First let me explain my background with guns. I do not own nor have I ever owned a gun. I do not hunt nor do I have a desire to go to a shooting range. Firing a weapon that is designed to kill is just not something my brain has decided is necessary, especially since I have 2 young children. However, I do not condone anyone for owning a gun. I do think there are a few good reasons to own a gun....just do not count self defense, protection or "fear" amongst them.
We live in a country that is consumed by fear. Americans seem to be afraid of anyything they are told is a potential risk whether it's the fear of not having a gun, the fear of Y2K, or the fear of Universal Health Care. There is virtually no evidence to suggest that there could be a repeat of the attacks in Aurora, Colorado yet there was an increase of more than 40% in Colorado residents registering to purchase guns....all because of fear. Americans have good reasons to be afraid of everything, just watch the news. The news is mainly comprised of reasons not to go outside (murderers, rapists, bank robbers, etc..) with some weather (which is usually another reason not to leave the house) and some sports sprinkled in at the end.
It is unfortunate that the only time guns get any attention is when one of these crazy mass murder situations occurs. Then we get to hear a thousand people explain why we need more gun control and 1000 people defending the right to bear arms.....only the end result is we always do nothing. I'm not going to try and argue one side or another but what I will say is that it is ridiculous that a person is able to purchase 6,000 rounds of ammunition and semi-automatic weapons as easily as the Aurora killer did. People on both sides of the gun debate should agree with that. There will always be access to weapons for those who are hell bent on killing others, but I have a hard time believing that regulating the types of weapons, amount of weapons, and amount of ammunition one can purchase along with stricter penalties for violators of gun laws wouldn't have some kind of effect on the roughly 30,000 Americans that die each year from guns. To do nothing about it is to be acceptant of every gun related injury/death in America. Furthermore it is a slap in the face of every victim of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora and every other unnecessary gun related incident.
If the sad tragedy in Aurora has one upside (if you want to call it that) it's that people are at least talking about the gun problems in America. I'd like to see more regulations but more importantly I'd like to see the government/independent studies/college students/anyone take a look at why Americans live in fear and how we can reduce it. Michael Moore is kind of a weirdo, but read his article on the gun debate. He makes a lot of good points, and also addresses the fear factor that people have today. People are always going to kill others but it's the fear that is created when one person kills another, the feeling of "what if this were me" which continues to prevent us from doing anything about it.
I'm not sure what the answer is but at some point we are going to have to figure it out.
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