* * Shoot me if you must

You can shoot me if you must. I’m unarmed.

As our nation is again rocked with a senseless mass murder, this time in Orlando, anybody with a shred of empathy is washed in agony, wondering when or if it will ever end and what if anything we can personally or collectively do about it.

We live in a nation where murders, mostly by guns, are at an epidemic level, higher than almost all other nations and at the top of the developed ones.

I don’t want to die; I’ve never met anybody who did, except those in constant pain or abject misery. I don’t want you to shoot me. But I’ve reached some conclusions about its potential.

I don’t own a gun. I never have and I suspect I never will. I don’t subscribe to the notion that my safety and security comes from having more firepower than the next guy. In my over six decades of life, I’ve never encountered a situation where I felt having a gun would have provided a better outcome than not. Moreover, it is practically unheard of for a person to defend himself or herself from a determined, pre-meditated attacker.

In Orlando there were good guys with guns, several of them, including an off-duty officer working as a bouncer. He returned fire the best he could, called immediately for help from two more officers, and still 50 people died. It took an entire SWAT team three hours to take down the killer.

A couple of years ago, a well-armed and trained county sheriff was having lunch in his parked police car in Williamson, West Virginia, when an assailant walked up and shot him in the back of the head.

If somebody wants to kill me, or you, good luck stopping him.

As I said, America stands alone at the top of the developed world in gun violence, and I believe it is the ownership of and mentality about weapons that is the cause. Here are a couple of examples of how things differ elsewhere.

In Australia, twelve days after that nation’s worst mass shooting in 1996, the government passed a law banning semiautomatic and self-loading rifles and shotguns, and required all firearm-license applicants to prove a “genuine reason” for owning a gun. Their Prime Minister at the time, John Howard, wrote, “The fundamental problem was the ready availability of high-powered weapons, which enabled people to convert their murderous impulses into mass killing. Certainly, shortcomings in treating mental illness and the harmful influence of violent video games and movies may have played a role. But nothing trumps easy access to a gun. It is easier to kill 10 people with a gun than with a knife.” The country then instituted a federally-financed, mandatory buyback program, purchasing and then destroying 700,000 guns. Gun deaths dropped dramatically since then, and they’ve never suffered another similar massacre.

In New Zealand, gun ownership is rare and citizens cannot own semi-automatic or automatic rifles. People can own pistols, but they must be a member of a licensed pistol club and the pistols cannot leave the club’s premises. Citizens can own rifles for hunting, but the owner must pass a qualification test, undergo a background check, and have their characters vouched for. Rifles must be registered and stored unloaded at all times when not in use in approved, locked safes. Licenses are expensive. Cops don’t carry guns; only members of the national SWAT team do. Gun violence per capita in New Zealand is about 5% of ours.

Other developed countries have similar policies. It’s amazingly refreshing and relaxing to wander in crowded public spaces and know nobody’s armed.

Owning a gun for hunting should be allowed but difficult, like getting a driver’s license. Owners should prove that they’re safe, trained, and competent. If you truly believe your safety is enhanced by carrying, in spite of volumes of research to the contrary, you should be forced to prove your competency. This is completely consistent with the “well-regulated” phrase in the Second Amendment.

If you’re arming to protect yourself from a tyrannical government or a foreign invasion, you’re living in a fantasy. Our nation has the greatest weaponry the world has ever known and can put a cruise missile in your living room in 20 minutes. Who are you going to shoot? If a foreign invader has overcome our military, you sure as heck aren’t going to stop them with your AK-15. If you’re afraid of a tyrannical government, don’t elect tyrants.

My personal protest against arming myself is a choice I’ve made in how I want to live. I could be killed any day by a drunk or inattentive driver; I ride motorcycles, remember? I choose to seize each day and not live in fear. And hope my country one day becomes a saner, more peaceful place, and in the meantime I’ll take my chances.