Guns and gun violence have been all too popular in the news lately. The mass casualty clock is saddening to look at. It's horrible to think, but mass casualties are becoming far too casual. Terror of traveling, going out, and even just staying home is growing across the country. Everyone is immediately blaming the weapon of choice; guns. This isn't wrong, but It's not 100 percent right either. Guns aren't the sole perpetrator. Horrible people with the intent to cause terror and inflict pain, violence, and suffering will use whatever means possible. Whether that's with guns, bombs, toxins, or some form of radiation, people use whatever they can get their hands on to inflict the most amount of damage. People often choose automatic weapons because they can cause mass amounts death and are available. What many people view as the problem is the availability to purchase guns, but they fail to overlook the main cause of the problem, the people.
Some arguments that they have are as follows:
The right to bear arms is one of the most important rights that our Constitution gives us. This is what allowed our country to be, what brought America here today. Many argue that the constitution is outdated, but I strongly disagree. That right in its simplest of forms is what allowed us to start this country so many years ago. To rule it as outdated is absurd and anti-american. Take away this right and we as Americans are left naked! We will stand absolutely powerless to the government. Some argue that if the government decides to take over that they will come with guns ablaze, meaning that our automatic weapons or simple guns won't do us any good. However, not many people I know will go down without a fight. Additionally if in this so called take-over, the government comes with the idea to destroy everyone, who will be left to govern. Full fledged governmental control will not lead to anything good. Or say a vicious leader comes to power what are we do to? The government has been taken over, and we gave up the right to bear arms, making us absolutely useless. Learn from history America, this isn't the solution.
Many also argue that people are opposed to the banning of guns because of the economical gains. They see it as all "NRA propaganda". Even the discussion of possibly banning guns they say are a part of the NRA's plan to get more money. That they give money to political candidates to advocate against gun control. To attack the NRA as the source of the problem is so far off, it doesn't even belong in their argument. That argument belongs more so to an argument that deals with political corruption and buy-offs. By making the argument that it's all a ruse for money, it only deflates their argument down to the last peg they can stand on. Blaming things on money is a last resort.
Again, the one thing the arguments have in common are the guns themselves. They fail to see that the problem is the people who purchase the weapons. Making guns out to be the "bad guys" isn't even logical. When there's an outbreak with a food virus that millions of people buy at the supermarket, the supermarket isn't blamed but the farms from which they were grown. Blaming the supermarket is the same as blaming the guns. They are both the middle men. One should not shoot the messenger. Aside from the fact that not all gun owners are horrible people. Some use guns for hunting, for food on their table, for pure enjoyment, because it makes them feel safer, for their protection, because it's their right.
The people are the route of this problem. The problem of mass casualty. To get to the point of wanting to inflict such pain and suffering upon others, someone must be slowly disappearing from the outside in. With the shooter of Sandy Hook Elementary, he was in horrible mental shape. He refused medical treatment and behavioral therapies. He was obsessed with mass shootings. A person in that form of a mental state, consumed with the ideas of killing others and himself. This is not to blame his treatment, but more so to show the flaws in the individual. With the Colorado shooting, there were no "off the charts" signs that he would commit such a crime. According to the article, his mental state reads the same as others and many people within that state do not do anything violent and harmful. Not to say that all mass shooters are psychologically damaged or ill, but many tend to be.
On the side or radical-religious based shootings or mass casualties due to terror, those are due to beliefs that cross over moral and ethical boundaries. They are under the belief that their religion is the best and the only way to a perfect society is either to conform if possible or die. Sounds far too familiar to a certain dictators view during World War Two. (Aryan Race, ring a bell?) This is not against religion, or the ability to practice and believe in your own, it's about going past practicing it and using it as an excuse to cause harm to others.
This not an article that is for free range of gun purchasing. Nor is it saying that there shouldn't be measures taken to help with the prevention of mass shootings and casualties. This article is not saying that there should or should not be more gun laws or that more gun restrictions should be made.
This is an article about how people who own the guns cause the problems, not the gun themselves.
