Gun control is not the solution nor is it the damn problem. Banning guns is not going to stop horrific events like this from happening. Taking guns out of the hands of the American people will not stop people from getting their hands on them and doing terrible things. What it will do is prevent lawful citizens who carry weapons legally and responsibly from being able to protect themselves and others when someone uses a weapon in an illegal and dangerous manner.
I personally have been carrying a handgun since I was 18. That is 15 years without ever once contemplating using it to rob, scare, threaten, or harm another human being. I have been in situations where I thought that I would have to use my weapon to protect another person's life and perhaps that of myself, but ended up not having to use my gun. However, knowing that I always have it on my side has brought a level of comfort to those immediately around me who know that I have it and am trained properly in how to use it.
Now, as a handgun owner and someone who believes that those allowed to own and carry a weapon have the right to be able to do so, I do believe that assault weapons have no place in modern society with the exception of law enforcement officers and members of the military. You do not need an AR-15 to go hunting. No one needs an Uzi to go to the shooting range. You don't need either of these weapons to protect your home unless perhaps you live in a war torn nation where constant fear of paramilitary forces entering your home and killing you and your family is a possibility, and frankly, that is no where here in the US. However, if you are a legal gun owning citizen, you should be required to do everything possible to keep your weapon out of the hands of anyone else.
The terrible shootings that have been plaguing the news lately were not weapons that were illegally purchased or stolen. These weapons were allowed to fall into the hands of psychopaths by people who had the legal right to own weapons and failed to protect society by properly limiting access to these weapons by others. I can honestly say that no other living person others than my wife has ever handled any of my handguns or been able to access them without me personally unsecuring them. I don't trust anyone else with my weapon, because you never know what that person might do with it. The only way to properly have a weapon and be safe with it is to limit anyone else having access to it, hence the reason they are referred to as "personal protection."
On this same note, weapons solely can not be blamed for the recent spats of violence. You are to blame. Everyone, myself included. The reason these people are going out and trying to kill as many as possible in such public ways is because it gives themselves a name that will live in infamy. How many people knew of the Columbine shooters before they massacred so many innocent people? I refuse to use the names of any of these recent killers because to do so only furthers their prolific hold in our society. The victims names should be the only ones to get media recognition, not the sick bastards who are carrying out these acts. We should not be talking to their friends and neighbors to get further details into their lives to try to understand why they did what they did. By doing so, you are unconsciously showing why they did it, to harm others and get as much fame as possible in doing so. These people all have one thing in common other than being deranged, they were nobody's who felt as though they didn't receive enough attention, and by carrying out such a cowardly and horrendous act, they are getting attention from every possible source. Their names are being plastered across every media outlet, being talked about around every water cooler, and being compared to every other killer known to humanity. In death they are getting the fame that they were never able to achieve in life and we are all helping them gain it. We compare their death toll to the death toll of the person(s) who did something similar before them. We compare them to serial killers with the same level of curiosity and morbid respect. I can promise you that if you asked any serial killer if they would appreciate what these horrible people have done, they would tell you how disgusted they are with them just like the rest of society is. A serial killer does not kill for fame and a place in public history, they do so for themselves and not with the consideration of others in mind. These people who are making the headlines and getting the notoriety of performing these very public and horrific killings are doing so only to get famous for what they have done, had they been caught and punished for their crimes instead of dying like cowards, they would be happy with the fame they have received, but would most likely fade into relative obscurity because the world would soon learn their motives and lose interest. The fact that no answers are able to be obtained from them due to their cowardly death leaves the world hungry for more information and makes their foothold in societal history that much more solidified.
Stop seeking the answers within the community and media, the answer is simple, they were nobody's and their death should remain just as unknown as their life. What we should be doing, is learning all we can about the victims, and what their lives were all about before they were so violently taken from this world. Give the fame and notoriety to them!
Also, stop blaming the gun manufacturers and legal gun owners. Those of us who have guns legally are the least likely to commit heinous acts against our communities, but are more likely to put our lives on the line to protect others within our community when another psycho tries to make a name for himself by trying to kill others. I promise you that I personally will draw my weapon and the fire of this person away from other innocent members of the community giving them those extra few seconds to flee and hide whilst I try to neutralize the enemy or be killed myself. Perhaps me and my handgun which is legally owned and carried about my person will give you and your loved ones those precious few seconds you need to live, and perhaps I will be able to kill your potential killer before the news media makes them out to be some sort of "sensation" and forgets all about the person you were before your life was taken away.
I know that many of you will either agree with what I am saying, or just pass me off as another gun nut, but think of this the next time you read about another one of these tragedies: what was the shooters name, and what were the victims names? If you can answer the first question, and not the second, then you have given the killer exactly what they wanted. But I promise you, the next person who carries out an act like this, will most likely not be a person with the right to purchase and legally carry a firearm in your community. Guns aren't the problem folks, we are...
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