Gun Control

Yet another mass shooting and people are saying that there needs to be gun control. What people forget is that the young men that killed and wounded people at Columbine got their guns illegally because they (or at least one of them) were 17. The guy who wounded and killed people at a Las Vegas concert got all of his guns over time and most of them if not all of them weren't banned or outlawed at the time. The guys who killed people at Aurora, Sandy Hook and several other places had mental health issues. The man that killed people at Pulse did so because he was an extremist or had an issue with gay people. So as you can see, it's not the lack of gun control, it's the lack of enforcing the laws. The only new law we need is helping those who are disturbed before they hurt someone else. There may be some laws about bigger guns that need to be passed but we don't need too many laws. Why make it harder on sane and safe gun owners because of the crazy unsafe people? Also, laws won't make a difference to criminals. If someone wanted to do something bad, they will find a way to do it. We also can't figure out or say who is going to use their guns or weapons for harm.

People who own guns usually own them for a reason. Most people own them because they want to protect themselves or they hunt. There are also people who own guns for their jobs. There are people who can be responsible with guns. Illegally bought or sold guns are usually the ones that are used to commit crimes. If they aren't illegally sold or bought, the crime is committed by someone that was crazy or had something that wouldn't show up on the background check. How can we know something about someone that they don't disclose or that doesn't show up anywhere. We are not mind readers. While we are on the subject of the mind, we can't stop someone with a mental health issue from buying a gun if we don't know that they have an issue.

These people who do mass shootings or terroristic acts have a message or they want harm, to kill or scare. They want people to fear something. After the incident at the Ariana Grande concert, a mom said that she would no longer go to a concert or event after that. People who stop doing certain things because of mass shootings or terror attacks are letting the bad guys win. If we let them win, then they will feel like they got away with something or that they can control us. That's not what we want, we don't want them to control us or for them to win. We should be able to go to school, movies, clubs and to fly without fear.

When I worked and volunteered at two separate places, we had to learn what to do if an active shooter situation. This is the world we live in. We have to be prepared, not scared. Live your life, just have a plan in case something bad happens. When I went to the movies and work, soon after the active shooter lesson, I had a plan of where to go and what to do. I even had an exit plan for a club I went to.

so what's the lesson in all of this? Don't go to extremes, but live and know what to do in a bad situation. We think bad things won't happen to us and we should be able to believe that, but sadly, we can't live like bad thing won't happen because they do.