Sleeping Beauty and Gun Control

In the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, the beautiful infant princess, Aurora, is cursed to die on her 16th birthday by a person of influence who was inadvertently left off the guest list for the celebration of her birth. A good fairy, though unable to completely reverse the curse, brought some hope to the stunned parents by bestowing a different gift - the gift of sleep, a "death-like" sleep, rather than death.

In response to information conveniently leaked by the wicked enchantress, the king and queen came up with a valiant but ill-fated plan to protect their precious child; they would eliminate all spinning wheels (the murder weapon) from their kingdom. 

Or so they thought. 

Unfortunately for both the rulers and their daughter, on the sixteenth celebration of her birth, she found a spinning wheel. Not recognizing it (and being under a spell) Aurora reached out to touch the shiny needle. Instantly she collapsed into a deep sleep, along with all in her kingdom, not be awoken for 100 years.

Imagine how differently the story might have turned out if, instead of destroying all the spinning wheels in the country, the king and queen had set out to educate their daughter about said spinning wheels and the threat they posed to her young life? What if they taught her how to use a spinning wheel properly, and how to avoid the sharp end?

Seriously, what if we educated our children about fire arm safety in school, like sex ed? 

http://www.salem-news.com/stimg/may072008/hunting_safety.jpg

What if every sixth grader (they learn about sex, why not guns?) went through a gun safety class, including a trip to a firing range? What if they were exposed, in real life, to the consequences of discharging a fire arm carelessly? Who would be able to forget the images of murdered children lying in pools of their own blood, regardless of how they got that way? Many school districts are showing the consequences of drunk driving, by bringing in the crumpled vehicles involved in (often fatal) alcohol-involved accidents. Do you think a similar tactic might make young boys and girls think twice before thoughtlessly discharging a firearm?


Sacrificing our freedoms on the altar of false security (through more gun legislation) is not going to increase the safety of our children!

If gun laws were going to do anything, they should have protected the children at Sandy Hook Elementary, where guns were already against the law. 

 Instead of taking away the spinning wheels OR guns, let's make sure our children know what to do when they see one!!