Western World Gun Violence
When this topic is brought up I tend to typically divide it into two sub-topics that come to mind: we get mass-shootings and Gun control in general.
Both are touchy subjects in the western world currently. This is more of a topic based in America rather than Canada, but the conversation comes up enough for me to have calculated where I stand and what I want to say.
The argument that it is not the gun itself that does the damage, it is the one who wields the gun… I mean ya sure there has to be someone there to pull the trigger to commit gun crimes, to shoot the bullets, to murder the mass. BUT let’s just imagine a world where there is no gun possessed by everyday citizens who just walked down to the store one day and picked one up (America). Now if we keep that crazy and totally impossible idea in the back of our heads as we think of a scenario of a mass shooting. Go ahead, pick any one that comes to mind that happened in North America. Got one? Great. Now you’re going about you everyday business when all of a sudden there is the shooter, you look up in fear of almost certain death. The screams settle and there is an awkward silence… There were no shots fired, no triggers pulled, no innocent people killed. Oh ya, that’s because they didn’t have a gun, because we have strict gun laws in Canada, cool you get to live.
Your counter argument to this might be that if someone wanted to get a gun to commit these horrendous acts they could. Technically yes, but I can promise you it would be a hell of a lot harder to do so with laws in place against them.
Let us look at that same mass murder scenario for a second, I know kind of a dark thing to imagine, but stick with me here. You’re a concert this time okay? You hear screams as a crowd begins to flee, and it comes to your attention that there is someone frantically running towards the crowd or stage, but this time, he only has a knife. The crowd notices him, brings attention to the authorities in the area, he is detained. No shots fired, no triggers pulled, no innocent people killed.
Sure it takes a human to pull the triggers, But would it not be safer to just eliminate the trigger entirely?
I would like to take a swing to the more serious side of things for a moment or sixty.
Mass shooting. What an absolutely terrifying word. Just this year in the USA there have already been 5 mass shootings to date (January 21st). These 5 shootings have taken 7 people lives, and injured 15. Last year There were 372 mass shootings in the US, killing 475 people and wounding 1,870. There were also an incredible 64 school shootings. I am aware that there are a lot of numbers and facts in this section but that is because I really need to hit home with this so you may see where I am coming from.
One of the main arguments I hear from those who are pro-gun is that they are to defend their country and themselves from terrorist acts from invaders. I would like to get whoever has read this far down to consider this next fact, and really allow it to sink in. According to the US Justice Department, Council on Foreign Relations, from 2001–2011 in America, removing the incident of 9/11, there has been 17 US citizens deaths due to terrorism. Now let us compare that fact to the one of the same source and time frame. In America, there has been 11,101 deaths due to gun homicide. That is 653 times more deaths than terrorism caused by one of the reasons for possessing a gun.
I find it hilarious that if all of the crazy over the top pro-gun enthusiasts in America had put all of this effort to stick to the amendment into the elimination and banning of guns in their country, there would be SOOO man less problems they would have to deal with.
I genuinely cannot comprehend their need for the possession of a firearm. If their argument is that it is in the second amendment, they are sticking to the right that was created in 1789. In these years the right to bear arms was the right to, if necessary, shoot one bullet and then spend the amount of time reloading the gun as it would take for the other person/people to walk up and stab you. Not to mention the literal next to none accuracy that came with them, making a blade more efficient. Now days, when we are still sticking to this right as if it was the last KFC bucket meal the tables have completely turned. The right to bear arms has now given everyday people the right to, if necessary, shoot dozens of bullets in seconds. Not to mention the pin-point accuracy and the use of a blade completely irrelevant now.
The right to bear arms is a greater threat now than ever before, and if you cannot tell from my opinion incredible outrageous and unnecessary.
