I don’t like guns. I have never shot a real gun (one that could kill something or someone). A BB gun once or twice as a kid, but that’s about it. I don’t mind guns. If someone feels the need to own guns for safety or hunting, I am okay with that. Gun collecting is good also. But the selling and owning of semi-automatic and automatic weapons are a different story. There is only one use these weapons have, killing large numbers of living beings in as short amount of time as possible. Maybe the military needs these weapons, though in today’s military there is probably much better technology available.
Would outlawing these types of guns cause the loss of freedom for our cititzens? Sure would! I don’t care about that particular loss. How about the argument that only criminals will have guns? I am not sure of the percentages but I doubt most criminals carry around automatic weapons with or without bump stocks. Most guns used in a violent manner are hand guns and hunting rifles. It is the mass murders that I am going after here. Our gun death rate is 40 times higher than in Britan. Japan had 1 gun death in the last year, the U.S. had 30,000. Our mental illness rate is not 40 times higher than Britain. So why is this considered a mental illness issue. Sure someone who would commit this type of mass murder is mentally ill, that doesn’t make all the mentally ill mass murderers. Background checks don’t seem to helping the problem. And we definitely need to beef up the background checks. And make waiting periods much, much longer.
How about we just don’t sell semi automatic or automatic weapons? Once again I’ll hear the cry “Then only the criminals will have the guns“. What if you pass a law that states if you are found in the possession of, or use in the course of a crime, a semi automatic or automatic weapon you are punished with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. First offense or twenty second offense, makes no difference. This may help deter the use of this type of weapon. Though it still won’t help with those that are probably going to kill themselves before they are caught. Or those that know they will be shot by police and don’t care. But if they can’t buy the weapons in the first place at least we stop those that might be gearing up now.
How many times have I heard “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people“. Not an easy line to argue with. But…If people can’t get the guns then people can’t kill people, at least with guns. Many other ways will be used but we are talking guns here and now.
Yes stricter gun laws take away our freedom. At least our freedom to the right to bear arms. What about the freedom to live without fear? What about our freedom to listen to music, pray in our churches, synagogues and mosques, play baseball, dance all night long, attend classes? The fact that people in this country can legally own weapons designed to kill large numbers takes away the freedom of peace in our lives.
Let’s finally make a stand, make a choice, make a decision. Are we to allow this type of weapon to continue to take lives? Or will we finally turn a corner and see that gun laws are a necessary (and maybe painful) truth in this day and age?
Let’s look closely at Australia (2 decades of declining gun violence), Britain (a constant example of how lack of citizen gun ownership works), Japan (where it is so against the culture that even the criminal elements forsake the use of guns). Maybe we can learn something, take our head of our asses, and become a truly civilized country.
The Word By Namdoog Kir 