Gun Protestors Plan To March Through St. Louis Zoo

Can I ask if anyone else thinks that the pendulum has swung way to far in the direction of gun advocacy versus responsible regulation? Has it really come down to this? Random people strutting around in public with a firearm strapped to their chest and/or waist. Is that really what a free country is supposed to look like? Because nearly every photo I see out of the Middle East looks pretty much the same way with random people walking around with AK-47s (I know, different regions/different situations). But, my point is that it just seems to feel like the Wild West. It almost feels like being occupied from within...and that's not freedom.

I'm sorry, but I do not trust any random stranger to be competent enough to wield a firearm in a public place because I do not know them! I have no way of knowing if the person is an idiot or not. I have no way of knowing if they are really a responsible gun owner that has had extensive training or if they just some hillbilly who decided to get his carry permit just because he could and the idea of walking around with a weapon makes him feel mighty in some Rambo-esque way. Would you trust a random stranger to watch your kids just upon meeting them? No? Then why have full confidence in them strutting around your kids with a deadly weapon?

And yeah, I really think this sort of thing (relaxation of gun laws brought on by paranoia) has been accelerated thanks to the media sensationalizing mass shootings. How many mass shootings happen in a year on average? Using four fatalities as a benchmark for a mass shooting in the past, here are some numbers: 2007 - 23 incidents, 2008 - 29 incidents, 2009 - 27 incidents.

The National Weather Service puts your risk of dying by lightning strike as 1 in 700,000 due to an average of 54 incidents a year. Higher than your chances of being killed in a mass shooting. Yet, I see no one bringing portable lightning rods everywhere with them (yeah, I know, impractical/impossible). Because, you know...the only thing that stops a bad thunderstorm with lightning is a good guy with a lightning rod.

/r/StLouis Thread Link - stlouis.cbslocal.com