Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot in Virginia live on air last week, reviving the hot topic issue of gun control. Many people believe that gun laws should be stricter, and this is the solution to the problem. I, on the other hand, completely disagree with that school of thought.
In my 19 years of life, I've witnessed more devastating gun violence than my parents did through the deaths at Newtown, Aurora and many more. It's heartbreaking, and we question why we aren't doing more to protect ourselves from the devastating events that guns cause. The answer, in my mind, is simple. I don't expect everyone to agree with my view on the matter, but please hear me out. Guns don't kill people. People kill people. The reality of that must be extremely shocking to people, that living, breathing human beings are the ones who pull the trigger.
Now I would not go as far to say we don't need better gun laws, but my view of that issue is that people who want to be in the possession of a gun will find a way, stricter laws or not. My deep-seated belief is that we need to begin treating the people, the very ones that pull the deadly trigger, before they have the chance to cause harm. Mental health awareness is how we need to begin fixing the problem. We need to begin teaching parents what the warning signs are and how to look for them and teach the same lessons in school. Suicide is the eighth-leading cause of death in the U.S. About 30,000 people die each year from suicide, and about 500,000 others attempt to kill themselves. 26.2 percent of people 18 and older suffer from some form of mental illness.
To put those numbers in perspective, I'll offer you the approximate number of people that die each year from gun violence, 12,561. That's about half the number of people who commit suicide each year. So why are guns still being presented as the problem? Through statistics and day-to-day life we've come to discover that we are our own worst enemies, and it's time we changed that.
It's time we talked about mental illness the same way we would a common cold because they're illnesses like the rest. We need to stop stigmatizing depression, anxiety and OCD, to name a few, and begin making it acceptable to ask for help. Mental health awareness and education are the solutions among many others that needs to be explored. We are genetically predisposed for mental illnesses such as depression, and the reality of that is that 6.7 million women and 3.2 million men suffer from depression yearly. It's an issue that affects each of our lives at one point or another; none of us can really out run it's effects.
Whether you agree or disagree with my views on gun violence, I want you to take a moment right now and ask yourself something. Could Newton, Columbine or Aurora have been prevented? Would access to guns have changed the outcome?
If you take nothing else away from this, I hope you remember that guns don't kill people; people kill people.
