What to do?

I could come up with five different things to write about. I could talk about my son not being able to swallow his pill. I could talk about getting ran over by my kids' pigs when I tried to weigh them the other day. Or I could come up with some cute little Christmas poem or something. But why? We all know what is on our minds the last few days. And frankly, the more a problem gets talked about, the higher chance that something will get done about it. So let's talk about the mass shootings that seem to be in the news every other week. I remember watching the news the day after the latest shooting, at Sandy Hook Elementary, and some expert said "In fairness, we have to realize that these shootings are still rare." What? Rare? Rare for whom, Iraq? This is America, we should expect more from ourselves. If twice a year you walk outside and find that someone has egged your vehicle, that's pretty rare. I mean, it's only twice a year, right? Every six months. But it's twice a year too much. That expert should go talk to one of the parents of the victims. I'll bet "rare" doesn't matter to them. Okay, now for the 800 pound elephant in the room- gun control. Any person with a decent IQ knows that something has to be done. The question is what? First let me address the argument that more gun owners need to carry their guns in public. Um, we've had that. It was called the Old West, and there was still violence. Besides, I know plenty of people that have their license to carry firearms. For instance, my sister has a license to carry a pistol. I love my sister dearly, but I can't think of one instance where I'd be comfortable with her carrying a gun. And in no way, shape or form would I ever want her engaging in a gun battle with innocent people standing around. "But Shannon, if the principal would've had a gun none of this may have happened." Oh shut up, you're beig stupid. Tell you what- the next time you see a cop (And I mean a real cop in a real city, not some local redneck that is too lazy for a real job) stop them and ask them if they would be comfortable with one shooter on a scene, or several shooters shooting at each other on a scene. More guns and more flying bullets are not the answer, I promise. Very few people in this world can calmly and accurately shoot a gun while being shot at. And chances are, you aren't one of them. With all of that beig said, I've got guns in my house. I enjoy shooting them, and enjoy letting my son shoot. I wouldn't for a second think about getting rid of my guns. But for the life of me, I can't come up with one single reason why anyone other than law enforcement and military personel should have an assault rifle. Now Connecticut, the state where the last mass shooting occured, already has an assault rifle ban. So we know that banning assault rifles won't solve the problem 100%. And anyway, more than three million Americans already own the AR-15, the rifle that was used at Sandy Hook, the theatre in Colorado, and the mall shooting in Oregon a week or two ago. You are never going to get everyone to turn over guns that they already have. But you can stop making the gun itself. And you can make stores like Academy, Dick's Sporting Goods and Gander Mountain stop selling them. Oh, you'll still be able to buy one, but it will be on the black market and it'll cost you twice as much as it does now. You'll still have people owning them, but it will be a far less number of people. I've heard the argument that people who want to hurt a bunch of people at one time can still do it with bombs, fire, etc. And yes, that's true. But building a bomb takes a process. You have time to think about what you are doing, to calm down, to get caught or talked down by a loved one. It takes the temporarily insane offender out of play for the most part. Speaking of being talked down by a loved one- I think this is where things will have to change mostly. We as a nation are going to have to understand something. It has never been harder to be a teenager, a father, a provider, a leader, etc. in this country. We all struggled to fit in as a teenager, but not like these kids today struggle. If you aren't rich, physically fit, have great hair, the latest phone, damn good looking and sexually active in today's world, you are an outcast. You are behind the times. As a father, if your kids aren't wearing the latest styles, if your wife isn't driving a nice vehicle, if your family doesn't live in the nicest house on the block, you aren't doing enough. You aren't considered successful. You can put yourself up on a pedastal and act like you don't care about some of these things if you want to, but you'd be lying to yourself. And whether or not it's right to care about these things isn't the point. The point is, this kind of peer pressure is only going to keep getting worse and worse. Which means depression, drug abuse, and people just plain snapping from frustration is going to keep escalating. We have to start taking mental health seriously, understand that depression is a real thing and that it doesn't mean we are weak minded, and start noticing the signs in loved ones who are going through a tough time. We have to stop talking to each other on Facebook and pick up the damn phone. Slow down, have a conversation with someone, drink a beer with them, whatever. There is a saying that will apply more and more to us, especially men, from here on out- Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it.