I don’t think gun locks and masks are the same things, but I understand why people are thinking of them that way. Many of my gun safety advocate friends were shocked when I admitted I didn’t support face masks. And several of them replied with, “It’s like a lock on a gun.”
But is it really?
I can argue that face masks are not worn properly, not washed regularly and we might later learn are infested with unhealthy bacteria’s. A gun owner can argue that a gun lock keeps them from easy access of the gun in case of an intruder. The difference is I don’t shame them into compliance. I give alternative solutions.
My mask disgust came from my mom and the work she’s done as an herbalist. She’s worked in the natural health care industry for over 40 years. I recall throughout my life her rage at the pharmaceutical company and the battles her industry has had to fight. Mom’s remedies for most things has and always will be derived from natural ingredients. Doctor visits are a last resort in my family.
The mask mob will argue then that the face mask is there to protect others. Gun locks protect others too but instead of mandating a one size fits all I advocate that best practices should fit your home. There are different types of gun safes and gun safety devices to choose from, including gun locks, trigger locks and lockboxes.
We have other options for protection against the virus too. A face mask may make you feel safe but it might not be the solution for everyone’s home. Self-defense is protection too. There are many ways of protecting and they are right. There are many things that can protect from gun tragedies and you don’t have to do all of them.
People who now fearful and seeking more control are buying up guns faster than I can type these words. My worry is they will forget about that gun, once the panic has passed. And it will be just sitting there in their home — or car, god forbid. That gun might be a little like a virus, just waiting to infect someone with tragedy.
Or something like that. It’s all so new, this panic. The gun safes are not new, and they are proven to be effective at protecting us. Even if you lock a gun, bad things will still happen. Just like when we wear masks, people have still caught the virus. Fewer of them, though, whether we’re talking about guns or viruses.
Nothing is 100 percent foolproof.
Or maybe this isn’t true. I’d like to hear what you think about safety in our society. If we wear masks and distance, does that mean we should distance ourselves from unsafe gun habits? Let me know in your comments, or up on my Facebook page.
Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.com