A much debated topic. The cause of pain and resentment. Our second amendment.
The right to bear arms. In other words, being able to possess and carry guns.
Recently, as I have been abroad in England, I have continuously been questioned about my views on gun control as most people over here do not understand The United States' views on the controversial topic. And here I will be quite frank, I believe in excessive gun control. I think it is far too easy to obtain such a dangerous weapon and they are handled far too casually.
When I first arrived in England I was shocked to find that I was not allowed to carry my pepper spray, let alone a pocket knife. Back at my home university at Georgia Southern this would be unheard of. Many of my sisters would not leave for a night out without some kind of protection. It was common for the southern boys I have come to know to have guns stowed away in the cars. People were shocked at the fact that I have never in my life fired a bullet. Collecting guns was a hobby. Hunting was a pastime. I feel as though the U.S. doesn't properly see just how different our views of guns differ from the rest of the world.
The United Kingdom has one of the lowest rates of gun homicides in the world. Gun's have been banned in the Queen's country following the shocking massacre at Dunblane in Scotland. On 13 March Thomas Hamilton walked into the gym at Dunblane primary school and killed 16 young children and their teacher. And while there are special units of police who are armed, the majority of officers do not carry guns. Instead, they find other, less lethal ways to stop their target. Immediate violence should not be the answer. And that is how I feel guns to be. They are very impersonal. Just a pull of a trigger and the person firing gets to walk away free. No struggle. No seeing the spark go out of someone's eyes.
The logic that I find confusing is the idea that adding more guns to the equation would create more peace. When America was overtaken by sadness after all the tragic school shootings in the past years, I began to deeply question how arming teachers would help save lives. The more guns that are provided, the more we as a nation seem to live in fear. Personally, I have never felt so safe walking home from a night out as I do in England. Having stricter laws correlates to the public's overall feeling of safety. At Georgia Southern this past year there was shooting directly across the apartments I resided in. It was so horrible, yet all too common. As of October 10, there have been 53 school shootings in 2015 alone leaving 30 dead and 53 injured. Where one shooting in England makes national headlines it might only be a quick story brief on a local station in The States.
The devastating terrorist attacks this past week on Paris once again calls into the question the accessibility of guns. A few days after the lethal attacks, this is what the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had to say:
“When you look at Paris, toughest gun laws in the world, nobody had guns but the bad guys,” the Republican presidential candidate said during an appearance in Texas, in remarks broadcast by CNN. “And I will tell you what—you can say what you want, if they had guns, if our people had guns, if they were allowed to carry, it would have been a much, much different situation,” Trump added.
For me, as a citizen of the United States, I would just like to ask Trump exactly how the situation would be different. Yes, maybe on one hand if all of Paris was armed they could have shot down the terrorists before they did excessive damage. That is a fair possibility. But on the other hand, if everyone was armed it is possible that mass panic and mob mentality would take over and cause the death toll and overall destruction to be so much worse.
All that aside, the tragedy in Paris has saddened the world. I pray for the family and friends of those injured and lost. And I pray for peace. Peace of mind for those suffering and peace for Paris.
So you ask what Trump's course of action would be? He told the public at a speech given in Fort Dodge, Iowa:
"I would bomb the sh*t out of 'em. I would just bomb those suckers."
I somehow find it hard to see how more violence is the answer. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., "Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that."
MLKJ I couldn't agree more.
