Gun control. Two words. That's all it takes to start an argument between two people or more. One side, on the left, is calling for more control, the other side calling for less/none at all. And then there are people, such as myself, who do not blame guns for the wave of mass shootings but know that one doesn't need an assault rifle to defend themselves when a pistol could easily suffice. If you are an American citizen who obeys the law and goes through the tedious process one must do to obtain a fire arm, then your rights to own a gun should not be infringed upon.
Before I get attacked for my views by internet trolls, hear me out and digest the words I have written. There is a huge component to the argument that has gone widely overlooked. If this violence is to stop or at least be decreased, then I put forth these two ideas. Firstly, teach gun safety in schools across the country. I was 11 when I started middle school, we were taught archery in gym class. We shot live arrows from actual bows, not the cheap plastic ones you could get from the dollar store. We did this for nine out of the 10 days; the first day we were taught how to use a bow and shoot an arrow without inflicting harm onto anyone else.
Yes, I know a gun is different from a bow and arrow, but the concept is the same. I learned how to safely do archery as if it was second nature to me. So I beg the question: why not teach students about gun safety in schools? It doesn't have to start with middle school. Teach students little by little in each year in elementary school, middle school and high school. Desensitize kids at an early age, but do it in a way that teaches the dangers that come with a gun, as one can find with a bow and arrow. Instill it in their minds at a young age just so it'll be easier to understand as they get older.
The second part, in my view, is most crucial in this effort. You can point the finger at guns getting in the wrong hands as the problem. You can point it at mental health. These people have a point that I agree with. Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Dylan Roof and countless others have all committed heinous acts of horror, from a high school and movie theater in Colorado to a church in South Carolina. All had been classified as kids with mental issues, but what else did they have in common?
If we want this kind of violence to stop or decrease, then people, particularly students at an early age, must be taught the value of human life. Yes, I am echoing a quote said by Samuel L. Jackson, who was tired of all these God damn shootings in this God damn country! (I tried). Along with countless others, those listed above clearly did not value the lives of their fellow man and (in most cases) their own. Had they done so, these shootings, I dare say, may not have happened.
Am I saying that everyone who shoots someone automatically doesn't value human life? Absolutely not. Sometimes, it is because we value the life of others or our own that we pull the trigger on someone. But with the shootings that have happened in the past, the perpetrators were not defending themselves. They set out to kill a classroom full of first graders or a movie theater full of people. Those who were not armed and could not defend themselves. They were massacred.
Is this plan perfect? Of course not. Will this stop shootings in the US? Most likely not. But this is a better alternative to other plans proposed by our politicians. All that has been done is pointing the finger at guns and mental illness. Teach our youth the value of human life and teach them gun safety at an early age and maybe, just maybe, this kind of violence will decrease.
