The tragic event in Aurora CO has spurred many debates about
gun control. They are wide and varied as always. Well of course I have my
thoughts on the subject.
So we have gun control already in this country, that’s
nothing new. Let me say that personally I do not care for guns, do not own one,
and will more than likely never own one. They take very little thought to kill
with. I am all for very strict control of such weapons. I also feel that it is
very important that assault rifles are banned for the public sell and use.
There is no reason for a private citizen to own a full automatic assault rifle.
These are weapons of war, not protect.
With all that said, I do not believe for one minute that
guns kill people. If you lay a gun on the table it will continue to lay there,
unmoving until the end of days. It will not shoot those that walk by, just as a
knife cannot stable someone of its own will. A weapon does not kill someone; a
person kills someone WITH a weapon.
The focus really does not need to be on gun control. It
needs to be on what we can do to help prevent people reaching the point where
they feel the need to commit mass murder. There is something fundamentally
wrong with a society that sees the issue as gun control, not the mental issues
that plagues the individuals who commit these acts. Because all the gun control
in the world will not stop an individual who is set on causing harm.
As a person who was survived the Atlanta bombing at the
lesbian bar The Otherside, I can tell you it was not the bomb’s fault that I
and many others were injured. It was the fault of one Eric Rudolph who believed
he was acting on the wishes of his god and religion. Mr. Rudolph then felt the
need to bomb an abortion clinic. What made things even more horrific is that
his bombs where designed in stages. The first was to trigger damage on the
intended targets. The second were designed to cause damage and death to the
rescue teams that responded to the first bombs. This was a methodically planned
attack on people, just as James Holmes planned his attack.
So here we have two different people using to different
methods of destruction. Yet what is not being resolved is the cause of these
attacks; the mental instability of individuals who commit such acts. But then
again mental illness is something our country does not like to deal with. It
has such a stigma attached to it that we try so hard to avoid it. Well that
avoidance is coming back to haunt us.
It is time to start stepping up and taking responsibility
for our actions and inactions. It is time we start watching those we love and
getting them help when needed. It is time that the ill be healed so all can
live a peaceful long life.
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