"I respectfully relinquish my arguments for gun control."

I was sensing a certain amount of hypocrisy from all sides. I realized how hypocritical I was being, and I tried to nail down exactly what my stance is. Obviously school shootings are bad, and Wayne LaPierre is a p.o.s., but where DO you draw the line?

I still think something needs to be done, but I’m on the fence about what, because that is not so clear to me. By “withdrawing” from the argument for the moment, I am resetting my position on the issue until I see an answer I like. I am not disinterested in the topic, I am simply trying to not be as much of a hypocrite and keep my mind open to different ideas. One of the things I found so frustrating about arguing for gun control was the apparent inflexibility of the defenders. I thought, “if there was just some way to change their mind.” Then I thought, “but what if I’m wrong?” Then I started thinking, “how can I be wrong when I don’t even know where I stand on the issue?” 

I'm pretty sure more guns is not the answer. Arming teachers sounds like a bad idea. When you throw in the teacher in Chambersburg, PA who left her loaded pistol in the elementary school bathroom where students found it, the armed sheriff's deputy at Parkland who hid out during the attack, and the teachers who are saying that they don’t want to be armed, I’m leaning further toward believing that. But that’s what I want. I want to be convinced, from a position of being open. I don’t want to start off with a bias. People who refuse to listen to any possibility of something other than what they believe are what keep me from wanting to be that way.

Also, there are some people who I have a lot of respect for on the 2nd Amendment side of the issue, and I can’t discount their wisdom.

But most of all I want to lead by example, and show that minds can be changed, we don’t have to “stick to our guns” about everything.

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