“It’s not a gun problem. It’s a people problem.”
Really, I’d argue it’s a “people with guns” problem. Because YEAH, guns don’t kill people, people kill people, but the gun helps.
People don’t need a firearm to kill someone; the Boston bombings were committed with an explosive device, and the 9/11 hijackers didn’t use a firearm. Also more people defend themselves with firearms yearly, than are used to toke a life.
You know what, I’m GLAD you brought up 9/11. Because yeah, guns weren’t used in those attacks. Box cutters were.
And guess what? Now you can’t have box cutters on planes. You can’t have full bottles of shampoo on planes. You have to take your shoes off through security. We started locking cockpit doors.
9/11 RADICALLY changed our country’s approach to airport security. We made changes to make sure that something like this would NEVER happen again.
But Columbine. Virginia Tech. Sandy Hook. Orlando. San Bernardino. The list goes on and on and on. Mass shootings, many with AR 15s specifically, and no meaningful changes made to our gun laws.
No one is saying that guns are the ONLY danger in society. We are saying they are A danger, and that we need to make some changes to try and LESSEN that.
Banning guns only stops those protecting. It’s against the law to commit murder but people still do it. It’s against the law to rape. People still do. Its illegal to do drugs, people still do it. It’s against the law to break in someone’s house, but people do. Don’t take guns away from the people who aren’t breaking the law because once they are taken away, criminals are still going to have guns and do bad things. If a criminal breaks into your house with a gun, and you don’t have one to protect yourself, you’re going to wish you did.
The argument “we can’t make that illegal because criminals will still do it” is asinine. By that logic why have ANY laws at ALL? Why make murder and rape and burglary and shooting heroin illegal if all those things still happen? What’s even the point?
We aren’t even talking about just taking away ALL guns COMPLETELY here. Just like, some common sense gun control and regulation. Assault Rifle bans. “No fly no buy” policies. Mandatory training certifications. Operating insurance. Inventory limits. No one wants to take your run of the mill hunting rifle away from people who want to rustle up some venison, but this laissez faire “whoever gets whatever” bullshit patchwork of gun laws has a BODY COUNT, and we need to fix it.
The Sandy Hook shooter- that gun (an AR 15) was purchased legally. The Orlando shooter? That gun, also an AR 15, was purchased legally. San Bernardino? Bought legally (and ALSO AR 15s.)
Like, how many people- office workers at parties, and college kids on campus, and LGBT+ people in clubs, and children in kindergarten classrooms need to be shot to death with AR 15s before we, as a country, agree that maybe something should change? When did all these people become acceptable casualties so that you can own whatever guns you want and however many guns you want? We pay for those guns in more than just money.
You don’t need a fucking AR 15 assault rifle to protect yourself from a burglar.
I love your posts about this. You’re so spot on.
The issue I’m running into on this gun issue is: “AR-15′s and hunting rifles are all the same thing, just packaged differently!” I have no clue the validity of this statement, and frankly, I don’t care if removing high-powered guns that can shoot more than 10+ bullets in a row is something that is done, but to these people, banning ‘assault rifles’ is the same as banning ‘hunting rifles.’
Thoughtfulfangirling 