An Open Letter to Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-50)

I recently found a post that contained the names of the people who interrupted yesterday's proceedings within the SCIF being used to question people involved in the current matter of Ukraine.  One of the names I found there was a representative of California, and because of that, I felt like I had a responsibility to reach out and let them know how I felt about their behavior.  While I have similar concerns with the other representatives who were there to interrupt the investigation, because Duncan Hunter lives here in California, I felt a more personal connection and wanted to write him a letter expressing my feelings about what he'd done.

No.  He isn't my current representative, and for that reason, I wasn't able to send him this letter (though I did try through his website: https://hunter.house.gov/contact#form_3F4F3585-C4B4-4800-9512-142CD7E3CF86 ).  Apparently he only accepts contact from within his own distract, (I certainly can't fault him for that.)  So, I had to resort to publishing my thoughts here.  This was not something I wanted nor intended to do; I had hoped to simply leave these thoughts in an e-mail to him and his team and leave the matter a private discourse between us both--assuming he was willing to offer a reply to my obvious criticism; (he might not have thought it warranted a reply, after all, though I did check the box asking for one.)

Still, he represents California; he stands as a pillar of who we, as Californians, are.  Certainly the concerns of his district are paramount, but in this particular instance, while he may have been representing the beliefs and concerns of a majority of his constituents, he was also acting in concert with the Republican Party--a national organization that has a greater reach outside of just his district here in California.  And for that reason, as a citizen of this country, and as a resident of California, I believe it's important to speak to my fellow Californian, because, in a way, I feel his actions spoke for me.

Dipping a Foot into the Deep End

You know how they say that you should do something that scares you every day?  Well, I may not do that -every- day, but lately I've been looking at myself and trying to find the things that actually make me happy.  It's not that I don't know how to be happy, of course, but what is it in life that actually makes me happy?

Being with John, of course--that's easy and a given, but everything else is sort of a mixed bag.  Even reading, which I love, isn't always easy.  For example, I've started reading The Library Book, but trying to get back to it has been...daunting.

Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turnin'

The song has nothing to do with what I want to talk about, but I needed a title for this post, and that song came to mind.  It’s been a while, again, but I’m here because some things have been banging around in my head.  And it’s time to put it in writing so maybe I’ll stop waking up in the morning wishing that I’d sit down and say it already.

For years we’ve been saying that we can’t do anything about these mass shootings.  We’ve got a constitutional amendment that prohibits us from making things better.  We can’t mess with perfection.  But if perfection is sitting by while innocent people get killed because we don’t do anything about it, then I think I’m done with “perfection.”

There will be those of you who say that gun laws and registration aren’t going to change anything.  Moreover, they’re going to make things worse.  And so far, you certainly aren’t wrong, because the gun laws we do have don’t seem to be working.  What this tells me is that maybe we need to look at this from a new perspective.

Maybe it’s time we look for new solutions to a problem which hasn’t been addressed because certain people on both sides of the aisle have been neglecting their responsibilities; it’s time we address the problems with gun ownership and gun violence in this country.  To say or do otherwise is an injustice to every life lost due to careless governance.

I don’t have all the answers, but at least I’m trying to find solutions.  And I’m no scientist or expert, but I know that reading about school shootings and mass shootings and church shootings and terrorist attacks isn’t going to change anything.  It is only when I stand up and say, “This isn’t right.  We need to change something,” that change can occur.

Our Second Amendment was written with the idea that each state would have a militia—a place where people would gather to learn about and teach about weapons and warfare and field medicine and how to ensure that people who are willing to stand up and fight for something are doing it to make a better place for everyone—not just some of us.  The militia was meant to serve as the first point of contact in emergencies—to be there when people in their state needed help.  And they were the first line of defense when anyone, including the federal government, sought to curtail the laws and rights of its citizens.

But rather than choosing to work with the mindset of a militia, we’ve got people touting the right of anyone and everyone to have weapons and use them, because it’s our “God-given right.”  Not even God in the Bible allowed everyone in the tribes to fight for Him.  He tasked his commanders with choosing those who would be given weapons.  And maybe it’s time that we took a page from religion and realize that not everyone is willing or able to handle the responsibility of having a weapon.

Maybe it’s time that we change how we look at gun ownership in America.

I’d like to leave that up to the States, of course, because that’s where the militia idea first started.  It seems fitting, then, that states should have the right to decide how to run and govern their militia.  But then you run into a lot of other problems on a federal level—especially when it comes to federal crimes and gun-smuggling across state lines (look at Chicago.)  But this is what I’m trying to say: it’s time we talked about this.

Because what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working.  And I know there are greater minds out there than my own who can look for a better solution than the antagonistic and morbid rhetoric we continue to hear every time another innocent life is lost due to gun violence.

And maybe we won’t get it right the first time; maybe we’ll have to try again.  But if we continue to do nothing, then I posit that we are no better than the people pulling the trigger and ending those innocent lives.