So, it happened again in America, somebody had nothing to lose and they used their arsenal of guns to go out in a blaze of glory. Last week, a shooter went to Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon and killed nearly 10 people and injured a lot more. The shooter was a student at the college and went to a class he goes to as a student and opened fire. The disturbing thing is the shooter asked the students to stand up and state their religion before shooting. The shooter was a young male who was 26 years old, something mostly every mass shooting is connected too, a young male who is frustrated in life and wants to end it all.
Before I get into what I think needs to be done to stop these multiple mass shootings, let’s get something straight! We have to quit pretending that the mass shootings will suddenly stop for good. Because they will not unless there is some major policy changes in the ways guns are purchased and used in the United States. We can’t pretend that it did not happen; we can’t pretend to know that the shootings can be prevented. Sadly, pretending is part of the problem. We have people and politicians that are pretending and ignoring the mass shooting problem. They are hoping that the almost weekly mass shootings that make worldwide news will end.
Of course that will never happen. Because we have politicians and lobby groups like the National Rifle Association who are on their high horse and will never compromise on the use of guns in the United States. An organization like the NRA believes more people needs guns, and the United States needs to become like the wild wild west. Where everyone has a gun and the way to settle things is to have a shootout in the middle of the street. Sadly, the NRA is the biggest reason why we continue to have these mass shootings in America. Politicians and the NRA wants to change nothing and pretend it won’t happen again. The NRA is insane, because one of the definitions of insanity is changing nothing and pretending something will change. That sounds exactly like the NRA!
Changing nothing will result in more people, especially young males, to commit mass shootings and kill innocent people because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Yes, part of the problem is the lack of mental health services in America. But, don’t blame everything on the lack of mental health care; some of the blame also goes to guns. America is the only industrialized country in the world seeing these mass shootings, in many other places in the world, you don’t see this. A country like Australia saw mass shootings, and got tired of it. So they bought back a ton of guns, and you don’t see the alarming rate of mass shootings in Australia, or any other industrialized country on planet Earth today.
So, for starters the United States needs to start a program where people can turn in guns for cash. There are over 300 million guns on the streets today, which is way too many! By reducing the number of guns, you lessen the chance to see yet another mass shooting. Second, there needs to be background checks anytime a gun is purchased, that includes gun shows, online purchases, and local buys where you buy a gun from a friend or neighbor. There is no excuse to not check if someone should not buy a gun at a gun show or online, those loopholes must be closed! Third, there is no reason why anyone in America needs to have an assault rifle or high magazine clips. None! End of story, those should be banned!
But, I don’t want to limit everything on gun control. We have to address the lack of mental health services in this country. Most states have cut back on mental health care because of lack of budgets, and this leaves people to remain depressed, have a bad temper, be angry, or even be violent. I wonder how many people would stay out of jails because they got the proper mental health care before they went on to commit a crime? We need to re-instate the mental health doctors and services so people who need the help can get it, without paying a huge fee to get it. Other than mental health, it needs to become easier to allow families to order loved ones into mental health treatment if someone needs it. And also order guns to be removed from a home from a person who is mentally unstable. Why has this not been done yet? Is the NRA concerned that mentally unstable people won’t have any gun rights?
And speaking of the NRA, boy does that organization needs some major help! Face it NRA, it will eventually get to the point where so many people are affected by a mass shooting that they will demand some change! If the NRA got their way, anyone who is an outsider and is not communicating with society would be severely monitored. For example, someone who has Autism and does not communicate with others could be reported as someone who is a loner, and should be locked up. This is my biggest concern! Because the ones who say there should be more guns in the hands of people are saying that we should be looking at the ones who commit the mass shootings, young males who are loners and does not fit into society.
If the NRA wins, people who are loners could be rounded up and put under lock and key and monitored, just because there should be more guns. This is not the America I want to live in, because I fit into the definition of a “loner.” I don’t communicate with a lot of people, and I enjoy the times when I am alone. I don’t want to be labeled as someone who could be the next mass shooter because I enjoy being alone! This is something some on the right would rather concentrate on, rather than dealing with the big elephant in the room, the insane amount of guns on the streets today. I don’t think we are heading to a time in America where loners and depressed young males are rounded up, but if these mass shootings continue on, who knows what could happen?
Now, if you are thinking that no one should have a right to a gun, I am not saying that! If you are mentally healthy, you should have a right to own a gun. Some own guns to hunt, and some own guns for protection, and those rights should stay intact. But, there are some things about guns that needs to change for the better! We have too many guns on the streets, we have too many assault weapons on the streets, we have too many unhealthy people who have a gun, and there are too many people who needs some changes in the way they think, because I am sorry, more guns is not the answer! Gun control is the answer, get over it!
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