THE DOG PEED?

Pittsburg police officers Stephen Mayhle, Paul Sciullo and Eric Kelly are heros. They died in the line of duty responding to a domestic disturbance as they attempted entry of the residence. Officers Timothy McManaway and Brian Jones were injured in the same incident. They were ambushed by Richard Poplaski, 22, who fired on them with an AK-47 while wearing body armor.

The sacrifice of these officers must be remembered by all Americans. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families. Their death is a waste.

This and the New York shooting this weekend will create even more calls for gun control from the left. It will then increase the rhetoric of the right as they respond. A seemingly never ending cycle with no winners for America.

I grew up with guns in the house. I enjoy shooting and have no argument with the rights of Americans to own guns. I do however believe that both sides of this issue need to step back and think about what they hope to accomplish in the end. It is true that if you outlaw guns....the outlaws will still have guns. There are too many guns out there to make them vanish because we wish it to be so.

But with the right to own guns comes with the responsibility of ownership. As a child I was taught gun safety. Rarely do I see the same rigid instructions being handed down from parents to children anymore. Those on the Right who insist that gun ownership is a right need to be willing to look at the issue from a standpoint of civic responsibility.

You have the right to free speech...you can't cry fire in a crowded theatre. You have the right to own guns....but you question the lack of restrictions when a gunman walks into your child's school with an automatic rifle.

The hunter needs to respect the fears of the urban homeowner who worries a stray bullet may come through the walls and injure his child. The liberal needs to understand that guns and the culture of hunting are not evil in and of themselves.

Do we grant conceal-and-carry everywhere in hopes of stopping the next school shooting or are we hindering the operation of law enforcement who automatically considers a civilian with a gun to be a threat? (Is that man with a gun a teacher protecting his/her students or a killer?) If you hesitate in your evaluation...you may die. If you shoot too fast...you kill an innocent person.

Are automatic weapons and armor piercing ammo equally protected by the Constitution? Do we place police officers at an unfair advantage when these items are readily available? Who explains to the officer's child why Daddy's vest didn't work?

These are questions that must be examined before we say yea or nay on any new legislation regarding guns. Knee jerk reactions and heated rhetoric will not move us forward. In fact, the heated rhetoric will only lead to more senseless deaths. Words matter and when we try to inflame others with our words we must accept the outcomes we help create.

How do I know this? It's already happened. The three officers killed in Pittsburg were killed by a gunman who according to friends lived in fear of the government coming to take his guns. He had heard too much about Obama banning guns from the internet and talk radio not to believe it. He made statements to several friends, that when the police came to take his guns away he would excercise his constitutional rights and defend himself. HE DID.

Perhaps the saddest and most ironic part of this miserable story is that the cause of the original domestic disturbance was the dog. Apparently the shooter's mother had called the police to have her son thrown out of the house because his dog had peed on the carpet. And for that...three officers died!