Only a few weeks after a gunman opened fire in an Aurora,
Colorado movie theatre, we have had another violent tragedy in the news. This
morning, a madman entered a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and began
shooting people. Seven people were killed before the shooter was taken down. It
is important to note that the shooter was stopped by the first police officers
on the scene. A twenty year veteran of the police force and was shot multiple
times before a second officer managed to take down the shooter. The officer is
currently in critical condition after surgery, but is expected to survive.
This tragedy leaves us with a lot to discuss. We do not know
for sure the motives of this lunatic, but the Sikh community is one that has
faced many threats, incidents of violence and general suspicion, especially
since 9-11. This is mostly because they wear turbans and are often confused
with being Muslim. We can and should have a discussion on the issue of
religious and racial hatred, but it is impossible to ignore what the real issue
is here. Guns.
As a Nation, we seem to be incapable of having a serious
discussion on the issue of gun control. In the wake of the Aurora tragedy,
neither President Obama nor Republican candidate Mitt Romney wanted to discuss
the issue. To have yet another event like this happen so soon after that one, I
don’t see how we can avoid the conversation much longer. Then again, we’ve
managed to avoid having it after having Presidents assassinated, Columbine,
Virginia Tech, and a United States Senator shot, along with the two recent
attacks. If none of those events could make us really get serious about gun
control, I’m not sure what can.
It goes beyond those big events though. In 2010 there were
12,996 recorded murders. Of those murders, 8,775 of them were committed with a
gun. The NRA will argue that those statistics are still down 4% from 2009.
I don’t see how anyone can look at those numbers and not be appalled. We
clearly have a problem.
Now I believe in the 2nd amendment. I grew up in a
house that had guns. I was raised to treat guns as something to be cautious and
respectful of. People should be allowed to own firearms for personal protection
and for recreational sport and hunting. Despite what the NRA wants people to
believe, most of what people want in gun control doesn’t involve taking away
people’s guns. The slippery slope argument doesn’t hold water anymore. Banning
AR and AR style guns needs to happen. If you need an Assault rifle for hunting,
then you suck as a hunter and need to learn to use a regular rifle. If you need
one for self-defense, then I have to ask who do you have coming after you that
you need an assault rifle. If the NAVY SEALS are at your door, you’ve clearly
done something wrong. We should band extended magazines as well. We need
stronger background checks and waiting periods, especially for gun shows. A
mental health history should be a roadblock for buying a gun. A lesson learned
from the Aurora tragedy is that online sales of ammo need better monitoring.
None of these things are unreasonable. Nothing is going to happen through until
some lawmakers from both parties decide to stop being afraid of the NRA.
You can argue that bad people will get guns no matter what,
but you can’t convince me that adding more safety checks and banning certain
extreme weapons and modifications won’t lower these gun violence statistics. If
it were to only lower it by 1% it would be worth it. Too many gun deaths are
happening in America. It has to stop. I hope we as a nation and our leaders can
begin to have a real conversation on what to do about this, before we have to
see another tragedy like todays in the news.
*image taken from the Boston Globe.
Hey buddy, I feel there are much deeper issues that need to be addressed than gun control when discussing these terrible actions. I think that instead of blaming gun laws, we need to turn our attention to why these things happened. What was the motivation? I consider "gun control" to be a distraction from the real issues that have caused this problem...
ReplyDeleteWe need to be honest with ourselves and look at the overall system to see where the failures lie. We need to ask ourselves, "how did this person come to believe that this was the correct action?"
We also need to look at how our society condones violence and be honest enough with ourselves to admit that we are at best hypocritical. Our government encourages violence, and "the people" they represent encourage it. We conduct war, use drones to drop bombs, conduct covert operations in countries we can't find on a map, and yet we act surprised when violence happens here. We are the worlds largest weapons exporter, yet you suggest that guns shouldn't be allowed here? One of the most astounding things this violence shows is how far out of touch we are with the suffering the rest of the world experiences on a regular basis. A suffering we provide through weapons sales and often create using our own military around the world.
We need to spend our energy on growing in a positive direction, not fighting a negative. We need to invest in proactive areas like genuine education, accessible mental-health services, and creating job opportunities. We need to spend our energy on making these things grow, and take away energy from fighting, military, and the investment in weapons.
It may be much easier to point fingers at a symptom, but don't forget that no problem is solved by covering up a symptom and ignoring the root of the problem.