As I write this now my heart goes out to the parents and families of those killed so mercilessly in Connecticut yesterday. Such a tragic and brutal waste of beautiful lives; such sorrow to consume so many hearts and homes this Christmas and for years to come.
It also makes me angry.
Angry because I know this will not be the last tragic slaughter of innocent lives at the hands of enraged and often delusional people. Angry because there are so many people in the USA where I lived for over a decade until earlier this year whom are so unwilling to face the brutal reality of US gun laws.
Did you know that Americans are 32 times more likely to die from gun death than Australians? Scary isn’t it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-guns. . . I grew up with them! Rabbit shooting on my parents’ farm in rural Australia was a favourite pastime.But this most recent tragedy in Connecticut, that claimed the lives of 28 innocent people – 2o of them innocent children the same age as my own – has compelled me to get on my soap box on the issue of gun control.
The topic of gun control creates a lot of conflict and incites a lot of fear. Much of it is driven by the pro-gun movements’ strong held, and long held, belief that restricting the availability of guns is an infringement on one’s individual freedom limiting our ability to protect ourselves. But their equation that gun access equals safety and freedom quickly proves itself false when you look at the facts and take the rhetoric out of it.
The equation that gun access equals safety quickly proves itself false when you look at the facts and take the rhetoric out of it.
How can anyone say guns create safety and freedom with statistics like that. Here’s a few more to (all sourced from Coalition to Stop Gun Violence):
- As a percentage of population, the US has 33 times more gun homicides than the UK each year and that Americans are over four times more likely to die of gun death than Australians.
- Seventy adults and 8 children die every day from gun violence in America.
- American children (age 14 and below) are sixteen times more likely than children in other industrialized nations to be murdered with a gun, eleven times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and nine times more likely to die from firearms accidents.
Can the current status quo continue at the cost of human lives for the sake of “freedom” as the pro-gun lobby maintains?
Guns are dangerous. Guns can kill people. Big people, little people, old people, young people, and way too often, good, kind and innocent people. Like the wonderful 24 year old female journalist killed in Colorado earlier this year while out with friends at the movies. Like the beautiful nine year old girl murdered visiting Gabrielle Giffords in an Arizona shopping mall (she was the same age as my son Ben.) Too often people with guns are people who shouldn’t be even given a sling shot. What happened in Connecticut wasn’t the first time a person was so desensitised to life they went crazy and killed people they didn’t even know, including children. What makes me so sad is that it won’t be the last. Think Colorado. Think Columbine. Sadly, you don’t have to think too hard.
Surely it’s past time for a national and rational debate that examines the issue objectively, and weighs up the “right to bear arms” versus the cost to every person living in America of millions of people walking around with loaded guns in their pockets, in their cars, in their homes and under their pillows. Surely even gun toting, NRA card carrying folks across the US have to pause and wonder if a country of 300 odd million people many armed with guns really makes anyone of themany safer.
I talk a lot about living with courage. Let me just say, when it comes to the obsession millions of Americans have about guns, and more so, their right to carry one, it scares the hell out of me.
People in Oklahoma were killed with a bomb in a van. Are you going to ban all vans. People are stabbed everyday but knives aren't banned. Smoking kills, drunk driving kills, are cigarettes banned? Is alcohol banned? The gun is not the issue it is the people who have problems. If they did not use a gun they would still find a way to do it. Guns don't kill people, people kill people. You can not blame ro ban an inanimate object and expect the problem to go away. You can not legislate common sense or insanity. Guns are not the problem, people are the problem.
Thanks for your comment Karla. However I disagree. Guns are the problem. Sure, crazy people will find other ways of hurting people, but when so many people have such easy access to guns, it's a problem!
Just look at the statistics. In the US where people can buy a semi-automatic gun so easily, people are 33 more likely to be killed by a gun compared to countries where tehy aren't such as Australia and the UK. The statistics speak for themselves.
Yes there are crazy people all over the world, but it's the crazy people in the US who have such easy opportunity to unleash their madness and hate on so many so easily.
Sorry, Karla, that's just a complete cop out. Guns are designed to kill people, they have no other purpose, unlike all the other things you mentioned. By doing nothing about effective gun control US lawmakers are deeming massacres, such as those in Connecticut, and others, are an acceptable price to pay for easy gun availability. I would hope that the American people would now regard that price as an unacceptable one and stand up to the NRA and all the politicans they support.
Thank you, Margie for having the courage to speak out about this critical issue.
Thanks Ross. Couldn't have said it better.
Margie
The "cop out" is in blaming an inanimate object for this shooting. Yes the weapon is designed to kill. But the problem is the person behind the gun, not the gun. Until this country learns to have respect for one another and families take care of each other and teach correct moral values, this problem will continue with or with out changing laws. Laws only affect those who are doing lawful acts. Criminals or someone who intends to do criminal acts will not obey laws. The guns used were stolen, not obtained through legal channels. If the media would quit sensationalizing these events, those looking for attention would not copy them. The problem needs to be to find out WHY someone so young would even think to do something like this, not how it was done. A rational person would not even think to do this extreme act!!!
Karla made great points. I am former Law Enforcement and I fully believe if a person can legally own a weapon (of their choice?) then why the heck not? If you dont want to own a weapon? that is YOUR choice and if YOU dont like others owning weapons? just stay the heck away from them. I own several guns of varying calibers and fully intend on buying more.
Non mi capita mai di fare commenti sui blog che leggo, ma in questo caso faccio un’eccezione, perche’ il blog merita davvero e voglio scriverlo a chiare lettere.