A perspective on gun control....
We are all shocked and horrified by the school shootings on friday that killed so many. I keep hearing questions being asked such as why? How could this happen? etc. The truth of the matter is that we may never know why a young man 'snapped' and killed his mother and so many children and teachers. I think some form of mental illness and lack of medication may provide some answers.....but we also must look at the part that access to guns played in this tragedy.
May I give an example of why so many died friday?
I am a US citizen, but I have been living in Wales in the UK for the past 7 years. Guns are HEAVILY controlled over here. You have to have all sorts of liscenses and background checks to own one. You must have a gun safe. You must have a reason to own one (such as perhaps a farmer needing one for varmits, or a professional varmint killer, some hunters have guns....but as I said they are heavily regulated and people owning them have to go thru rigorous background checks and renew liscenses and registrations yearly. Most guns owned are shotguns or rifles.........handgun ownership is almost non-existant. We do occaisionally get gun crimes, but in a large majority of them the guns involved prove to be illegally smuggled in from Eastern Europe. Gun crimes are still rare here in the UK.
With that brief explanation of our gun laws in mind.....let me tell you about an incident that happened in a neighboring village here on friday....at about the same time as the school killings were occurring in the US.
A man walked into our local ASDA (The UK name given to Walmart) on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. He was schizophrenic and had stopped taking his medication. In his disturbed mind he was hell bent on killing as many people as he could. He walked into the bakery department of ASDA armed with two hammers.........scaring the hell out of the employees and harming one pretty good....but the one he hurt the worst will survive with just a few days off of work. ....because a man armed with two hammers was eventually subdued by 4 or 5 police officers and a couple of bakers. No one died. The mentally disturbed man had no way to get hold of a gun. His mission to maim and kill was able to be thwarted. Had he walked in with two guns instead of two hammers, the good lord only knows how many could have died.
In America, they say there are now 300 million guns. In America, people like to use the argument that they have the right to bear arms and protect themselves. My thoughts are that if there were no guns..........they could all protect themselves a lot better. How many children and innocents have to die before people understand that guns kill..........and people with guns kill? ......And when will people understand that children don't have to die?
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