My Thoughts On Gun Control In America
- rewilcro
- Aug 13, 2020
- 5 min read
Guns are way too easy to obtain in the united states. Gun reform is a necessity
Columbine High School April 20th, 1999
I feel as though everyone knows about the Columbine massacre, it created fears and feelings of being unsafe for many of us and shaped a lot of our schools. So many people that I've talked to about this shooting in particular know the names of the two perpetrators, but none of the victims. Although, each time one of these tragedies occurs we say to remember the names of the fallen, they aren't the ones who are remembered by the general majority. By remembering the two who did this, we are giving those killers exactly what they wanted: attention. Cassie, Corey, Dan, Daniel, Isaiah, John, Kelly, Kyle, Lauren, Matthew, Rachel, Steven, and William are the ones who deserve to be remembered. Rachel loved theater and had quit smoking shortly before she died. Dan really enjoyed electronics. Mr. Sanders was a father of two in addition to being a teacher and coach at the high school. Kyle and Steven wanted to be in the navy. Cassie had recently found faith again. Isaiah wanted to be a comedian. Matthew was a great student and a football player. Lauren wanted to study biology in college. John loved trucks, specifically Chevy's. Kelly was a songwriter and loved to read. Corey wanted to be a marine (and after his death was named an honorary marine), and really loved to fish. Daniel loved video games and actually asked his father about the Brady bill only two weeks before being killed with a gun purchased through one of the loopholes he'd pointed out in it. But the only people whose thoughts and goals that people talk about are their killers. People have "fan" accounts for the killers, praising them, calling them gods, calling them cute (they're not). There are teenage girls that worship these disgusting murderers completely disregarding the lives they took, the people-- the children they murdered.
Americas response to this mass murder was not to ban guns, but to instead ban trench coats in many schools across the nation. Also, at the memorial for the victims, they put up 15 crosses, one for each victim and one for each of the perpetrators. The father of one of the fallen cut down the killers crosses ---as he should. The blatant disregard for the feelings of the victims and their families from people all over the country is sickening.
All but one of the people murdered in columbine were teenagers, just kids.. and that wasn't a compelling enough argument for America to ban guns.
What if it were children under 8 years old who had been murdered? What if it had been 20 1st graders that were shot and killed in their school?
Would that have been reason enough for America to ban guns? Would that have sunk the hearts of enough of the American population to genuinely control the sales and distribution of guns in this country?
No. It wasn't enough.
These are the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. All of the children killed were under the age of 8. 20 children and 6 teachers. These little kids were murdered in cold blood in their first grade classrooms. After the shooting some people had the fucking audacity to say it never happened and that it was just "propaganda" for gun control. So, they're admitting the sandy hook shooting is powerful reasoning for wanting gun control, but instead of taking that to mean "we should probably work on getting laws in place to make our country safer" they took it to mean "this is a compelling argument for something I don't want, so clearly its fake".
The person who killed these kids and teachers had gone to shooting ranges many times, his mother was a gun enthusiast which is how he gained access to multiple weapons,and he killed her with one of her own guns. The killer had many documented and undocumented mental illnesses but was still able to obtain training with guns and easily got a hold of his mothers legally obtained weapon arsenal.
The killers I mentioned before obtained 3 out of 4 of their weapons through a friend of theirs who was 18 at the time; that friend never faced any jail time.
The Las Vegas massacre, Umpqua shooting, Virginia Tech shooting and the Pulse shooting were all committed with legally obtained guns. Many mass shootings are committed by killers who legally obtained their weapons, and still most of the United States doesn't want gun reform.
The Main Arguments
Most of the arguments I've heard against gun control are the following:
We have the right to bear arms.
Criminals will just find other ways to get guns.
I would never kill anyone, so why can't I have a gun?
I want to be able to protect myself.
Firstly, yes, the second amendment gives Americans the right to bear arms. But keep in mind that the second amendment was added to the constitution in 1791, 101 years before the first automatic and semi automatic weapons were invented. The amendment does not refer to the weapons that were used in these killings. You couldn't murder 58 people and injure approximately 869 people in a span of 10 minutes when that amendment was written, but that's exactly what happened in Las Vegas in 2017.
Secondly, yeah, there will be people who still obtain and use these weapons, but wouldn't it make sense to make it harder to get them? Obviously it won't make the problem go away completely, but it will certainly lessen the issue and that's really the most we can do.
Thirdly, things change. People change. People become killers for any range of reasons. Heartbreak, jealousy, frustration, prejudice, religion, mental illness, or no real reason at all. So how is everyone supposed to trust that everyone with a gun won't ever suffer anything that may lead them to murder? Wouldn't it just be easier to not allow people to have easy access to tools for mass murder?
Lastly, this is the main argument I hear and I get it, I do, it's the reason the second amendment was created in the first place. Protection is a valid reason to want to own a weapon, absolutely, but do you really need a semi automatic gun for that? Your goal should not be to kill the other person to protect yourself, just disarm them or scare them off, you don't need a gun for that. Try a taser. You won't really have to worry about accidentally murdering someone with that. Knives, nunchucks, tasers, baseball bats and even swords will work just fine for protection and are less of a risk.
Also Lets Not Forget About Accidental Gun Deaths
and the list goes on...
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