Maple Leafs' Garret Sparks Spoke Out On Behalf Of Gun Control Following The Tragic Events In Orlando

@DamoSpin @realPOSULLIVAN guns shouldn't be in the hands of civilians on crowded public streets anywhere. Not in America, not on Mars.

— Garret Sparks (@GSparks40) June 12, 2016

Let me start by saying that Garret Sparks is absolutely right. Might be a tad optimistic of him to think that getting all firearms off the street is a reasonable request, but he couldn't be more spot-on in regards to America's obvious need for stricter gun regulations. I don't think that's too hard to comprehend considering someone that was TWICE investigated by the FBI had LAWFUL ownership of a deadly, semi-automatic weapon that he used to kill 50 innocent people and non-fatally shoot 53 others. With that said, here we are - yet again - having our hopes for humanity callously getting beaten into the ground by the ammunition apologists that refuse to concede even the smallest of rifle restrictions for the greater good. The few, the pompous, and the negligent that refuse to understand that compromise is necessary if we want to minimize senseless violence in this country. 

That's why, as much as I support what Garret Sparks stands for, he made a massive mistake by letting his feelings be known on Twitter. Not because Twitter wasn't in need of his thought provoking opinion, but because Twitter is where thought provoking opinions go to get savagely murdered 'Walking Dead' style. I would say that 80% of people out there agreed with what he had to say. However, it's all but a guarantee that the 20% who didn't made up 95% of his replies. By the time the notification storm fully sweeps through his mentions he will be left a shell of a man exasperated by the stupidity of a segment of society he never even knew to be his peers. 

Unfortunately - as we so quickly learned from Donald Trump's Presidential campaign - the vast minority is the vocal majority. The people that have the dumbest things to say tend to do so at the highest possible decimal level. That's the contingent that feels they must make up for a lack of value with an abundance of volume. As Theodore Roosevelt so eloquently said, "speak softly and carry a big stick." It's always the less endowed that are standing on the highest hill - that hopefully they'll one day be forced to die on - that are too busy screaming to the masses to realize that hill is built on a wealth of ignorant selfishness. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what Garret Sparks posted. I just pity the amount of nauseatingly unintelligible scrutiny he undoubtedly subjected himself to by doing so. Simply put, calling someone that is defending the ease with which one can legally carry a weapon in this country "half-witted" would be a compliment of the highest order - especially on such a tragic day.