An Endless Cycle
Back in 2016, Orlando was horrific, and like many people, both on TV and on Facebook are at debate again on whether the government is after our guns or how “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” -NRA (unofficial Slogan). I recently posted a video on my Facebook about Obama (from a PBS special) speaking about what his plan is (or was, if it cannot be achieved before his term ends). I strongly agree with what he said. Update: Even with the Filibuster, the common-sense law was not passed.
These are some points that were made that I find make a good idea for how we can keep our guns and prevent shootings from happening again. After 9/11, we regulated security on airplanes. Made security checks more thorough and took extra precautions on the planes themselves. After high-traffic deaths, we regulated how people got licenses and who knew their responsibility was to drive. If you constantly drive drunk, speed at dangerously high levels, or constantly strike people with your car, you should not be allowed to drive. There is a reason why automatic rifles were made illegal to have; one person should not be allowed to have a gun with that much power. Everyone may have a gun, but they are not ending these shootings. If they are stopping someone, then why aren’t News sources showing these stories, especially those that strongly support the 2nd Amendment?
I do believe people should have guns and support their right to have them, but why is it so easy for someone with severe psychotic issues that doctors and police are aware of to be allowed to buy a gun with no background check, no ID (in many areas), and with little to no wait time? There is an Al-Qaeda video that was brought to my attention while watching “The Nightly Show” that states that we do not have regulated gun laws; you can go in and get a gun, so why not? Some of it is not 100% accurate, but it doesn’t change the fact that it is to get a gun. The only thing stopping me from buying semi-automatic rifles and enough ammo to fill my house is that I don’t have the money.
Background checks will stop some people who pose serious threats to America from having guns, but not everyone is a threat to this nation. Regulating something is not taking it away from everybody. We didn’t take everyone's cars; we didn’t take away everyone’s right to fly; we didn’t take away the right to hunt or fish; we simply place certain rules so people do not abuse what we have or harm others with what we have been given. I see it as a way to add safety. Taking extra precaution is not a bad thing. The Second Amendment states, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” If we are so hell-bent on not infringing, is a mass shooting every few weeks really worth it? It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, even though many people think that’s what’s going to happen, and some even strongly feel that way.
We are blaming terrorists for this attack; the shooter for Orlando was born in New York, and his parents immigrated here in the ’80s when there were no issues between our two nations. He was a homegrown terrorist. There is so much hate directed at a lot of different people, and this just fed his aggression and violence. The big issue is that even though he admitted to pledging to ISIS and that the FBI had been watching him, he was able to get a gun without any issue, legally. This isn’t just a terrorist event; it is also a homophobic and racist attack, and, sadly, most of the victims were of Latino/Hispanic descent.
If you have been placed on the no-fly list and are being watched by the FBI, you can still go buy a gun legally, and nobody can stop you, unless we begin to change. The NRA screams that the government will take our guns away by the mere mention of the word regulate; when in reality Obama and his administration want to stop attacks like this. It should be a simple idea to stop people who only pledge to harm others from getting guns so easily, and yes, if guns are regulated, those who cannot can still get them (just like drugs and other banned items), but then we can push the right moves to punish those who sold the gun in the first place. We can easily debate why he did it, being a radical Islamic, homophobic person with anger issues, but that is for another time.
In the end, if this keeps happening, and people keep passing this off like we’ve done with every other mass shooting that has happened, then maybe we don’t deserve guns. When people say guns don’t kill people, people kill people, it doesn’t change the fact that they still used guns. We need to start making this country great, and we can do this by not acting like children who throw fits when someone suggests that we shouldn’t have all of the cookies in the cookie jar. We can make this country great for the first time by making it safe for everyone. Let’s finally start acting like adults and not the violent children the rest of the world sees us as and expects us to be.
July, 19th 2016