If anyone has the original ARF url or the paper which this twat writes for please let me know.
I did write her a letter.
Hello,
I got a lot of response from my assault weapon opinion/edtiorial article
that ran in our paper earlier this month.
I realize that some of you may not be from Texas (I noticed that a few
emails were from other states with the sign-off signatures at the bottom.)
I have been born and raised in Texas, Dallas to be exact. I did NOT mean for
my article to indicate THAT ALL GUNOWNERS are bad and evil. I know it
depends who is holding the weapon.
But after the Tyler incident, I began having flashbacks to the night my
friend died.
It was 11 years ago. We had just graduated high school two weeks before, a
group of us were going to a party for high school 2004 graduates near
downtown Dallas. We were just going to have fun. We were teenagers. We
didn't bother nobody. We pulled into the parking lot and started to walk to
the party. Well there were some other teenagers in the parking lot, stealing
a car. As we walked to the party my friend happened to look over and saw
them. He could recognize one of the guys from our neighborhood. The kid
pulled out a weapon and began firing. It hit two of my friends. It hit one
in his main artery in his leg he lived. My other friend was not so lucky.
He took a bullet in the back and a bullet in his side through his ribs. He
died protecting me. I was right next to him. It could have been me. I held
him as the ambulance was the way. He died on the operating hospital at
Parkland Hospital (the same hospital President John F. Kennedy was taken
to). Three weeks after graduation we buried him. We were just going to have
fun. FUN,,,,FUN,,, we were teenagers. He was scheduled to leave later that
summer for a full football scholarship to a 4-year university in Louisiana.
I vowed that day I would never ever go near a gun. (and yes I have undergone
years of counseling and prayer to move forward. It doesn't make the pain any
less painful though)
I realize that everyone with guns is not a bad person and some people do
feel safer with them. The point I was trying to make is I don't. I sometimes
wonder and ask myself what if guns had never been invented. Would my friend
still be alive. Sure the other guy could have ran and had a fist fight with
the guys or even try to cut them with a knife. We might have been able to
run into the club by the time the guys got near us if that had been the
case. My friends and I couldn't out run a bullet no matter how fast we ran.
When I want to talk to my friend. I have to go to a grave. A grave. I can't
call him up and say hi. I can't say let's go get desert or watch a movie.
I am not nieve enough to know that guns will never go away. It's like saying
rapists will go away. It doesn't mean that I have to like it.
The problem is guns wind up in the hands of the wrong people. If we didn't
have guns they couldn't wind up in their hands though.
My father has friends who own guns and other weapons. When his friends start
pulling them out to look at, load, prepare their bullets and other things I
leave the room. A friend of a friend in college was raised around guns his
whole life. He pulled out a pistol one day and played with it like it was a
children's toy plastic gun. I couldn't get out of the room fast enough. He
almost blew off part of his foot. He was twirling it around and stuff.
While I realize some of you may be like, well tough...your friend died. They
meant a lot to me. I don't expect everyone to understand. You can't
understand unless you have been there. Unless you've experienced the same
thing.
I would also like to note that this was not an article that ran on our front
page. It was an editorial/opinion/column. Which means just that. It was my
opinion. I understand you may not agree with my opinion. THAT'S OK. Can you
imagine what life would be like if everyone never disagreed or had
differences in opinion. When differences in opinion are expressed in a
logically and rational manner new things can be established. It's called
compromise. It's called seeing the other person's point of view.
I thank you for your responses. Granted, all of them were opposing mine, but
I didn't expect everyone to have the same opinion as mine. But please keep
in mind, it's my opinion.
Everyone in America is granted the right to voice their opinions. Whether
others may think they are wrong or not. My dad, uncles and countless of his
friends fought for that right in the Vietnam War. I got lucky my dad came
back.
For the record....I am considered by my collegues, friends, and family a
(and consider myself to be a) very open-minded person.
I would like to say something to a couple of you...you know who you
are...while I respect your right to voice your opinion, you do not have to
belittle me with disrespecting, vulgar comments. The rest I thank you for
your opinions and the tasteful way they were presented.
Sherry Long