To whom it may concern,
I feel like there will be many articles out there about guns, gun violence, gun laws and so on right now. Especially given recent events. Despite that, I still want to write about it. Do you remember when you were little? There were things you did that made your parents angry, and then there were things you did that made your parents disappointed. Anger is a gut reaction that quickly fades, but disappointment cuts deeper.
I am not angry. Not anymore. That phase of emotion is long past when it comes to the ideals of gun violence in our society. I am disappointed. I am disappointed that we have let it come this far before doing anything of significance.
I will say that I am no all-knowing being who has the answers to solve gun violence. But I will say that doing nothing is what continues to let events like the Pulse club shooting occur. Mass shootings used to be few and far between. Still tragic, but I remember not hearing about these things when I was younger. Now, it is a regular occurrence on our news feeds.
We have heard the debate so many times now. People on the right have heard everything that the people on the left have to say at this point and vice versa. In reality, no new evidence has been brought to light. Nobody has come up with a grand argument that hasn’t already been said. The only thing that HAS changed, is the death toll. That is why I am not going to conclude this article with arguments that clearly just haven’t worked for years now. I am going to plead to your humanity.
I feel like the vast majority of people that own guns truthfully like them for their entertainment value. Hey, I am with you. Who doesn’t like blowing stuff up right? Hell, it is probably more of America’s pastime than baseball. But is it really worth it? There is nothing wrong with asking someone to not take what you enjoy away from you. That is a completely fair argument. But I think this one is just as fair: Say you give up every single gun you own, right down to the one that fits in your coin purse, if it gave the possibility to save even one life. Is it worth it? Because that one could be a complete stranger, or it could even be your wife, your son, or a friend. To me, it would be easy to give away every gun my family owns if it means the percentage of my loved ones living, goes up.
I have been hearing the saying “but what if the victims had a gun” quite a bit lately and I have to say that it disgusts me. When you say this what you are actually doing is taking blame from the perpetrator and placing it on the victims. Take that saying and apply it to another scenario we are already too familiar with. “But if she had a gun, maybe she wouldn’t have been raped.” The minute you start to think there was something that the victim could have done to not be harmed is when you start taking blame from one side to the other, and the 49 people that died in the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, should not be blamed for anything.
I am not sure what to say anymore. Nothing has worked for the past three-and-a-half years since the Sandy Hook Massacre inspired gun reform, yet so many people keep getting shot. To me that is the real slippery-slope argument: That we continue to do nothing, and gun violence keeps adding to the body count. Every year, that slope seems to get steeper and steeper.
Sincerely,
A concerned citizen
