Mass Shootings
Last night, more than 50 people were killed and more than 500 people, five-hundred people were injured in a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada during a concert. A painful part of living in America, especially these days, is hearing news of a mass shooting. At the age of 22 I have seen the headline 'Deadliest Mass Shooting in Modern US History' too many times. I'm feeling extremely sad and extremely pissed. Thoughts, prayers, money and moments of silence have gone around like clock work, but nobody wants to do anything to solve the problem. Why does this keep happening? What do we do next? Will there be anything put in place to curb these types of fatalities or better yet stop them completely? Who knows. What I do know though, is that there are a few conversations that need to be had first before we start to find a solution.
One thing that has irked me and others on the wonderful world of twitter is that because the shooter was a white man, he is not being called what he is. A terrorist. This man had multiple military style weapons, bought a room on the 32nd floor of a hotel, bust the window out and started shooting at a crowd of concert goers relentlessly. How is that not classified as an act of terror? Some officials are saying that because there are no laws specifically naming local acts such as these, as terror then he technically is not a terrorist. Local act meaning he was from Nevada living an hour and a half away from Las Vegas. Even though, NRS 202.4415 "Act of Terrorism " defined as "any act that involves the use or attempted use of sabotage, coercion or violence which is intended to: (a) Cause great bodily harm or death to the general population; or (b) cause substantial destruction, contamination or impairment of: (1) Any building or infrastructure, communications, transportation, utilities or services; or (2) Any natural resource or the environment." If he were anything besides white, the headlines would not be humanizing someone who did something so inhumane. They would not be calling him a "lone wolf" and they would not be talking about how he loved to gamble and buy cookies for his mother. All in all HE IS A TERRORIST.
Secondly, when talking about Gun Control laws in the US, me: *an intellectual* automatically thinks about POC in the US. Guns are how we keep ourselves safe in a society that will not. So it makes us think, are stricter background checks going to be implemented fairly or will they be used as another tactic to make us as a nation-wide community feel even less safe than we do now? Honestly, my guess tells me even if they were to filter through peoples qualifications to own a gun, they would disproportionately target low income POC when in reality based on study after study, we are not even the issue.
Okay so we know there are those who do want stricter gun laws, but what about those who don't? What do they want? They can't possibly be happy with the way things are going. Some have said "gun laws aren't the issue the people are the issue!" So if the people are the issue, how do we stop those people from obtaining a gun and committing a mass shooting spree? Make stricter laws. If the people are the problem, then why not go through with the extra 'this and that' to get your gun if you're not the problem. See what I'm saying? That argument doesn't necessarily make sense to me because if you're not the problem and those specific people are, then you should have no problem taking a few tests and giving a reason as to why you want to buy a gun. Simple. I have seen other people say "protect yourself." I wish it were that simple. How do you protect yourself from a military rifle 32 stories high? Or from a pistol as someone is walking into a restaurant. Nobody has a radar telling them when a loaded gun with a person ready to shoot is coming their way. It takes 2 seconds to be killed by a bullet how do you protect yourself from that when you're just out trying to run errands? YOU DON'T.
My personal opinion is that there are too many guns in the US. This is uniquely a US problem of gun violence to this degree. I believe it's too easy to obtain a gun. When looking at all of the most developed counties in the world, (Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia and Denmark) a person needs a license to purchase most guns which then their name goes into a national registry, registration, a person needs to give a reason for purchase, needs to obtain training, pass a safety test and must provide proof of a safe place to keep the gun. The US doesn't require any of this. Reminder: I'm talking about the qualifications to buy a gun, not to legally own a gun. In part of these extremely lax laws there are over 300 million guns in the US. Studies have shown over and over that the number of guns in a country are proportional to gun deaths. Other studies have shown that US states with the most guns have more gun homicides stating that there is a correlation between gun ownership and homicides.
Speaking from personal experience, living in the south is where there are guns left and right. Above you and below you, it's crazy. I grew up my entire life passing billboards every year "BIGGEST GUN SHOW/EXHIBITION" or whatever. Every Walmart I went into my entire life has had a large gun section. Guns and bullets on display and all you need is money to buy it. There's a gun on every hip, in every glove compartment, in every hiding pot a person can find in their home. To me, that's ridiculous.