We Do Not Have A Gun Problem

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (1)

If I took every gun in the world and put them on tables and no one ever touched one of them, what do you suppose might happen? Nothing! Absolutely nothing would occur. They could be there from eternity to eternity from everlasting to everlasting and nothing would happen. The fact of the matter is that if no one picks up a gun, loads it and fires, a gun poses no threat.

We are using the heat of emotions to battle against what we all know is true — We do not have a gun problem. We have a people problem. To dive deeper we are dealing with an inability to express our emotions in a positive way. Now some have said that everyone who faces the same circumstances does not go out and get a gun and kill someone. My response to this is that you have only further supported my argument. I know you didn’t mean to, nevertheless you have. It is true everyone does not process their emotions the same way. Yet, you are in support of everyone surrendering their guns.

There is no case, no instance, nor argument — nothing that you can say that will not involve human involvement where guns are concerned when it comes to the loss of life. Yes, I know babies (young kids) have found guns in their homes and have accidentally shot a family member or themselves. Is that a reason to ban all guns from homes? No, it is not. It is a reason to find out why proper precautions were not taken to ensure that access was not available to the child.

Until we get to the root of the problem in cases where people intentionally obtain a gun and take a life, the problem will never be solved. I even venture to say that if guns were removed from homes that killings, murders, and heinous crimes would continue. More often than not, these crimes against humanity occur from illegally obtained firearms than legal ones. So why are we bent on removing legal weapons from law-abiding citizens?

According to an article entitled “Firearms and Violence” by Jeffrey A. Roth reporting from a Brief, he reports — The current status of research and evaluations concerning firearms and violent crime, as reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences Panel on the Understanding and Control of Violent Behavior: According to the latest available data, those who use guns in violent crimes rarely purchase them directly from licensed dealers; most guns used in crime have been stolen or transferred between individuals after the original purchase. (2)

In a commentary on firearms by The Heritage Foundation written March 4, 2018, eight facts are listed:

Here are eight stubborn facts to keep in mind about gun violence in America:

1. Violent crime is down and has been on the decline for decades.
2. The principal public safety concerns with respect to guns are suicides and illegally owned handguns, not mass shootings.
3. A small number of factors significantly increase the likelihood that a person will be a victim of a gun-related homicide.
4. Gun-related murders are carried out by a predictable pool of people.
5. Higher rates of gun ownership are not associated with higher rates of violent crime.
6. There is no clear relationship between strict gun control legislation and homicide or violent crime rates.
7. Legally owned firearms are used for lawful purposes much more often than they are used to commit crimes or suicide.
8. Concealed carry permit holders are not the problem, but they may be part of the solution. (3)

As mentioned earlier, guns that are not obtained through licensed dealers and in most cases have been stolen, where statistics state that these guns were obtained during a burglary, still does not constitute a gun problem — it is still a human problem. Why were the proper precautions not taken to avoid possible theft?

Now lest you suggest that I am insensitive and unaware of the effects that loss of life from gunfire has on people, let me share just a few things with you. I have witnessed more than my share of loss of life due to violence. I do not fit the statistics that say that either I am a youth, come from a deprived area, have mental or psychological issues, nor do I come from a home where guns were a lifestyle. Nevertheless, I have witnessed someone firing at another human being, I have witnessed a human being shooting himself and I have witnessed other violent crimes. In fact, as a child, my stepfather was stabbed in front of me while I waited for my meal in a restaurant. Even with the things that I have seen and am aware of, I do not support that all weapons need to be removed from homes.

People are crying out that guns kill people. That is incorrect! People are killing people. You say, but they are using guns. This is indeed a fact; however, every day people are being struck by cars and dying. People are involved in plane crashes and they are dying. Boats are sinking and, people are dying. Are you saying that we no longer should have vehicles, use planes, sail on ships? Of course not! We need those things — right? We need weapons!

The thing that I can support and the thing that I can get behind is regulating the type of weapons people are allowed to own -not the number, just the type. Even with this, I believe that we must still deal with the emotional issues that drive people to do the things that they do in this world. If we think removing guns will change a lot in the way of killing then we are only fooling ourselves. People will use other means to lash out. I am quite certain that there will be increases in stabbings, in strangulations, in affixation, in drowning and other heinous methods of demise if all guns were removed from homes. It’s not the guns. It’s people.

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(1) Amendment II — [Right to Bear Arms (1791)]

(2) https://www.ncjrs.gov/txtfiles/fireviol.txt

(3) https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/here-are-8-stubborn-facts-gun-violence-america

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