It’s the year 2075; your grandson, a fourth grade student, comes home from school. As he comes through the door, you are greeted with an unexpected question: “Did people really have guns when you were younger?” he asked. Today was constitution day, and the class explored constitution amendments and how they get processed; this led to the Second Amendment becoming a topic. 

   Your grandson then found out that the Second Amendment was misinterpreted to the point where people had guns made for war, a major problem that many people ignored. “My teacher said that ⅔ of people in America wanted more gun laws, but apparently nothing happened for a long time because people who loved guns kept saying there wasn’t a problem.”

   Confess that you were one of those people. Tell your beloved grandson that you were one of those gun lovers.

   “Didn’t we have more shootings than every other place in the world?” His questions grew as time went on. “Were you worried that you would be shot? Did you have a gun to protect yourself? Weren’t you scared?” Finally he asked what you feared to answer: “How did you finally fix the problem? You did help to fix it, right?” Now you don’t really have a choice. You don’t lie to the boy. Ever. So you have to explain.

   “It was a different time, you see. We, because of the Second Amendment. We didn’t want any laws that went against the Second Amendment. So I didn’t fight to change the gun laws.” As you told him the terrible truth, the admiration and love for his wise grandparent began to vanish from his eyes. His own grandfather, who he had looked up to since he was born, had voted in favor of a country without gun control.

   Confess to your grandson. 

   You should’ve seen this coming, the facts were clear.

   As of late May of 2023, there had been more shootings than days in the year, and suicide rates were at an all-time high. People, not hunters, owned multiple firearms that were manufactured with the purpose of killing people. Students had to constantly fear and prepare for a school shooting; mass shootings became an everyday event in the US. People outside of the country feared coming to America because of the rampant violence. 

   Confess that you wanted it this way, that you chose to pretend the deaths were not a gun problem despite all of the evidence

   Confess to your family that you were too lazy to register your guns. Tell them why you fought to allow bad people access to weapons capable of mass destruction. When you go hunting, explain to your fellow hunters why anyone would ever need an AR-15. A mass shooting happens at an elementary school, all because an unstable person had direct access to a tactical weapon. Confess that while you were watching the news of children being fatally shot, that you believed America was better this way. 

   Confess. 

   Guns aren’t the problem, kids play violent video games and watch violent movies, which causes them to want to shoot people. Sound familiar? This is what people used as an excuse for the problem. Were these people psychiatrists? No. Were they qualified therapists? No. 

   These people knew nothing of new generations. They fail to realize that kids had to fear being shot by a gun in real life instead of in a virtual world. They blamed mass shootings on video games and movies rather than the easy access to firearms made to kill multiple people in seconds. The best part: gun manufacturing companies made hundreds of millions of dollars annually. 

   Disgusted? You can’t be, confess that you wanted this.

   Back when you were having dinner with friends, the topic of gun control presented itself. Your friend told you that a close loved one had been shot and killed in a mass shooting, and still for some reason people won’t limit access to the guns at fault. Awkward right? You voted to give that killer access to his weapon, and now your friend’s loved one has been killed by it. Will his family ever recover from the loss? How will he move on in life? 

   This shouldn’t be surprising–unfortunate, yes, but not surprising. This was your decision. You knew this type of scenario was a possibility, yet you made the decision regardless. When the time comes and that friend asks for your opinion on the subject, you can’t lie. You will have to tell them; confess to them that you made that decision. 

   Today, tomorrow, a year from now; there will be reports of mass shootings and violence. People are killing people, but not without guns. Anyone who has looked at a single study comparing the US to other countries can see that something is wrong. Voting to abolish gun control lit a spark that ignited a fire of mass shootings and unstable gun owners, and you were holding the match. Confess.

   History will not be kind.