Stephen King.
Famous Horror writer, publishing works such as "The Shining", "Misery", "Carrie", and "It" – just to name a few of the popular ones.
I picked up my first King novel at age 12. I’d just started watching horror films and you could say I’m a pretty big fan of his work. I read his novels like people were reading the "Twilight Saga." My 8th grade teacher had to wean me off of him because I wrote so much about his novels in class and put Marcus Zusak’s "The Book Thief" in my hands for a school project. It’s only applicable that I write about him almost 10 years later.
But this time. It’s not about a novel.
It’s about a story we’ve been writing as a nation. The setting? Oak Creek, Newtown Aurora, Orlando. Movie theaters, gas stations, colleges, nightclubs, clinics and churches. The protagonists and antagonists are both Americans. And the conflict is explained all too well in the statistics we see in the news.
Yes, this story is as frightening as it is overdone, but it seems that it’s not yet over.
Recent events have only made “guns” more relevant than ever.
Gun owner Stephen King adds his voice to the gun control debate. His words are intimate and create an atmosphere of unrest and wariness within the debate regarding both gun rights and gun control. He leaves us with striking insight on the reception of his first novel, our culture as a whole and what may solve these problems in the future.
King wrote “Getting it On” in high school -- later in his career he moved to rewrite this novel and publish it as “Rage” under the pseudonym Richard Bachman that covered the story of high school outcast Charlie Decker and the events following up to the day he takes a gun to school. I’ve never read the novel because it was later pulled from publication by King himself after it being linked to four high school shootings and a “possible accelerant” those young men. “Rage” was pulled from publication 20 years ago and yet over 170 shootings have occurred in 2016 in the United States alone.
Our country has been numb with loss. And we have never been so divided about what to do about it. In a state of separation, it possible to come together on a decision that ends this for good? King seeks to answer this.
“Guns” is passionately written, blunt, and thoughtful. Like King, I do believe we have a capacity to come together. As horrific as our story of gun violence in this nation has been, I do believe that there is a new chapter in store for us. I do believe that we will eventually see an end to the tragedies.
If you've ever given a thought about mass-shootings in confusion and disarray no matter your political background, I encourage you to give this blue state resident yet unapologetic gun-owning American a read.
But for now, here are 10 quotes from the essay itself:
1. "If I could wave a magic wand and have one wish granted, I’d wish for an end to world hunger… If, however, the god or genie who bestowed the magic wand told me my one wish had to do with American politics, I think I’d wave it and make the following proclamation:
“Every liberal in the country must watch Fox News for one year, and every conservative in the country must watch MSNBC for one year.”
….For the first month, the screams of “What is this (…) ???” would echo to high to the heavens. For the next three, there would be a period of grumbling readjustment as both sides of the political spectrum realized that, loathsome politics aside, they were still getting the weather, the sports scores, the hard news and the Geico Gecko. …Finally the viewers themselves might change. Not a lot; just a slide step or two away from the kumbayah socialists of the left and the Tea Partiers of the right. I’m not saying they’d recolonize the all-but-deserted middle, but they might close in on it a trifle."
2. "American politics has managed to catch itself in one of those fiendish Chinese finger pullers we used to buy in the dime store when we were kids, and as a result, two muscular capable hands can do no work…We’re like drunks in a barroom. No one’s listening because everyone is too busy thinking about what they’re going to say next, and absolutely prove that the current speaker is full of (…) when he squeaks."
3. "Liberals and gun control advocates understand that a great many horses have already left the barn, and that’s one reason why the gun control issue flares, then dies until the next high-profile shooting. The libs think of the millions of guns already out there, and let their shoulders just slump. Even those most passionate on the subject give off a faint what’s-the-use vibe"
4. "Guys, gals, now hear this: No one wants to take away your hunting rifles. No one wants to take away your shotguns. No one wants to take away your revolvers, and no one wants to take away your automatic pistols as long as said pistols hold no more than ten rounds.
They don’t arrive at the scenes of their proposed slaughters armed with single shot .22s or old-style single revolvers of the sort Jimmy Cagney was waving around at the end of Public Enemy; they bring heavy artillery to the gig."
5. "I think it’s important to note that Iron Man, Spider-Man, Batman and others of their costumed ilk don’t carry guns; they use their various exotic powers. When those fail, they ball up their good old all-American fists. Superhero movies and comic books teach a lesson that runs directly counter to the culture of violence idea: guns are for bad guys too cowardly to fight like men."
6. “I have nothing against gun owners, sport shooters, or hunters…but the weapons noted above are not used to shoot skeet or kill deer. If you used a Bushmaster on a deer in anything but single-shot mode, you’d turn the poor thing into hair-covered meatloaf.”
7. "I read a jaw-dropping online defense of these weapons from a California woman recently. Guns, she said, are just tools. Like spoons, she said. Would you outlaw spoons simply because some people use them to eat too much?
Lady let’s see you try to kill twenty school kids with a spoon."
8. “Semi-automatics have only two purposes. One is so owners can take them to the shooting range once in awhile, yell yeehaw, and get all horny at the rapid fire and the burning vapor spurting from the end of the barrel. Their other use- their only other use - is to kill people.”
9. "I guess the question is, how paranoid do you want to be? How many guns does it take to make you feel safe? And how do you simultaneously keep them loaded and close at hand, but still out of reach of your inquisitive children or grandchildren?
10. "I didn’t pull 'Rage' from publication because the law demanded it; I was protected under the First Amendmentm and the law couldn’t demand it. I pulled it because in my judgment it might be hurting people, and that made it the responsible thing to do. Assault weapons will remain readily available to crazy people until the powerful pro-gun forces in this country decide to do a similar turnaround. They must accept responsibility, recognizing that responsibility is not the same as culpability. They need to say, 'We support these measures not because the law demands we support them, but because it’s the sensible thing.'"