With the big Walk Out protest that happened just recently, the whole issue of gun control has been at the forefront of my mind. A lot of people my age seem to believe that having more gun control will lessen the amount of mass killings/mass shootings that are occurring in America.
They believe that banning assault weapons will solve the problem. They believe that requiring a universal background check before gun sales will solve it. They also believe that "Pass[ing] a gun violence restraining order law that [will] allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior" will solve it.
Unfortunately, they are wrong.
The problem with banning assault weapons is that the definition is uncertain. Going by the definitions of assault, "...[to] make a physical attack on" (Google Dictionary), and weapon, "...a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage" (Google Dictionary), any firearm, blade, or hard enough object can be defined as an assault weapon.
If a person is determined, they can make an assault weapon out of anything.
Like a butter knife, rock, pen, etc., as long as it can be used to inflict harm/physical damage while attempting to physically attack another person.
The problem with requiring universal background checks is that there are already state requirements in place. I feel that background checks should be required when buying a gun, but that they should be required by state law, not federal law.
They need to come from the right authority, which is state not federal. This is because, in my personal opinion, we shouldn't give federal government unnecessary authority on issues that can be worked out under state authority.
The problem with passing a gun violence restraining order law is who decides what the warning signs of violent behavior are. Is it a committee? A government official? The President?
This just sounds like a slippery slope. This law sounds more like something that will be used to take freedoms from those whose opinions ring different than that of those in power.
I believe that we already have sufficient gun control laws in place. Fully-automatic guns, switchblades, and some semi-automatic guns (depending on if they meet certain criteria) are already banned, so making more laws to ban assault weapons is pointless.
Thus, I believe that our guns and the laws surrounding them are not the true problem in America.
But, before I discuss the real problem, I do feel the need to mention that background checks should be more extensive regarding mental health.
I also believe that if someone was depressed/suicidal, etc., but received treatment and is better, they should have an up-to-date mental evaluation and be declared mentally fit along with their background check in order to get a gun.
This way, people who have overcome their mental illness are not prohibited from enjoying their constitutional rights along with the rest of us.
Now, the real problem, the real reason we have an issue with mass shootings/killings, etc., is because we have a sin problem in America.
We've taken God out of our homes, schools, and political systems. We've sinned against Him by giving in to the lusts of the flesh, by killing the innocent, and so on.
Thus, the answer is that we are sinners, that we are lost. That's our problem.
We've got to come back to God. To recognize that despite our heinous acts, God still loves us. That He loved us enough to send Christ Jesus to die in our place, to pay our sin debt. Because the price of sin is death and eternal separation from God the perfect sacrifice had to be made, a sinless man, the son of God, gave his life.
But Jesus didn't just die, he also rose from the dead. He talked again with his disciples and then ascended into Heaven, where he now mediates for us until his return.
Only in turning from our sins and back to God can what is broken inside of us be fixed.
