Gun Owner Gives Up Semi-Automatic Rifle: "I Will Be The Change."

This man giving up his gun sends a powerful message

With the most recent school shooting (sadly, the 18th of 2018), a lot of Americans want to do something. What that means for most of us is posting a meme on Facebook or debating with a friend, or stranger, the frustration over the lack of action being taken about guns in our country and why we so desperately need gun control.

But one Florida man decided he’d had enough. Ben Dickmann, a 40-year-old gun owner who enjoys going to the shooting range and practicing firing his AR-57 semi-automatic rifle at targets, decided enough is enough.

After the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Dickmann decided the rifle he loved so much wasn’t necessary anymore.

“I’m putting my money where my mouth is,” Dickmann wrote about his earlier Facebook post. “This is an AR-FiveSeven, I own this rifle.” Then, he went on to say he doesn’t actually need it.

“No one without a law enforcement badge needs this rifle. This rifle is not a ‘tool’ I have use for.” He said he’s enjoyed shooting his gun in the past but it doesn’t have the same appeal as it once did.

And so, Dickmann decided to surrender it to the Broward Sheriff department. “I could have easily sold this rifle, but no person needs this,” he continued. “I will be the change I want to see in this world. If our law makers will continue to close their eyes and open their wallets, I will lead by example.”

Dickmann has decided to stand up for exactly what he believes in. And he verbalized what so many of us feel. “I don’t want my friends to worry about sending their kids to school (or worry about my wife doing any one of her countless high school visits as part of her job). I don’t want my pastor friends to worry about the congregations during worship. I don’t want my concert touring family to worry their events. NONE OF THESE PLACES/PEOPLE SHOULD NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BEING THE SITE OF MASS VIOLANCE BY FIREARMS.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

“I am member of probably the second-most vilified demographic in the country currently (If you didn’t know, I’m a conservative leaning, gun-owning, middle-aged, financially stable white male),” Dickmann said. “Within this demographic I’m probably in the minority, but maybe more like me will stand up, because I’m sorry, until my demographic gets behind this, nothing will change.”

He closes his post by calling out our government to put their money where their mouth is. “If our law makers will continue to close their eyes and open their wallets, I will lead by example.”