In 1996, a man armed with an automatic rifle shot and killed 35 innocent people and left 23 others injured in Port Arthur, Tasmania. This historic event prompted Australia to, only 12 days later, create the National Firearms Agreement (NFA).
Recently, on the first of October this year, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock rained gunfire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing 58 concertgoers and injuring 500.
In June of 2016, Orlando, Florida experienced the deaths of 49 people and the injuries of 50 people when Omar Mateen, age 29, set his eyes on Pulse, a gay nightclub.
In 2007 at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia, a 23-year-old student shot fire around campus, killing 32 students and leaving many others injured.
In December 2012, our hearts were paralyzed when Adam Lanza gunned down 27 children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut.
In 1991 in Killeen, Texas, a 35-year-old man crashed his truck into a Luby’s cafeteria, only to then exit the truck and kill 23 people and himself.
Despite these mass shootings and hundreds of others, the United States has not made any changes to their gun control laws. And to those who believe that enacting gun control laws is synonymous with “taking away” your guns, are wrong.
Switzerland has the third-highest level of gun ownership in the world, just behind the United States and Yemen. Though it has an abundance of guns, it is because of their extremely rigid gun laws that crime rates are low and only one mass shooting has occurred in the last two decades.
After every mass shooting in the United States history, gun control is heavily debated across the aisle but NOTHING EVER CHANGES. That is the fundamental problem in the United States. Why are we so inefficient? Is it because we don’t want to let the other side win? If so, here’s a solution that satisfies both parties:
Change the gun culture.
Every country has its own gun culture. America’s gun culture, however, is one that’s self-destructing. Both sides of the aisle are wrong. Australia showed us that it’s not the people. Switzerland showed us it’s not the guns.
The real fundamental issue is that America has an unhealthy relationship with guns, which is something very difficult to change. Bringing any kind of reform to this culture or bringing any change to the number of mass shootings in the United States is extremely difficult. Why?
Because Americans love feeling powerful which is the real reason many Americans own a gun.
And let’s not forget about the National Rifle Association (NRA) that spends millions of dollars every year because they want to engrain in every American’s head that guns are a necessity.
Let’s say that somehow, against all odds, a law was passed tomorrow aimed at gun control, then what would happen? Simple. Nothing. Why? The black market will always exist.
Gun control is an issue that the United States is trying to solve, but is an issue they brought on themselves.
Changing the gun culture will require great leaders at news outlets, in all branches of the government, in every classroom, in the fingers of all artists and the hearts of every home. This won’t be easy but it is necessary.
