Monday, April 23, 2007

Gun control and me


Having grown up in America, I know that the gun control issue is HOT. No one likes the idea of more legislation on gun ownership (they feel that it takes away their freedoms granted in their constitution), yet many people agree that something must be done to prevent the mass deaths of students (which seem to be the main target of late).

There are a few things that make me uneasy about this though.

1.) The general public are willing to fight tooth and nail for their right to own a personal semi-automatic hand gun, but don't find it neccissary to fight as hard for their right of free speach or their right to assemble.

2.) The media cover gun deaths only when they range higher than 3 at a time...and even that is beginning to become less common. If the media (everywhere) were to cover the gun related deaths of every single person from their country, I wonder if we might become a little bit more aware of the power we wield over life.

3. the government seems to back the idea of a 'safer' America with less or no immigrants. Suggesting that the only danger America ever faces is from outside. Maybe they should take down their welcome on the Statue of Liberty then...
("Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.")
The irony is that Americans are developing a reputation outside their country as gun-toting-christian terrorists. The idea that 'all america owns guns' is so prominate, i have many friends who have no wish to ever travel to America for fear they will be shot! "After all", they say, "I'm not white or Christian, they might mistake me for a target".

4 comments:

bilbo said...

i don't get it...

how does > shootings = > need for guns?

methinks < guns should = < shootings.

what are they thinking...

kris said...

i read an article today that suggested if gun control was less strict, than the massacure in the states wouldn't have happened because the students would have been able to take out the shooter before he got very far...needless to say the article struck terror into my heart.

Anonymous said...

I am in Afghanistan and there are allot of guns the semi-auto stuff is kind of small though 9mm .40 and .45 cal. and then there are much larger guns .50 cal machine guns 20 and 30 mm cannons 105mm cannons going up to 155mm howitzer cannon and that is really big. If it hit you and it didn't blow up you would still like ahh vaporize. and most of the people... well, no.. really all of the people we are killing aren't white or christian. So you might have a point.

In any case a gun is a tool just like a car a baseball bat or a chainsaw

kris said...

of course it is a tool. I can't help but wonder though if there would have been 32 deaths at v-tech if the only tool the guy had been able to get a hold of was a baseball bat.