Lets Dissect the issue of gun laws for a minute. When discussed, people usually fall into two categories. Those that want stricter laws, and those that want less. The underlying issue here is the safety of this country’s citizens. People would say this is an unpopular topic, I disagree. With its prevalence in social media and regular media I would say this is maybe one of the most popular topics in America. Why is it such a popular subject? Because, the safety of this nation's children is at risk. How much at risk are we? Well in 2009 we had 3 gun homicides per 100,000 population. Doesn't
sound like much to you? Well when you compare the US with other developed countries you start to see the picture a little clearer. Lets take Australia, with arguably the most restrictive gun laws in the world, they have a 0.1 gun related homicide per 100,000 population. Think its simply correlation not causation? How about New zealand? With a whopping 0.26 gun related homicide per 100,000 population.Or the UK with a 0.03 gun related homicide per 100,000. How about France, with its 0.23 per 100,000. The common thread with these countries that have significantly lower
gun homicide rates? Stricter gun laws. Ok some of you may have noticed that all of those figures have been “gun related homicides”. So the argument can be made that stricter laws may not actually lower homicide rates. However let me counter that with this. New Zealand: 2009 homicides by any means, 134. France: 2009 homicides by any means, 428. UK: 2009 homicides by any means, 724.Australia: 2009 homicides by any means, 43. United States: 2009 homicides by any means, 14,159. So not only do countries with stricter gun laws have less gun related homicide yearly, they also have lower over all homicide rates. Weird considering everybody who leans to the right of this debate say that if we would just relax our gun law we would all be safer.
Looks like the world is following a trend of stricter gun laws and lower homicides, and the US is just sitting back and saying “oh well” “our citizens are dying, but oh well”. Why? Just so you can have your toy? Just so you can pretend you are safer with that gun on your hip? Everyday I hear people talk about a gun crime saying “if we could just open carry that wouldn't happen”. The only thing open carry would do is make you a target, Im really tired of everybody thinking they are John Wayne or Dirty Harry, and that if they had their 45 strapped to their leg they could quick draw and kill a would be murderer before they have a chance to take a life. I'm here to tell you otherwise. In 2009 a man in my home town chased and shot down a woman in the local HEB. I live in Texas, concealed carry is allowed here. Not one person pulled out a gun to defend that woman or to stop him afterwards. He drove off into a high speed chase slamming into a Walmart in a town over, killing two others before he was shot by police. I am sorry to tell you but guns do not make us safer. The bystander affect happens whether or not people are allowed to carry guns. Now let me make a point that my friends on the left won't like much. While guns do contribute to the problem, they are not the whole picture. Tragedies like Columbine, like Virginia Tech, and Newton, happened because of our country’s neglect of mental health. Talking about people who are mentally ill and disturbed is a taboo we as an American people need to get over. Pay attention to the kid crying in the corner, don't just tell them to toughen up and stop crying or ignore them all together. Listen to the kid who just wants to talk. Stop over medicating, all it does is suppress until the person blows, kills themselves, or commits a terrible crime. Before we see a decline in these types of tragedies we have to see a decrease in the stigma that surrounds mental health. Take money out of the drugs we feed our citizens and put it into therapy and counseling. Stop big corporations from dumping chemicals into our water and start pushing for clean practices and less additives in our food. This country is in bad shape, guns are not the only contributing factor, but they are not helping. All that being said, what we really need to be focused on is compassion for your fellow human. We are a nation divided and all we do is yell over the other side who is yelling back just as loud. We have to talk, hear out each side and agree. Lets fix ourselves.
(All facts and figures can be found at http://www.gunpolicy.org and for a closer look at Australia's gun laws check out, http://www.factcheck.org/2009/05/gun-control-in-australia/ )
James C. Romo
