Gun Freaks: Are They Really Freaks?

Gun control is the topic of discussion after every rich suburban boy with an untreated mental illness gets angry and shoots up a place full of innocent bystanders. It’s like people think discussing it will always curb the violence in our culture and get us all to hug our stuffed animals and sing by a fire accompanied by acoustic guitars as background music. But is it really that simple? Can controlling an already armed culture prevent future mass murder? After I heard James (Joker) Holmes shot someone I know, I decided to ask a bunch of gun freaks about their opinion on the topic.

I am a critical, cynical person and have a hard time understanding why someone would enlist in the military as their job of choice to protect real-live people but I found out Justin has complete opposite views of humanity than I do.

“My decision to enlist personally, and I know this is going to sound stupid,” he says “is I have always prided myself in doing things that globally a small percentage do. I have red hair, I am a Cavalry Scout, which is only a small percentage of Soldiers, and I feel like I am helping people.”

I told Justin about a bunch of people getting shot in Littleton, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Ariz., and at a Batman movie for no reason and asked him his thoughts. “I am a very strong gun advocate, not because of the military, but because I believe in the rights given to me as an American. I think it should be easier to purchase firearms for every law-abiding citizen. If people used guns for what they purchased them for this would be an easy way to stop violence.” Then I told him about the possibility of gun-fights between the mentally ill who are lashing out, and law-abiding gun holders getting into a gun fight. He said in reference to the Batman Massacre, “If I had been in that theater no more than a few shots would’ve been fired at innocent people.”

Justin added, “I have had issues with depression. Growing up I had no dad and abusive step-fathers and even now I’m going through a divorce because of my decision to enlist.  When I moved in with my grandfather who was the one constant force in my life he taught me how to control my feelings. He taught me to be rational and to use reason.” He finished with something he and I both agreed with, “I believe most of the responsibility lies within the individual (James Holmes), and he needed to speak with his parents to get him help.”

Adam was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and he says he saw combat first-hand.  “Hollywood depicts combat as this dramatic thing but there is nothing glamorous about it which I rarely was exposed to.” He says. “Nobody joins the military to get deployed for combat, we get deployed to make a difference and if it requires us engaging in combat, then so be it but nobody gets sent over for the sole purpose of combat.”

I asked him if seeing combat first-hand affected him psychologically and surprisingly he was very candid about struggling with a developed disorder “I am a victim of PTSD” he says “but that’s a whole other conversation. The military provides all the treatment for that and more. Everything from medical help to just having a buddy available for you to talk to.”

I asked him to elaborate on his transition in coming home the first time after being deployed. “Coming home is very different for the individual but for me, I had a hard time after my first deployment with simple things. Like driving, for the longest time I wouldn’t drive in the daytime and I was very cautious when I’d go out at night. I wasn’t used to driving with civilians and I actually drove a couple of people off the road.”

When I informed him that guns were partly responsible for his symptoms of PTSD he ended “I am a 100% supporter of the right to bear arms” he said “the ban on sales would be far more of a determent than help. The ban on “assault weapons” is a bunch of bullshit by uneducated idiots who want to blame something else instead of holding some idiot accountable for his actions.” He ended.

Next, D.J. told me he has experienced combat first-hand and I asked him to elaborate. “Combat isn’t as bloody and gory as some visualize. It happens in flashes and isn’t constant. People need to remember we’re at war with merely a regime. It gets boring.” After I asked him to elaborate he said “sometimes you go 2-3 months which feels like an eternity out there in the desert and you won’t have any incidents. You become complacent until some random attack happens.”

D.J. said when he came home last June he experienced symptoms of PTSD. “When I returned to my regular life I started having nightmares and realized I had a low-tolerance for social situations and would get angry for no reason. I was diagnosed with PTSD and began receiving treatment in August. Today the military offers tons of outlets and outreach programs to help soldiers with PTSD cope.”

The military has been supportive according to D.J. in helping him cope with his PTSD and he says that people respect him more for being honest in getting the help he needed to cope with his issues.

When I told him that civilians in a packed movie theater were shot by a mentally disturbed kid for no reason he said “it wasn’t the guns that killed those innocent people it was a disturbed individual. As far as gun control goes, I say, no changes but there needs to be awareness that if you get help for a disorder you aren’t less of a man or in my case a soldier you are more of a person because you dealt with yourself to live in a world that will break you. It was that Joke those people were shot, not gun owners.” He ended.

Nick informed me that he has been a cop for more than five years. It is a life ambition from childhood.

He recently transitioned over to a different town because his previous one he said turned into a war zone. “People were out for us where I used to live and they didn’t care about killing the police” he said “every night I worked I knew I would be in a fight, or chase, have to arrest someone on project trespass, drugs, a DUI, or see a dead body.”

The warrior mentality Nick said he developed is the reason this particular Gun Freak completely changed my perspective over the gun control debate.  Although, he comes off as the rough gun slinger he has experienced more violence than most of us will see in a lifetime and he is willing to talk about it and his struggles with developed PTSD. In speaking with him, I realized some gun owners feel genuinely more protected from a broken world if they own a gun.

“Everyone only cares about themselves.” He said “The majority of people I had to deal with at my old job were taught to hate authority. For example, when I’d go to take a domestic violence report, I knew it was a baby’s father most of the time and the mother wouldn’t pursue charges smelling like alcohol with no provided food or proper care for her kids. What bothered me mostly at my old job was the fact that if a cop hurt someone in the process of an arrest, the media would label us as the bad guys without further investigating the issue. We were literally a hero one day and the enemy the next with no consistency.  The fact is, there is so much evil in the world and it’s in your backyard, it’s in your Kroger and you child’s school but no one will open their eyes to see it. This is why I carry a gun everywhere I go.”

I found out a friend of his who worked with him was gunned down while on duty and I asked him to elaborate on the loss. “After he died, this crack pot lady comes in and asks us to talk about our feelings from the (Crisis Intervention of Stress Management) and we still hadn’t spoken with our families or loved ones about what happened. She said her disconnected fill and it was horrible. I drove home that day in complete silence and when I got home my-ex wife walked down the stairs to see me and I ran to her and sobbed for what felt like hours. I went back to work where people were still killing each other, beating their girlfriends, and selling drugs for months following his murder with thugs telling us that we’re next. I never got a chance to deal with it.”

When I asked him how he coped with the unimaginable loss of a friend he simply said “I’d get home and consume more alcohol than anyone should ever consume every night. I guess you’d say I repressed it and held it all in.”

Nick said his lieutenant sent him to Crisis Intervention of Stress Management training to become one of the counselors because all of his friends on the force came to him for help. “I knew it wasn’t for me.” He said “I think the help we were given was not effective and we’re not given follow-up with help. I spent six months depressed and unable to talk about my friend or look at his picture.” He finished tearing up.

Gun control is what Nick describes as a joke. “There are too many guns in circulation and people will always be able to find a gun and ammo if they want it. Regardless of the current gun law. Everyone deserves a right to protect themselves. The problem is the justice system, not gun control. Criminals have more rights than the people they unleash their anger on.”

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Mary Lynn Ritch is an aspiring writer with a quick wit.  When she graduated from college, she tried to find a job pertaining to English degree and it’s been hard.  She is a journalist in her hometown in Rome, Georgia and an advocate of mental illness awareness. She has a blog where she details her struggles with bipolar disorder and she wrote about getting arrested and threatening to blow-up her school and speaking with Susan Klebold here.