This year the topic of gun control has once again started a social media fire. Despite the glaring evidence supporting the implementation of new gun control, our congress voted down all four gun bills that were put up after the Orlando nightclub shootings. Conservatives begging to keep their guns continue to ignore the facts, while people continue to die every day due to gun violence.
The second amendment is severely antiquated. When it was created, you had to reload your gun after every shot. Now people are able to shoot off dozens of rounds in mere seconds. Semi-automatic weapons weren't even an idea in 1776. James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights with the threat of invasion from the British empire looming over his shoulder, where the American population was our military. The entire premise of the second amendment is "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to bear arms, shall not be infringed." Now we are past the age of needing a militia and have armed forces so that protect us so we do not have to protect ourselves.
If I hear the phrase "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" ever again I might scream. Guns were made with the purpose to kill. They didn't create guns to go injure someone just enough to teach them a lesson, they were designed to kill an enemy during war, not for people to keep them in their homes.
Another argument I hear when attempting to defend my views is that "If we ban guns, people will just find other ways." While yes, there is always another way, that doesn't mean we should just let people have guns. "They'll just use bombs if we take guns away." That's like saying oh, they'll just get another disease if we treat them so we might as well let them die. Guns make mass killings much easier because they are more readily available than bombs and other weapons of mass destruction. If we took away people's guns, they would have to go through many more hoops in order to pull off a mass murder. 67% of all homicides are conducted using firearms, so how can you tell me that there isn't a problem.
My personal favorite question I heard from a conservative family member was "What law would have stopped the Orlando shooting?" One of the four bills that were turned down by congress proposed that anyone who has been investigated by the FBI for terrorist activity should not be allowed to pass a background check. If we hadn't allowed Omar Mateen to pass the background check perhaps those 49 people would still be alive, and hundreds of others would not be scarred for life.
You Conservatives are always searching for ways to give more money back to the tax payers, well gun violence costs each American over $700 every year. Perhaps that could be your first step?
As someone who's hometown has seen the effects of mass shootings, this topic hits close to home. When gun fire opened up at Club Blu during a teen party, killing two teens and injuring several others coming just a month after the Orlando shootings, I had to wonder, what if it would've been me, or my friends? The previous October, during the annual ZombieCon, something that I had attended years before, one person was killed and several others injured when a man with a semi-automatic weapon opened fire in Downtown Ft. Myers. These shootings happen more often than you would think, and without gun reform, these incidents may continue to rise.
By creating gun reform we can save up to 12,000 lives annually. Are the 12,000 people dying every year worth the false sense of protection that guns give people? When did we decide that murder was acceptable? After 22 children died? After people were shot watching a movie? What about when over 100 people in the LGBTQ+ community and their allies were shot at a night club? Because by not making a change, we are sending the message that gun violence is not a big enough problem to be focused on.
