So this is about guns. As most of you know I am not writing this blog to make friends. This is a very opinion based blog and I use it to get my thoughts and sometimes random dribble out there. I say all of this knowing that I have a veritable loaded weapon in my hands with this topic, pun intended. First I want to take a historical look at the argument for guns. At the time of the writing of the second amendment the budding country had just finished fighting a revolution (by the way I am not a history major so I don't have exact dates, please don't hang me for it). At that time the country had just defended itself from a tyrannical governing body that threatened their basic civil liberties. The threat of the people having to rise up and protect themselves from an overbearing militia was very real! So yes when the amendment was written (and lets remember the word amendment for later), it made a great deal of sense! Now lets comeback to the present day. Here in the United States of America, we have the strongest military in the world. Why dose this matter? Well a good number of people still make the argument that we need our guns just in case we have to rise up and defend ourselves from the government. Please tell me you all see how ridiculous this is. The government here in the U.S. has the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world! Your 45. is not going to matter if they let one of them off the chain. Now I realize this is a sensationalist idea, the government is not going to fire a nuclear missile at us, but remember thats just the nuclear fire power they have. The government also possesses fighter planes, non nuclear missiles, and lets see, oh yeah, the entire military! That Glock will not protect you against a platoon of marines, or a stealth bomber. My point here is if the government wanted to put us into a police state and become tyrannical, they could, we are powerless in an arms race.
Now remember that word amendment? So there is a large group of people in the U.S. (and when I say large I mean the majority), that say the right to bear arms is a human right. To them I say you are partially correct, we were given the right to obtain and posses firearms under the second amendment. However, it is only an amendment. This one is hard for people to wrap their heads around mostly because it is a bit complicated and to be honest I don't fully understand it either, but here is my take on it. The ability to make amendments to the constitutions was made by the founding fathers because they could not possibly for see future changes therefore knew that the day would come that the constitution would need to be adjusted to fit the times. To me (as I stated earlier) the right to bear arms was a very good idea when it was amended to the constitution, now not so much. There is no longer a real threat that we will have to defend against tyranny. Ok so far it sounds like I am this one hundred percent liberal that wants to ban all guns from the world! Not so, (and this is the point where I lose all of my supporters on the gun control side), guns are useful in a moderate way, hunting I view as a legitimate reason to own a gun, (that may be Texas talking), also in home defense in my eyes is acceptable. I do not however support the ability to freely carry guns with you where ever you go. This to me is insane! It has been proven that guns only escalate tense situations. Lets look at some infamous situations where the ability to carry guns has become very tragic. Currently it is legal to carry firearms in your car, so Charles Whitman, the man who killed 13 and injured 32 from the tower at the University of Texas, well within his right to own and carry that firearm. James Holmes was also well within his rights to own and carry the guns he used to kill twelve people in a Colorado movie theater. Right about now the people against stricter gun control are saying that these are isolated cases and the actions of a few should not negatively affect many. I would agree with this sentiment if it had any validity. The truth is that we don't hear about are the ruffly 82 people that are killed a day due to gun violence and firearm accidents. 82 a day! The reason we here about the Whitmans and Holmes of the world is because they are large numbers at one time. We don't hear about the 82 that died today because they happened all over the country and at different times of the day, but that does not make them any less tragic.
Right now people on both sides are confused and not sure where to categorize me. Its simple I see both sides and I don't fault either for believing what they do. I believe that there are legitimate reasons to own a firearm. I don't believe in the ease with which you can acquire a gun. Also the amount of weapons and ammunition one can get a hold of with out raising eyebrows is astonishing. Why is it that police officers and other law enforcement positions have to go though a psych evaluation? It is because they are being trusted with a firearm and we need to be sure they are of sound mind before we release them into the world carrying a weapon, but if I want a shotgun all I need is a clean background and money? There are people trained to tell if someone has or is of high risk for mental issues, I am aware that not all who shoot people have a mental problem, some are just evil, but if it can stop just a third of the gun deaths it is a victory. I realize this is in no way a solution but it would be a step in the right direction. There defiantly need to be stricter laws in place to obtaining a weapon. Lastly who needs an assault rifle? An assault rifle! I said before that there are legitimate reasons to own a firearm, however there is absolutely no reason to own an assault rifle. People argue they hunt with them, it is not necessary to use an assault rifle to hunt! Something as low tech as a bow and arrow will suffice.
When something injures and kills as many people as firearms do a year, the people of the United States, ban it or at the very least put stricter laws surrounding it. We did it with alcohol we did it with cigarettes, guns should be no different. Thousands of people die a year during some kind of gun related incident. Why do we continue to allow these weapons to go largely under regulated?
This country is meeting tragedy with indifference, that in itself is tragic.
James C. Romo
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