No guns for Parker, no way no how

No guns.

Not for me. Not for my son or daughter. No thank you.

About a year back, my son traveled to Arkansas during his high school break. He visited a friend’s house where they enjoyed the rural life that included riding ATVs and shooting guns.

He sent a short video message about his foray into guns, a shotgun blast that sent a chill through my very being.

Mind you, guns were a part of my childhood, as a father and older brother enjoyed hunting, not as sport but almost as necessity to keep food on a table that involved a dozen mouths.

Venison, duck, rabbits, squirrels and raccoons graced our table and we expressed gratitude for every meal placed before us, a gift for the faithful.

I have only one recollection of firing a shotgun as the thrill and excitement of such action never rooted. A short-lived relationship experience connected me with a young woman who waited with great expectation for deer hunting season to arrive.

“Oh, here’s a photo of me and my dad with a six-point buck,” she noted. Or, she displayed a bloody scene after the “sweet, innocent, harmless, leaf-eating, doe-eyed little deer” of “My Cousin Vinny” fame had been gutted.

“Imagine you’re a deer. You’re prancing along, you get thirsty, you spot a little brook, you put your little deer lips down to the cool water and BAM!”

I’m not one of those people who can swear how I would react in any given situation. Perhaps, an incident occurs where variables influence poor decisions. Go and get the gun may sound reasonable, even justifiable.

A “Guns In America” website estimates that approximately 270 million firearms exist in the U.S., nearly a weapon for every man, woman and child.

While U.S. residents have a right to own firearms, this acknowledgment hardly suggests support for people being given the right to publicly carry firearms. No way in the world should teachers have this right either.

No guns for me. No semiautomatic weapons. No AR-15s or bump stocks. No ownership of assault weapons. Of course, opinions differ.

Tyler Tannehill, a former Marine running for Kansas’ 2nd congressional district, supports gun rights. The candidate is giving away an AR-15 rifle.

“Our founding fathers were very clear about the individual right to own firearms for the purpose of defending ourselves, our families and properties,” Tannehill’s website reads.

Doubtful our founding fathers envisioned children running across a schoolyard dodging or dying from a hail of bullets.