It seems like common sense, but sadly one of the "great" nations of the world still cannot get the simple things right. The shootings in Charleston last night did not shock me in the slightest. Waking up to tweets about the church massacre made me shrug. I realise how horrible it is to lose someone unexpectedly and to be murdered in any manner is abhorrent, but massacres in America are now the norm. You expect events like these to happen once in a generation. Unfortunately these things can happen on occasion, but there's a reason why they are more frequent in the USA.
Gun violence in America is part of everyday life. USA is one of the most dangerous country when it comes to deaths by firearms. For all of Fox News' anti-Mexico agenda, the US is right behind their southern neighbours on this list. Yet, many Americans stand behind the old saying "guns don't kill people, people do". This saying has some truth to it. Yes, a person chooses to pull the trigger, but murder will always exist. Therefore if someone wants to kill someone, giving them a gun only increases the chance of death. As we saw with the Beltway sniper attacks, you could be walking down the street and the next thing you have a bullet through your head. In the UK, it is very difficult to get a hold of a gun, making knife crime more worrying. Although many people still die in the UK thanks to knife crime, it is very rare to hear of a massacre. In fact since the 1996 Dunblane shootings - which caused tighter regulations on guns - there have only been two massacres: one being the 7/7 bombings and one being a gun massacre. Two massacres in 19 years looks minuscule in comparison to the 14 since Barack Obama took office - more than two massacres a year.
Obama stated today that "this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries" and he's right. Guns only make it easier to kill someone and control on guns is a must for a developed nation like America. The fact that so many people in the country are pro-gun is baffling. The number one argument for gun enthusiasts is:
"Most people are responsible gun owners and for every bad guy with a gun, there's 100 good guys with a gun."
It's sad how some people still believe in that statement. I am not stating that all gun owners are mad caps who are irresponsible, but when random civilians cause acts of terror it shows that there is no way of preventing this. Yes, there are some obvious cases where you could see it coming from a mile, but there are also cases - like the one today with Dylann Roof - where it was not so obvious. As for the 100 good guys with a gun, they were missing from this massacre like many others.
We shouldn't live in fear of each other. We shouldn't buy a gun to protect ourselves from others - what does that say about us as a society? The fact that a gun's main use is a distrust says more about a nation than actually having a gun.
When the US gets over their obsession with all things barrels and triggers, maybe we will see real reform that can not only change the way the country looks at fire arms, but it could also save lives.
Do you think that guns should be illegal? Do you think they still serve a purpose in 2015? Leave a comment and let me know your opinion.
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