Cape Cod Times — Opinion — My View — Monday, September 13, 1999

Stop buying children games of violence
By Jerry Schmeer Jr.

I hate guns. As an idealist, I wish that all guns would disappear tomorrow. As a realist, I’d be happy if we as a society just saw guns for what they really are; a tool of violence — whose purpose is to kill.

I fear gun owners. But I don’t fear the gun owner that keeps a gun for self-defense, as much as I fear the gun owner that has a semi-automatic rifle and uses it for target practice.

At least, if self-defense gun owners use their guns, they will live the rest of their lives with the consequences of their actions. The gun owner that turns a piece of paper into pulp doesn’t seem to have that same unique connection to the toy’s life-terminating qualities.

And, I don’t fear the hunter who goes around killing innocent animals for sport, as much as I fear the gun owner who has never fired his or her gun and keeps it lying around the house unprotected.

Again, the hunter has to live with the fact that he or she is a violent person by nature, and then he or she must clean up after the kill.

But, the gun owner I fear most, the gun owner I lose sleep over, is the child that has a virtual gun — the child that sees the gun as a game, who wins by killing, and whose game is rated by its gore factor.

This is the gun owner who has no idea that guns really can kill people, and the fact that when they are dead — you can’t just reset the game.

Gun laws or no gun laws, it’s the “mindset” that we have to change. Perhaps it’s time for a Twelve-Step program for adults: Gun-owners Anonymous, whose slogan is, “I am a gun owner, and I am a violent person.” This could slowly weed us away from this “need” for violence.

For our children, maybe it’s time that we stop buying them games of violence. Maybe it’s time that instead of cutting music and art budgets in schools — we triple them! Maybe it’s time we teach our child that creating “is” more fun than destroying.

If you get a chance, please get a copy of the July “Life Magazine” and read the article on the Kalashnikov Kids. Take a look at the pictures of the 11- and 12-year-old “soldiers” running down the street in full chemical warfare outfits, or look at the pictures of them reassembling their automatic weapons, or standing guard.

There are more than 300,000 fighting “soldiers” in this world from the ages of 11 to 18. Is this truly the world we want to create?

Jerry Schmeer Jr. lives in West Barnstable.