This has been the question for decades. Let’s look at The Constitution. The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution states that “The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” But the Amendment goes further than that. When we see tyranny we are to rise up and defend the country. So the founding fathers, after fighting the Revolutionary War knew that our country needed to be protected from within as well as from without. Of course, guns have always been for hunting, but have we gone a tad too far? In keeping with our freedoms, we must also consider the fact that gun violence has increased in our cities. According to the Pew Research Center: “In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC. That figure includes gun murders and gun suicides, along with three less common types of gun-related deaths tracked by the CDC: those that were accidental, those that involved law enforcement and those whose circumstances could not be determined. The total excludes deaths in which gunshot injuries played a contributing, but not principal, role. (CDC fatality statistics are based on information contained in official death certificates, which identify a single cause of death.)”
Way too many people die by the hand of guns, but that is just it. The hand that pulls the trigger is the problem, not the gun. Firearm deaths associated with mental illness are nearly always suicides. Suicide is often correlated with depression and is the number ten cause of death in adults nationwide (number three cause of death for youth in America). A suicide attempt with a firearm results in death nearly 85 percent of the time. So do stricter gun laws change all of this? The answer is NO! The problem is not the animated object but the human response. We have to stop thinking that using a gun is the answer to any problem. That was in the days of the wild west, everyone settled their differences with the gun. But today we should be more civilized in the fact that we have law and order, or at least we should. Guns can be bought and sold on the black market and that needs to be stopped. All the laws in the world will not stop someone from picking up a gun and shooting someone. We as people, humans, who should be able to reason and think things out, should know that this is not the right way to solve our problems. When a country loses their moral compass then they have lost their way, and this is what has happened here in America, and even most countries today. We have to have a sense of right and wrong. We have to have results that say, if you resort to violence of any kind there will be a consequence. Yes, I know that today that is not popular, but it is true. When we spend beyond our means we must change our spending habits. When we live beyond what is civil, we must rethink our ways. Instead of loving one another, we are hating one another. I think we may have to go back to the power of love, not sexual love, like in the sixties, but the love that is being kind and respectful of each other. That is what brings about true peace. Hate brings about violence, and violence brings about death and destruction. This never solves any problem, it only increases it. Let’s put down the guns that go with hate and anger and let’s pick up the tools that build peace and harmony. Wars never get anyone anywhere except dead, but peace breeds life and love and joy. It’s up to you. Only you can decide for yourself how you will live. The world is a big place and if you make a go of it, you will find that there are many resources that will help you achieve that which is good for you and the world. How about this song from Nimo: “Keep Loving”
So keep loving, it’ll change your heart, it’ll change your mind and then you’ll start to change your eyes so keep loving.
Let’s help one another instead of hurting one another. That seems to be the better way to handle our indifferences.