There has been a lot of debate over the second amendment for many years now, and the recent shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston has brought up this discussion once again. On the night of June 17, a man who was given a gun as a birthday present took the lives of nine innocent churchgoers. The Second Amendment allows for an individual to keep and carry a gun, making it extremely easy for anybody to obtain a weapon. Because it’s so easy to obtain a gun, there are now more than 280 million guns in the hands of civilians, giving them easy access to bringing more violence into the country. If there weren't guns in the hands of civilians then there would be far less violence and less hate crimes.
I understand that the Second Amendment is put in place for people to be able to protect themselves and their families from any danger they are put in… but think about it, if nobody had a gun (besides those serving in the military and police) there would be less violence in the world. Owning a gun opens up the door to violence and destructiveness – it gives the owner the capability to end a life. It can neither be expected nor guaranteed for a gun owner to use the gun solely for “protection.” Over 30,000 deaths in the United States are a result of a handgun, so why do we keep putting the deaths in the hands of everyday citizens?
Churches and temples are supposed to be a sacred and safe place for people to find their spirituality, but now the secure feeling of being in a holy place has been taken away from United States citizens. Especially after the Charleston church shooting, it is evident that these places of protection are no longer really “protected.” After an hour of sitting in the church with his victims, getting to know them and their religion, the gunman opened fire. He took nine lives even after the people of the church took him in with open arms and welcomed him into the church. Anybody can be put in this type of danger at any time.
In President Obama’s speech about the shooting, he stated, “I’ve had to make statements like this too many times…innocent people were killed, in part, because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun…at some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.” Obama took my thoughts and put them into words. This kind of incident has occurred too many times, and there is no reason for it to be happening at all.
I do not know what will happen in the future regarding gun laws and the Second Amendment, but in my opinion, having no guns at all or very restricted access to guns would lead to a safer environment and less people would be scared to go about their daily routines. I truly believe that if there were absolutely no guns in the hands of civilians, there would be far less violence and less hate crimes. However, people already guns and because of the Fourth Amendment, they cannot be taken away from their owners. So, even though I wish Obama could take away everyone’s guns, for now I can just hope it becomes very difficult for people to obtain access to guns.
