Through My Eyes: The American Gun Debate

When I was a kid, I was always afraid of knives. I would avoid the silverware draw at all costs, fearful that my hand might accidentally strike a sharp miniature sword as I was sifting through everything searching for my favorite spoon. Knifes were spiky, deathly sharp weapons... but they were something that I understood. They were something that had actual household use. They were a necessary danger for daily living. 

The concept of a gun was extremely distant from my understanding. While you might think a girl living in a small Texan town would have been absolutely comfortable seeing a rifle or shotgun, that was far from the case. Guns were fictional things used in the Wild Wild West, extreme cases of war, or police for protection against bad guys who were trying to hurt people. I grew up thinking that guns were illegal! Never would I have thought that anyone could go get a permit, then be allowed by the government to purchase a gun. I mean, if someone was in a bad mood one day, then they could pull out their gun, aim it at a bystander, and ultimately end a life. The idea horrified me! I couldn't even fathom the thought that an average Joe, someone I might see walking down the street, could actually have a gun in their coat. 

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The Second Amendment states that all have the right to bear arms (aka anyone can have a gun) and that those rights shouldn't be infringed on by the government. The founding fathers saw guns as means for people to have protect themselves - particularly against a corrupt and oppressive government (as they facing the British threat of tyranny at the time). I can understand the need for the longing to protect guns back then, particularly as American independence was so ripe and in need of protection; but, times have changed. 

I'm not singling out handguns, for I can understand their merit for those who feel threatened or want to be protected (particularly women). What I am talking about is the need to have assault weapons. These weapons, in the hands of criminals, pose an incomprehensible threat to countess innocent people. Semi-automatic weapons are capable of firing far more rounds per minute, enabling criminals to kill more innocent civilians in the event of a massacre. This I don't understand. If people see the need for guns for hunting, or protecting themselves, why would they ever need a weapon that can cause such mass death, pain and destruction in a shocking scale. They are not meant for self defense, they are military weaponry. Their sole purpose is to hunt others down with the intent to kill in mass quantities. Anyone who claims that they require possession of such weapons are senseless. 

On January 8, 2011 in Tuscon, Arizona a 22 year old fired 33 shots, killing 6 (including 9 year old Christina Taylor Green) and wounding 13 (including the critical injuring of Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords).

On July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado a 24 year old fired over 70 shots (100 round ammo magazine capacity), killing 12 and wounding 58 people in a movie theater during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises". 

On December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Conneticut at Sandy Hook Elementary a 20 year old fired over 150 shots and ended the life of 27 people (20 of whom were children aged 6 and 7). 

Just recently in the Senate, measures to develop a renewed assault weapons ban and ensure background checks for all forms of gun purchases were quashed. That fact makes me sick to my very core. Supporting gun control and regulation isn't un-American. Wanting to do everything possible to save the lives of the innocent isn't contradicting the national ethos. America was always meant to be a "city upon a hill" that other nations would strive to emulate. A nation in which people are preventing reforms which could potentially save lives of citizens is cowardly, irrational, and far from warranting emulation.

The role of government is to regulate and protect it's people from not only the threat of other nations, but from one another. Congress is losing sight of that fact. People who long to remain in power are allowing the longing to retain their previous constituencies for the sake of reelection cloud their basic human instincts and judgement. It is time that the need for basic gun control and regulation become a national recognition and understanding. Rather than getting things done, regional and political differences have led to power-plays. Every moment that such reforms are stalled, we get closer to another Tuscon, Aurora, or even Newtown. Enough is enough.