Author Stephen King took to social media to discuss the senseless shootings in Charleston, South Carolina. King isn’t a traditional media figure, so he doesn’t have an immediate platform to eloquently discuss the issue like Jon Stewart does. Nor does King make regular guest appearances on panels hosted by Bill Maher. King does have the power of Twitter, so he fired off his thoughts in a cluster of 140-character missives:
Until responsible gun owners support responsible gun control laws, innocent blood will continue to flow. How many times must we see this?
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 18, 2015
Too many closed minds on gun control. Worse, far too many PROUDLY closed minds. Meanwhile, the American shooting gallery remains open.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 19, 2015
According to Bloomberg Business, gun deaths will exceed traffic fatalities in America this year. Can't put a seatbelt on a semi-automatic.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 19, 2015
This isn’t the first time King made his thoughts known on gun control. He previously pulled his own 1977 novella, Rage, which features a teenage gunman and was tied to four shootings (between 1988 and 1996). King stated, “My book did not break [them] or turn them into killers. Yet I did see Rage as a possible accelerant which is why I pulled it from sale. You don’t leave a can of gasoline where a boy with firebug tendencies can lay hands on it.”
King also wrote a a 25-page Kindle single Guns, on the subject. Here’s an excerpt that captures the mood of King’s essay:
“No one wants to take away your hunting rifles. No one wants to take away your shotguns. No one wants to take away your revolvers, and no one wants to take away your automatic pistols, as long as said pistols hold no more than ten rounds … How paranoid do you want to be? How many guns does it take to make you feel safe? And how do you simultaneously keep them loaded and close at hand, but still out of reach of your inquisitive children or grandchildren? Are you sure you wouldn’t do better with a really good burglar alarm?”
King wrote Guns in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. He also emphasized that he owned three handguns “with a clear conscience.”
(Via Entertainment Weekly)