There is a saying about guns that goes, "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". Individuals who are pro-gun stand by this statement, and to an extent this is true. Mass shootings require a person behind the trigger, but who is to say who's behind the trigger? Time and time again America has proven that our gun laws are not strict enough. This freedom paired with a lack of gun control allows for mass shootings within seconds.
Now, I understand the benefits of guns in very certain scenarios. I'm aware that it provides some people with comfort and a sense of safety, which everybody has a rights to. In a secure location such as a designated shooting or hunting area guns pose much less of a threat, and what you do on your own time is fine. But the people at shooting ranges are not the ones killing regular people with assault weapons. The guns that are making headlines are the ones used in cities, held by misguided, angry, and scared people who are volatile.
Right now we live in a nation absolutely terrified, and fear is a gun's best friend. All of these recent shootings like in Orlando, Dallas or Newtown and Aurora have been spurred by hate and anger. Hate and anger, mixed with loose gun laws have allowed countless people to take extreme action, and instill fear on an entire nation.
Scared people with guns are not the answer. We have already proven that. So how could MORE scared people with guns make more sense?
The argument that more guns is the answer is misinformed. Some believe that if we were all armed, we would all be safe from each other. How does all of us carrying a deadly weapon every day help? Personally, I don't want to live in a world where everybody around me is carrying a gun, purely out of fear. I don't want my children growing up to learn that everyone is dangerous, and violence is the only option because we have no faith in humanity.
Our nation cannot let the world go on as it has this past week. In this case, I'm not just talking about "Black Lives Matter"- I'm talking about basic will to live sans fear. This cannot be a country that gets very upset but never finds a solution. As we've seen, anger is building on all sides and the angrier we get the more gunshots seem to be fired.
My black brothers and sisters live in fear because no matter how upstanding they are, their life could be in danger at any moment. People of all races and sexual orientation are reminded that nobody is immune to guns when we walk through clubs, elementary schools, and movie theaters. Above all America is afraid and angry, wondering what this world has come to.
As has been proven, even trained professionals who we've been raised to trust, and are supposedly the most qualified to have guns, are not always level headed. Countless times they have been influenced to the point of murder, whether it be through racism or willing ignorance. If you have a gun, you're probably more likely to use it. Everybody gets scared, whether the root is racist, mental, or something else, but the thing that stops our initial fear is the two seconds that follow panic, the reassurance that everything is okay and we were wrong. If we pulled out a gun every time we were afraid of someone's sudden movement, what world would that be? What if we didn't have that reassurance and recognition that we were wrong, because we just couldn't wait that long to see if we were in actual danger?
Without that filter we have seen countless people fall victim to misinterpretation, hate, and insanity. But imagine if we could remove the object with a trigger?
