In the recent events of the Pulse shooting, there has been an excess of discussion revolving around gun control. This topic is one of the most controversial in today's society and everyone seems to have an opinion. My personal opinion is that it is too easy for people to get guns and the guns that people can get are extremely unnecessary.
Guns don't kill people, they make it easier.
Sunday around 2 a.m. the worst mass shooting in America took place in a gay night club, a place that is supposed to be a safe-haven for people who do not identify as straight. The shooter not only took away the lives of 50 LGBTQ+ people, he also took away the one place that LGBTQ+ people could go to escape the everyday hardships they faced.
Omar Mateen had been questioned by the FBI in both 2013 and 2014, yet somehow he was still able to purchase a gun. Although the questioning was inconclusive it is terrifying that someone who was a person of interest was able to legally obtain an assault rifle on June 4 as well as a Glock on June 5 from the same store. Our background checks are clearly not enough, someone who was a person of interest should not be able to obtain any type of gun at all.
The University of Pennsylvania did a study that found that "those with firearms were about 4.5 times more likely to be shot than those who did not carry." This further proves that owning a gun does not necessarily protect you from harms way, in some cases, it makes you more vulnerable. Imagine this: You are asleep in bed when suddenly you hear noises from the kitchen, you start to rifle around trying to get to your gun but the intruder hears you and finds you in your bedroom. You have your gun in hand but half asleep you miss your shot and instead you yourself are shot. Alternatively, the intruder doesn't have a weapon and is robbing your house, you shoot the robber but your life was not in danger and you have just killed someone. Both of these result in someone being unreasonably shot and possibly killed.
I strongly believe that the "need" for guns is not a need at all but merely a want, a want to hunt animals, a want to feel safe or a want to show off. I have not heard a single argument that has caused me to say "yeah in that case you might need a gun."
So I will leave you all with some statistics, in a course of 164 days, there was a total of 173 mass shootings in America alone. A mass shooting is a shooting that resulted in more than 4 injuries. Since 1999 Canada has had a total of 8 mass shootings, Australia has had 9 mass shootings since 2000 and in 2015 America had 372 mass shootings.
It's something to think about, and I hope you will all do your own research and form your own opinions on gun control by looking at both sides and keeping an open mind. For now, we will mourn the lives of the Pulse victims and find a way to stand up and make our voices heard instead of staying silent in the face of fear.
