What Are We Afraid of ?

Why are we in the U.S. buying all these guns? Why are we training with these guns; and who are we afraid of? Gun sales are and have been big bucks, but now firearms’ training is now earning large sums. One of the largest private-sector institution of its kind is in Nevada and has scenarios encouraging others to be on guard against them—who is them? Good question. This institution will have more than 35,000 people in any given year. There are 15 states that require a permit or license to own or purchase a handgun. Six of the 15 states require mandatory training, but the other nine states do not. As of July 2016, 14.5 million Americans have a license to carry a concealed weapon, but 11 states do not require a license. In 2016, institutions were training 125,000 gun owners. Owners are trained on pistol, rifle, shotguns and long-range rifles, and Uzis training in some cases far exceed law enforcement and military standards. In most training institutions, you must be 11 years old, and be with a parent. Some are allowed to be younger with a parent’s permission. This is a very large army of gun-toting people and some states have an open carry laws for all weapons. Again, just who are we afraid of? Is it the government—federal, state, county or city, or is it a particular ethnic group, or they looking to break the law in some way. Or, could the inequality of all these gun owners who are now trained getting ready to rectify their inequality? Are they getting tired of waiting for a living wage, healthcare and the other things the old middle class used to have? Or, are they preparing for when people take to the streets over this inequality? If either of these things come to pass, we need to make some changes very fast—like take on student debt, wage theft and inequality, healthcare, private prisons, and a host of other issues facing our nation.