Society is paying a very heavy price for gun ownership

Evil was projected into a Denver cinema via the barrel of a firearm.

What is it about firearm ownership that provides a method to unleash destruction and death on the innocent?

Firearms don’t kill people. It is people using them to create a God-like persona in order to allocate the right to live or die by the impact of bullet on skin.

Society allows the firearm ownership community a platform to create a climate of acceptance of having and using firearms for recreation while ignoring the inherent dangers of using these lethal weapons.

In light of the Denver cinema shooting Irish society should not be lulled into thinking that these incidents only happen in faraway countries.

While our firearm-owning community is small in size, the potential for a member within its ranks to run amok within a public setting exists.

The fact the firearms owners are allowed to blast away at the non-humans of society acts like a safety insulation blanket.

We can all relax as the pent-up aggression and physiological issues of firearms owners are projected onto non-human targets.

Firearm ownership draws in the flotsam of society, people searching for an identity and a way of expressing their view of how society should operate.

Within their cordite-soaked minds they see themselves as defenders of a free society.

For them, the solution to any problem they encounter can be found within a bullet casing.

Despite strict firearms laws, firearms, both legal and illegal flow like water through the veins of Irish society.

They are held by people that need the weight of a firearm to feel alive and are a gun-cock away from proving their macho credentials.

Guns are entrenched in society. Their existence is a reminder that we have created a lethal monster that can lash out at any time. By eliminating as many unnecessary avenues for firearms ownership society can protect itself.

Until that action is taken, bullets flying and people weeping will be the legacy of firearm ownership.

John Tierney

Campaigns Director

Association of Hunt Saboteurs

Dublin 1