Help Me Understand

So, I don't really know how to talk about this, but with most things, I tend to feel better once I had thought them out in writing.

This time I am talking about guns. 

Growing up I can't say I ever thought a lot about guns. I mean, I knew they were out there and knew that some of my family members had them, but I never saw them. This proves the "out of sight, out of mind" theory I guess. And because I never saw them I am guessing that means that in any houses I was in that had a firearm in them, the owner of the weapon was careful to store them properly. If not locked up, they were put away somewhere properly. 

There has, however always been something about guns. Even though I never saw them (except in media) I was always afraid of them. In my mind, something that has that kind of power shouldn't just be out and about. There should be no easy access to something that basically has the sole purpose to kill some other living thing. 

A gun can't be used to slice a piece of bread. Or hang a picture. And unless you are a trained professional of some kind, it's really not something that should be accessed or touched every day. Members of my family hunt, but the rest of the time the gun is safely stored away from those who don't know how to use it. 

I guess maybe because I don't have a lot of experience with them, I just don't get the passion behind them. I don't understand why owning and being able to carry a gun is more important than the lives of other people. Living in Canada, I know I have a different perspective. I know I didn't grow up in a culture of guns. I didn't grow up believing that the only things that mattered are my personal freedoms. 

I just don't understand how someone can look at the parents of kids who were murdered in a school shooting and instead of changing gun laws, decide that the real focus should be on keeping kids away from drag queens. 

We live in a world, where just a few hours away from us, it is easier to buy an assault rifle than it is for someone to get an abortion. Where Walmart sells expanded clips and in some states, you don't even need proper ID to buy a gun. 

How does any of this make sense? The studies show that the average news cycle lasts five days. This means that no matter how terrible something is, the news media essentially moves on from it within those five days. As of two days ago, and since what happened in Uvalde, there have been an additional 33 mass shootings. And yet, the governments in the states where guns are more protected than children are, the legislators are dealing with not allowing people to say the word "gay". They are more worried about banning abortion than they are protecting the children who have been born. 

None of this will ever make sense to me. 

And if the ease to buy weapons is more important to you than keeping those weapons out of the hands of people who are hunting humans, you will never make sense to me either. 

And then there is the whole legal guns don't kill people defense. The Uvalde shooter bought the AR-15 openly and legally. I know that you can't get rid of guns entirely. I know that there will always be underground markets for that sort of thing. But more recently, these guns are purchased openly and legally. That needs to be addressed.