Group effort, redirect the heat

Last night when I got home Cindy’s daughter, her boyfriend and his brother were all at the house.  They had stopped by to visit with Tank who seems to be doing well.  While they were there Cindy talked them into doing a group effort in the 22 kill push up challenge that Cindy and I have been participating in this month.  We shot the set from two angles to add visual variety.  With Camtasia it’s very easy to blend the clips together.

So with the Orlando shootings  it gave social media a big burst of energy to once again fuel the circular argument regarding gun control that accomplishes very little except making people on both sides of the argument seem ignorant to/angry with the other.

Yesterday I saw a lot of gunners deciding to post “educational” information regarding guns, playing down the power of an AR-15, the assault rifle that was the primary death bringer in the attacks.  They thought it important to point out things like how it was not a fully automatic weapon, meaning you can’t just “squeeze and spray” bullets.  You have to pull the trigger for each shot.  Put your hand in a gun position and see how fast you can repeatedly squeeze your index finger. Wow, thanks for that clarification I feel so much better about it now.

Others felt it important to point out that the incident was being misreported as the worst mass shooting in US history when in fact there were other shootings where more people died in different circumstances.  Again, thanks for the education.  How stupid of me to think the real issue was  a man using an assault rifle to mow down people like a carnival game was a terrible tragedy that once again emphasized the need for real change regarding gun laws in the country.

I educated myself a little bit yesterday as well.  I did not realize that assault rifles such as the AR-15 were actually banned for a decade, starting in 1994.  When the provision expired in 2004 Congress chose to not renew it, presumably under HEAVY NRA lobby influence.  If you look at the history of mass shootings since the ban has been lifted, which has sky rocketed, the connection seems pretty damn obvious.  Of course I know it is ridiculous for me to think that common sense could prevail in a situation like this but I can continue to hope lobbyist dollars doesn’t have the final say.

Tomorrow I once again go under the knife for more basal cell skin cancer surgery, this time removing a spot on my left deltoid.  This will be my 6th or 7th procedure to have skin cancer removed.  I remember when I was first told I had skin cancer in my 30’s being very freaked out about it.  I have since become more numb to the diagnosis since my cancer has all been the basal cell variety, it has not been a huge concern.

Having a history of basal cell cancer does put me at risk for the more serious type of skin cancers like melanoma.  I have had friends and former classmates die of melanoma so I do have more serious cancer concerns tucked away  in the back of my mind.  It’s an area that rarely gets opened however.