I want to address gun control; this issue concerns the soul
of America. I may not have anything new
to add to what has been said, but I want to add my voice to the call for
reform. To begin, consider the
definition of control: ‘the power to influence or direct behavior’. The issue here is not to eliminate American’s
right to own guns; at issue is specifically action to control mass killing by weapons of war.
I begin with some statistics on gun ownership in America:
--on
average people killed by guns, 96 per day; 1300/year
--America
is #1 per capita for gun ownership
--US gun
homicide rate: 25X the average of high income countries
--America has more mass shootings
than any other country
There are various ways to define ‘mass shootings’ but whatever
definition is used America leads.
Studies indicate mass shootings since 2011 in US have tripled, the
deadliest have occurred in the 21st Century with assault weapons.
1) 2017
Los Vegas #59
killed semi-automatic weapon
2) 2016
Orlando Night Club 50 " semi-automatic weapon
3) 2007
Virginia Tech 33
“ semi-automatic weapon
4) 2012
Sandy Hook 28
“ semi-automatic weapon
5) 2017
Southerland Springs 27 “ semi-automatic
weapon
Church
The most recent, February 15, 2018, at Parkland Florida High
School, was one of the deadliest in high schools, 17 students were killed with
semi-automatic weapon.
Assault weapons have no business in private hands, they are
intended as weapons of war; their only purpose is to kill humans—as many as
possible in the shortest time. Their
very existence is a moral issue.
Gun ownership is defended by quoting the 2nd
Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” That can be interpreted more than one way—I’m
not qualified to formally argue the point but I can use common sense. ‘Militia’ . . . seems to suggest self-defense
in lawless areas—there are no longer ‘lawless areas’ in the US. But more importantly I believe we should
consider the times in which the amendment became law, it was in 1791; at the time
‘bearing arms’ meant pistols and rifles/muskets; they were the objects of guaranteed
protection. The writers of the
Constructional Amendments could not foresee the lethal nature of the 21st
Century weapons and therefore were not included in the intent. It is morally abhorrent to see the NRA and
congress continuing to protect uncontrolled private ownership of assault
weapons.
I recommend going to YouTube and request ‘gun violence
spoken word poem’.
or: https://t.co/LxdSAI2kvf (may need to unmute in lower right corner)
or: https://t.co/LxdSAI2kvf (may need to unmute in lower right corner)
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