Lawmakers touched by gun violence take debate personally – Yahoo! News.

I have heard it said on more than one occasion that those of us against gun control would feel differently if WE had been the victims of “gun violence” or otherwise had violence by an armed individual touch our lives.  Folks, I take personal exception to that as a survivor of more violence than I care to remember (more than my fair share of fights, an attempted stabbing, and more than one drive-by shooting) .  And I’d also like to remind these people that violence does not occur in a vacuum where the only people who are hurt are Democrats and liberals.  We could argue whether or not their mindset of a willing victim means they are that much more traumatized but, that’s another discussion.

I have not been present for a mass-shooting…Don’t want to be and hope I never have to deal with it.  Chances are very high that I never will because I don’t spend a great deal of time in places where these incidents are likely to occur (invariably Gun Free Zones) .  But if you’ve never heard of her, I’d like to take a moment to turn your attention to former Texas State Representative, Suzanna Hupp.  She too was a victim of violence.  She was sitting in a Luby’s with her parents when George Hennard crashed his truck through the front of the restaurant and began shooting people.

When Hennard approached Hupp, she reached for a revolver (.38 caliber) she normally kept in her purse only to realize that it was still in her vehicle outside the restaurant.  Hupp’s seventy-one-year-old father, Al Gratia, rushed, unarmed, toward Hennard in an attempt to subdue Hennard and defend  Hupp and her mother, Ursula.  Mr. Gratia was fatally shot in the chest. Hupp tried to flee with her mother but, Mrs. Gratia stayed to cradle her fatally wounded husband Al and was ultimately executed by Hennard.

Police arrived and exchanged fire with Hennard.  Faced with armed force, like nearly all mass shooters, Hennard retreated further into the restaurant to commit suicide rather than continue to fight.  Hennard had shot 50 people, killing 23 of them, including Suzanna Hupp’s parents.  It was, until the Virginia Tech shooting, the worst mass shooting in modern US history.  But Suzanna Hupp’s reaction and her story does not fit the narrative of Diane Feinstein or others who go so far as to arm themselves while simultaneously treating the rest of us as chattel that must be disarmed.  In fact, rather than demanding more restrictions, Hupp demanded the right to defend herself rather than be a victim.

I seriously doubt Ms. Hupp would suggest you or I go out hunting for mass shooters or act as police but, she championed concealed carry laws across the country.  Why? Because she too had a personal stake in changing the law.  Never again, would she be forced to wait her turn to be executed by a mass murderer. Never again, if she could help it, would someone have to watch helplessly, as their parents or other loved ones were killed like fish in a barrel because someone like Diane Feinstein would prefer they be a good victim.

In closing; I offer this warning, those who propose limits on law-abiding people are not seeking to make things safer for the rest of us. These people have a self-serving agenda and there are many, well meaning people, who will go along with the program because it “seems” reasonable.  Talk to them. Tell this story and be sure they hear both sides because they won’t get it from the media.

– Gary