No guns allowed
April 25, 2013
JAMES MALIN
STAFF WRITER
Day after day, week after week, there is a new gun-related incident in the United States of America.
Adam Lanza, James Holmes, and Seung-Hui Cho. All of these men have committed cold blooded murder with legally bought firearms.
In the aftermath of the horrific scenes of the Boston Marathon bombings, two days later on the 17th April, the senate voted against a reform in gun control policy. The Boston Marathon bombings lead to three deaths and caused national outrage whereas thousands of people die at the hand of loose gun control and this is considered ordinary. The thousands that die because of guns should be what causes the national outrage, not the three that die due to a fluke terrorist attack. Not to disrespect those that were affected by the Boston Marathon bombs, but what’s the point of assembling huge defenses from foreign attacks if thousands die at the hands of fellow American citizens. The senate is doing their constituents a disservice by not voting for a reform in gun control.
In recent months, the debate regarding gun control has been raging. Some believe that it is a constitutional right to bear arms because of the second amendment, while others believe that the law is outdated and in need of further change. In a poll of the general population, the proposed bill that would expand background checks to people purchasing firearms at gun shows and through online stores, was supported by 90 percent of the general population. The bill was passed to senate for vote on April 17, needing 60 votes for it to pass, and it was denied.
The day of the senate’s vote, President Obama criticized the decision made by senate. He called it a “shameful day for Washington” and said, “Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don’t have a right to weigh in on this issue?”
I agree with President Obama.
Two days before the senate’s vote, the Boston Marathon bombings took place. As families of those who were murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting watched from the finish line, due to their standing as the ‘guests of honor’. Then the bombs went off. The families were traumatized again, in a matter of months their children were killed in their classrooms and they saw hundreds of people get injured by two bombs. There was no respite for these families, however, as not only were they witnesses to the Boston Marathon bombings, but the senate has voted not to help prevent a repeat of the attack that took their children.
The senate is giving the message that they don’t care about these dead children. In 2013, a year that is only four months old, 2,980 people have been killed by guns and the senate has voted to do nothing about it.
I find this despicable, how many people have to die for them to force change? How many children’s lives have to be cut short?
The matter of gun control should not be politically exclusive. It should not matter what political creed you adhere to, there is no reason for a person to be against changing a law that allows 2,980 people to die in four months. The senate, as Americans, should want to put an end to innocent people dying. The 20 children who died in the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting should not die in vain; there needs to be a reform in gun control, now.
james_malin@asl.org
M.D. Shelton • Sep 16, 2013 at 10:40 pm
This kind of initiative is needed in the media more often. Pres. Obama tells us that good citizenship requires participation. the more we fight for those suffering at the hands of gang and gun violence the more we invoke the constitutional peragotive of protecting the American people and saving not only American but human lives. Thank you for this editorial Mr. Malin.
We Are Better Than This • May 1, 2013 at 7:46 pm
Great article. Gun violence in America is getting out of control and once again the Senate has screwed the future of the country over. The amazing thing is that on the same say as the movie theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado there were eight other gun related deaths, yet the media and the people dwelled on the James Holmes shooting because it was so absurd. Maybe if the world’s lacklustre news coverage would focus on the quantity of deaths that happen due to gun violence, like you do in this article, instead of focusing in on one story of a man who pulled off a violent stunt, it would change people’s perspectives. The problem is that politics in America is too messed up right now. The people on the right always disagree with the liberals and are incredibly obstinate to stick with their party’s view point, even if they agree the left wing view. And the people on the left are very stubborn and will rarely try and compromise with the right wing view, even if they agree with it. Anyway, the real problem is the gun violence and I think you might find this website interesting: http://wearebetterthanthis.org/privacypolicy.cfm
anonymous • Apr 25, 2013 at 2:48 pm
How can you say that guns are killing these people? If someone were to want to really kill someone they would find other means of doing it. You cant say that if senate were to make harsher gun laws then it would prevent another mass killing like sandy hook. Adam Lanza could have preformed the same atrocities with a knife. Banning guns does not prevent violence either, in the uk there are thousands of stabbings happen every year. Your points about the Boston marathon do not have any relation to the “Gun problem” as well. Clearly you knowledge about guns is very minimal and you should have done more research about it before you wrote this article.
James Malin • Apr 26, 2013 at 10:41 am
I accept that if people like Adam Lanza are really determined to kill someone, then ultimately, they probably will. The availability of guns, however, allows him to perform these killings with much more ease. If guns weren’t widely accessible then the shocking numbers would definitely be reduced by mere logistics if nothing else. There are people who will always want to kill others but that goes back to the issue of lacklustre mental health care. There are over 30k gun killings per year in America and not everyone was by a guy like Adam Lanza, a large percentage are by people who probably wouldn’t kill if not for the ease that they can do it in.
Yeah Right • Apr 26, 2013 at 12:26 pm
“Adam Lanza could have performed the same atrocities with a knife.” What a tired and ridiculous argument. In fact, on the very day of the Newtown gun massacre, a knife-wielding man attacked children in China, resulting in 23 injured. Last month, in another knife attack at a Chinese school, 11 were injured. Both were horrifying but resulted in no deaths. Knives are just as dangerous as guns? Really??
I do agree that the Boston bombing has little to do with the 30,000+ annual gun deaths, although it is interesting that an attack that kills four people shuts down a city, but gun massacre after gun massacre cannot get Americans to reasonably debate the ready access of high-powered weapons.