Maybe Obama should take away your guns
By Brandon Williams
Los Angeles Informer
We obviously aren’t being responsible with them.
Today, with a tragedy in Connecticut only a few days after a horrific shooting in an Oregon mall which was only five months after a terrifying shooting in a movie theatre in Colorado, and only a year and one half after a shooting occurred in a Safeway parking lot that killed six people and forever altered the life of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, we have to stop this from happening.
In Newtown, CT., 20 small children lost their innocence today while they were at Sandy Hook Elementary, along with six adults. Their lives were taken by a young man named Adam Lanza. He began his massacre by shooting his mother, a teacher at Sandy Hook, in the home they shared together. He then drove his mother’s car to the school, and then opened fire on children in the two classrooms, including apparently shooting the principle of the school among other adults execution style, At least one of the classrooms his mother had taught in previously. Details obviously are a blur at this point.
This tragedy is worse than any of the previous massacres mentioned due to the victims involved, and I fear one more detail about the shootings will silence the conversation needed.
The shooter used two completely legal and permitted handguns purchased and owned by his mother. This detail has already been exposed and highlighted by gun lovers on twitter who staunchly argue that criminals will always get guns no matter what, and they also highlight that since the guns weren’t assault weapons there should be no new gun laws.
However, in my first article about gun control, I also tried to raise awareness to the mental health of those who are issued guns, or are even around them. Adam Lanza by all accounts was very mentally unstable, and from the first picture release of him, that description is easily agreed with.
We live in a country where a growing number of people are being pinched out of the middle class, making it tougher for them to survive not only physically but mentally. A great number of people are constantly stressed as they try to work hard in hopes of a brighter future, a future in a country that is gradually and grotesquely being set aside for only a few people. Adam Lanza could very well be just a weirdo, who had no hope of being saved, but think about the other shooters, and you’ll come to realize that a few could of very well been stopped and helped if we had a more caring, and accessible mental healthcare program.
In Japan, there are rigorous exams must take to have a personal firearm according to this article: A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths, and their death by firearm numbers are dramatically lower than ours. Yes, it is true that Japan doesn’t have the history of the United States, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something from them.
President Obama, in a teary press conference today, said that the country needs to take “meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.”
Let us hope he actually does try to do something more meaningful. As of today the only gun law Obama has passed is one that allows officials in national parks to carry loaded firearms. Let us hope that we can have a real discussion without the insensitive at Fox News blaming this tragedy on “video games.” If you look at what is trending on Twitter at this exact moment, you’ll see that America is ready, and has been ready to talk, and do something about the now plethora of tragedies that happened in the past few years.
Brandon Williams
I’m a student, a golfer and a writer, but I’m still figuring out what order those should apply to me. I provide a unique prospective from my survival and escape as a liberal in the state of Kansas. You could call me a sports junkie, but only when it comes to the Jayhawks, Royals, Chiefs or Thunder. Overall I’m outspoken, but conservative with my letter bombs. I’m chasing the American dream… at least what it use to be.
The world has turned and left me here.
December 15, 2012 - 2:48 pm
There is one thing you cannot get around… People with mental issues will always be around. People who want to hurt other people and do harm will find a way to do so legally or illegally. While law abiding citizens will be at the mercy of people who have access to guns. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
December 15, 2012 - 5:04 pm
This article has obvious extreme left wing overtones. But not much actual research. These recent tragedies are horrific and were perpetrated by psychopaths. Not your average gun owner. A psychopath when determined to inflict such atrocities will inflict them. Unfortunately we can’t stop someone who is determined to commit crimes like this. A gun isn’t the only lethal weapon out there.
You mention Japan, in 2001 a man in Osaka went on a killing spree at a school with a knife. He killed 8 and injured 15.
Just yesterday a man in china went on a stabbing spree and injured 22.
There are bombings, stabbings, vehicular homoside. They are just tools, weapons. The narrow minded think removal of the weapon will solve the problem… It won’t. It won’t cure a psychopath on a rampage. For all the effort to try to get guns of the street we need to just hire an extra cop, not security. A cop that is posted at every public school durring school hours. And how bout locking the school down while in session? These two no brainier counter measures could have averted this tragity. Our prayers go to the families of this lost. There is no making sence of the senseless.
December 16, 2012 - 1:27 pm
The point I was trying to make is this; This tragedy is probably one that would of happened regardless of any stricter gun laws, but it serves as a reminder of our recent history of these types of events. There are tragedies similar to this that involve certain kinds of weapons that if were harder to access, may prevent one or two events from happening, sparing 40-50 lives, 40-50 families.