A Gun

In the wake of yet another killing-by-gun at Orem Utah on September 10, 2023, I offer a tribute to a gun by its lover, Dr. Soren Kolstoe.  I offer it specifically to encourage conversation among those with different  opinions about guns, especially in these violent days.  It is brief, and food for thought.  The poem is probably over 50 years old.  It can be read in its complete context in Part Three of Lyrics of the Prairie by Dr. Kolstoe.  It is within a post about him that I wrote and published July 21, 2013.  t seems especially appropriate at this highly charged time.

from Lyrics of the Prairie by Soren O. Kolstoe ca 1960s with permission of the family.

Gun by Soren Kolstoe ca 1960s

Disclosure, I qualified as expert with the M-1 in my Army time in the early 1960s.  Subsequent I have never owned, kept or use a firearm.  My general position, shared with my legislators, is at the end of the post I did after the Annunciation shooting some weeks ago.  Scroll to the end of my August 25, 2025 post.  Following are five brief points made there.  There will be success with much persistence, but it will never be complete success.  Winning to me would be a return to the Soren Kolstoe philosophy.  While I never knew him personally, my guess is that the reason for hunting game was to serve a primordial instinct to harness for for personal use….

POSTNOTE September 6, 2025:  There have been subsequent photos and stories in the local paper, but I decided to call a halt at September 1.  I hope lots of people take up the issue with their legislators – that is where the solution has to begin.  It will continue to be a very tough sell.  People love their guns….

“Guns” have been part of over 100 posts at this space over the last 16 years.

If you looked back at them, you’d see a consistent set of talking points.

1. I qualified as an expert marksman with the M-1 in Army days, 1962-63.  But I have never owned or had a gun or in fact used a gun in all the years since.
2. Getting rid of guns in this gun-ridden society is impossible.  It is as difficult as it was to get rid of booze during prohibition days.
3. It is easily possible to regulate guns through registration and other means, and stiffer penalties for violations.  A minority of the citizenry owns a large percentage of the guns, especially the most lethal ones.  Best I know from the Annunciation case, there was a single assailant who fired over 100 rounds in a very brief time period.  There is absolutely no reason in a civil society for that kind of armament being allowed on the street.
4. Having and using a gun to facilitate a crime is no guarantee of success.  In the Annunciation case, the perpetrator apparently committed suicide.  Those who survive their felony have almost zero chance of evading accountability.
5. In my state, state legislators are probably the most crucial focus of lobbying, followed by other elected officials, local, state, national, who depend on being elected to hold office.