{"id":1081,"date":"2012-09-04T03:50:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T10:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2012-09-04T04:15:57","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T11:15:57","slug":"taking-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/uncategorized\/taking-a-break\/","title":{"rendered":"More About Guns"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m sorry I haven’t written sooner, but I’m refueling myself, taking a break traveling and soaking up new horizons.<\/p>\n

On my travels, I’ve\u00a0spoken to a number of Americans, who staunchly defend their right to bear arms. One compared their position to the Swiss, who also believe in the need to own guns in order to know how to defend themseles. But as my husband points out, Switzerland is a small country in comparison to the USA and doesn’t have the military machine that the Americans have. They do not have the same history with war. Nor do they have the fear factor that is encouraged by the media. Hence, they don’t have the same incidences of violence within their land. In Canada, we have problems with homocidal rage and insanity but we can drive our highways, experience road rage, and not worry that someone in the next car will pull out a gun. It’s one thing to have the ability to defend yourself, it’s another to believe that the enemy is next door or about to invade.<\/p>\n

I also wonder how much the gun issues have to do with big business. President Eisenhower worried aloud at the end of World War II about the military industrial complex that had developed during his time and how that would play out in the future. We see the results all over the world. Hopefully, reason will prevail and keep the barbarians away from the gate.<\/p>\n

Please check out my post What Is It About Guns?<\/a>\u00a0This is a monumental issue, one that I wish the politicians running for American office would address.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m sorry I haven’t written sooner, but I’m refueling myself, taking a break traveling and soaking up new horizons. On my travels, I’ve\u00a0spoken to a number of Americans, who staunchly… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[88,1],"tags":[378,363,377],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-guns","tag-right-to-bear-arms"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-hr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1203,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/life\/when-will-america-wake-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":0},"title":"When Will America Wake Up?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"17 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Again,we\u2019re confronted by another senseless tragedy, this time, 20 children and\u00a0five adults killed in an elementary school in Connecticut, as well as\u00a0the shooter's mother. I hate writing about such topics ,and yet I feel\u00a0I must, if only to add my voice to others pleading\u00a0for reason.\u00a0I also feel I must write\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/KIDS.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1053,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2012\/film-2\/what-is-it-about-guns\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":1},"title":"What Is It About Guns?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"23 \u041b\u0438\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m an optimist by nature, so this has been a hard post to write. And I'm sorry for getting off the writing track here. But the senseless killings\u00a0 at the movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado this past week stopped me in my tracks. I, like many, wanted to make sense\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Humphrey-Bogart.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1260,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/spinning-wheels-in-the-gun-debate\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":2},"title":"Spinning Wheels in the Gun Debate","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"30 \u0421\u0456\u0447\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The gun debate in the USA reminds me of something a therapist once told me on a particularly cold and snowy day in Winnipeg, back in the 70s. I was working as a clinical social worker at the time, and was at an all day workshop with William Glasser, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"250px-Stuck-Car-3752","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/250px-Stuck-Car-3752.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1489,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/uncategorized\/mass-shootings-in-the-usa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":3},"title":"Who Cares About The Mass Shootings in the USA?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"24 \u0412\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I could be blogging about my writing life, but instead I'm writing about the mass shootings in the USA. I am so upset over last week\u2019s mass shooting in Chicago (13 wounded) and Washington, D.C. (13 dead, 8 wounded) that I had to get these thoughts out. When a suicide\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"mass shooting","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Leonardo-da-Vinci.jpg?fit=575%2C867&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4056,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2019\/writing\/truth-in-political-art-fiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":4},"title":"Truth in Political Art & Fiction","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"27 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"With so many attacks on the news media today, political art and fiction can do what news can't. Both can turn news on its head, shake up disbelievers, and open up thought and discourse. Since viewers and readers are questioning truth like never before, there\u2019s an urgent need to present\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"political artist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG-5692.jpg?fit=791%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6803,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/life\/the-cracks-in-mental-health-services\/","url_meta":{"origin":1081,"position":5},"title":"The Cracks in Mental Health Services","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"12 \u0422\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, in Vancouver, British Columbia, we became aware, once again, of the cracks in mental health services. They failed to help those in need and they failed to protect the public from harm. At a Filipino Street Festival in South Vancouver on Saturday, April 26, a mentally ill man drove\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"cracks in mental health services","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/luke-jones-DHR8LQRY-fU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}