Atlanta where six more were killed. Nothing seems to have gotten better because it is still happening. 

I own one gun. It is a double barrel shotgun owned by my great, great grandfather. You cannot buy shells for it. They must be handmade. It hangs on a wall in my home. I believe the last time it was used was on the 4th of July when I was 9 and my grandfather let us fire it. I ended up on my butt. 

My Daddy also owned a gun. He served 20 years in the military and was an expert marksman. I never saw my dad use that gun but I did see him clean it and take care of it. It was not locked up because we grew up with a healthy respect for what my father would do to one of us if he ever caught one of us messing we it. We were not even curious about it. We knew it would kill people. We had much better things to do.

If you own a gun and hunt, I do not have a problem with that. If you own a handgun and like to go to the range; no problem there either. I do have a problem when you will not allow some time of regulation to try and control these military weapons which were designed for one purpose and one only: to kill people. 

To me, trying to use the second amendment to the Constitution as a right to have a weapon designed for military use as a right is pure selfishness. If you study history, you know the history of our military and when the Revolution was fought, we had no standing army. We, as a country, had to use militia, normal farmers and tradespeople who agreed to help our the Revolutionary cause. This was a guarantee they would be able to keep their guns to use if the militia was needed. 

I wonder and asked myself all the time how to change this? Can this thought process be changed? My son, who believes he has a right to any kind of gun he wants, thinks we need better regulation. He said we could begin with better, more thorough background and mental health checks. I agree. 

But we need to do something. I wonder when the selfishness of humans goes away. Does it happen as more people die or when someone they love becomes the victim? 21 years and it is still happening. I guess we haven't learned much.