I am sick of my phone being flooded with text messages asking if I’ve heard about the latest shooting. Mass shootings have become so normal that it makes my stomach churn. I’m afraid every day that I am going to lose someone I love to terrorism. Something needs to be done.
Yes, the right to bear arms is important, and I am not suggesting that we retract the second amendment. Yes, Cain killed Abel with a rock. Yes, we have a heart problem more so than anything else. However, more people are killed with guns in the United States than anything else. Yes, if someone wants to kill someone, they will find a way. Mass shootings are not performed with rocks or knives. Over 100 people were injured or killed in Orlando because of a man with evil in his heart and a gun in his hand.
I find it disturbing that it would be easier for me to get a gun than it was to get my drivers license. You don’t have to prove that you know how to use a gun to buy it. Even though background checks are performed, apparently that means nothing. The Orlando shooter was reportedly on terrorist watch lists and was still approved to purchase weapons.
Law abiding citizens who are mentally stable, without a criminal record, and educated on gun safety should have the right to own a gun to protect themselves. Personally, I wouldn’t feel safe going out and buying a gun unless I was required to take a test to prove my knowledge of gun safety or required to take a class.
I’m not going to pretend that I know enough about guns to propose a solution. I, and so many others, are reacting out of fear. I shouldn’t have to be scared to go out and have a good time with my friends or to school. I shouldn’t feel like I have to look over my shoulder everywhere I go. I shouldn’t have to worry constantly about my family all over the United States. I shouldn’t have to live in anticipation of waking up to the news reporting a new attack. It makes me angry that the America that I learned about in school, the safe America, the land of the free, is being molded into a target.
Something has to be done. No one can deny that. I am outraged at the people committing these acts just like everyone else. I believe that it is important that we have a way to defend ourselves just like everyone else. I also believe that I shouldn’t be able to walk into a store and pay for a gun no questions asked. I don’t claim to know what the best course of action would be, but I do know that something has to be done. A change needs to be made. I want to be able to feel safe again.
