{"id":1416,"date":"2014-03-22T16:09:41","date_gmt":"2014-03-22T21:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2014-03-22T16:09:41","modified_gmt":"2014-03-22T21:09:41","slug":"poem-the-right-and-wrong-end-of-a-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/22\/poem-the-right-and-wrong-end-of-a-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: The Right and Wrong End of a Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

I shot Bill<\/span>
\nIn the gut<\/span>
\nHe stood there<\/span>
\nFor a moment<\/span>
\nSeeming like a lifetime<\/span>
\nHis blood flowing<\/span>
\nLike<\/span>
\nWell<\/span>
\nFreely<\/span>
\nOr<\/span>
\nMight as<\/span>
\nWell<\/span>
\nBe<\/span>
\n‘N aRiA<\/span>
\nSouled<\/span>
\nA Bill of goods<\/span>
\nNow Kosher<\/span>
\nA salt of the earth<\/span>
\nA haughty boys’ game<\/span>
\nSo brand-ish<\/span>
\nShrouding<\/span>
\nA right end<\/span>
\nAnd a wrong end<\/span>
\nOf a gun<\/span><\/p>\n

This is another anti-gun violence poem in what is yet another recurring theme in my musings.\u00a0 I can relate to the emotions leading to want to hurt someone, even kill them.\u00a0 However, I am chronically puzzled by how humanity (or inhumanity?) allows these gut feelings to get the better of us.\u00a0 This seems to be solidly within the immature stages of human development.\u00a0 In this poem, Bill suffers from the incarnation of such a gut feeling, by feeling a bullet rip through his gut.\u00a0 You may note that there is no context given for why Bill was been shot in the gut.\u00a0 I suspect that many people might presume that Bill somehow deserved being shot in the gut. Our gun culture is moving us ever along a victim blaming worldview.\u00a0 This thought process is similar to people’s reactions and inquiries when someone’s house has been robbed.\u00a0 Were the doors locked?\u00a0 Do you have a security system?\u00a0 As if not locking your door or having a security system is justification for a robber to rob you!\u00a0 Similarly, gun rights folks are selling Americans the wholesale paranoid notion that if you don’t have a gun then you are just asking for trouble, with no little irony, from a person with a gun.\u00a0 The truth of such paranoia may very well be directly proportional to the self-fulfilling aspects of modern America’s love affair with firearms for personal protection.\u00a0 As a trained public health professional, who has studied gun violence as a public health problem, there is a scientific consensus that the easy availability and increased presence of firearms leads to increased deaths.\u00a0 Of course, most gun rights enthusiast deny such scientific evidence.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe their being hot under the collar is confounding this whole climate change brouhaha.\u00a0 What may be of some surprise to people is that increased gun deaths are very often suicides.\u00a0 In fact, those with access to guns are more likely to kill themselves than be killed by someone else.\u00a0 Perhaps this is some cruel twist of human evolution, but surely we can do better than killing off ourselves.\u00a0 The polarization of views on the role of guns in American culture is stark.\u00a0 Whatever your views, America is moving toward resembling the OKKK Corral, and I consider this a move toward increased terrorism, never knowing whose home and family might get caught in the cross fire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I shot Bill In the gut He stood there For a moment Seeming like a lifetime His blood flowing Like Well Freely Or Might as Well Be ‘N aRiA Souled A Bill of goods Now Kosher A salt of the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,57,9,15],"tags":[563,35,397,130,516,385,440,589,451,450,305,676,267,359,273,548,16,566,658,94,43,659,453,129,421,741,163,550],"class_list":["post-1416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-peace","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-america","tag-anti-gun","tag-change","tag-climate-change","tag-culture","tag-death","tag-evolution","tag-family","tag-firearms","tag-guns","tag-humanity","tag-incarnation","tag-irony","tag-life","tag-love","tag-modern","tag-musings","tag-paranoid","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-public-health","tag-security","tag-suicide","tag-terrorism","tag-truth","tag-victim-blaming","tag-violence","tag-worldview"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: The Right and Wrong End of a Gun | Health, Peace, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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