To Everyone Who Walked Out

March 14th, exactly one month after the Parkland school shooting, students in schools across the nation participated in “walking out” to protest gun ownership by civilians. If you were one of those students or someone who supported this, I’m talking to you:

First off, I want to applaud you for being so passionate about something. Seriously - it’s great! I wish more people were that passionate about other causes as well. Think of all the good we could achieve in this world if we all worked together like that in other areas! Animal cruelty, sex-trafficking, impoverished, war-torn nations without medical care or food...there are so many ways we could have a positive impact! I am genuinely impressed by all the young adults who care so much about this issue.

But please, think heavily about the changes you’re trying to make in this country. I understand why gun control is important to you...I truly do. Losing a friend to gun violence, surviving a school shooting - those are awful things no one should have to endure. But this issue is so complex, it deserves to be looked at from every single, possible perspective.

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Broken, hurting, lonely, hopeless people. Guns are inanimate objects that literally cannot hurt anyone without someone pulling the trigger. As I said, it takes a person to do that.

Think about it this way: drugs are illegal...and that has not stopped drug usage at all. In fact, you could even argue there is more violence because drugs are illegal! (I’m not saying we should legalize them. I’m just saying...plenty of people still use drugs even though they’re illegal, and there is a lot of drug-related crime happening all over the country.)

Next, look at countries like Venezuela. Their crime and murder rates were incredibly high so they implemented strict gun laws, but instead of things getting better, they got worse. Violent crimes and murder rates are worse now than ever before. The gun laws did nothing to help.

Criminals don’t follow the rules and they won’t pay attention to gun laws. They will find a way to get guns whether it’s legal or illegal. The only thing gun laws will do is keep good, law-abiding citizens from owning them...and then when the criminals come with guns to steal, rape, or murder, there will be no way to protect ourselves from them.

People who want to hurt other people will find other ways to do it, with or without guns. Knives, explosives, and even vehicles have been used in the recent past by deranged people to kill others. Look at Europe, where guns are illegal: terrorists and other crazies use machetes and bombs and drive buses into crowds. Their rate of gun violence might be lower, but they still have their fair share of violence.

If you want to outlaw everything that’s dangerous, you’re going to have to outlaw a lot more than just guns. I’m talking chainsaws, kitchen knives, tiki torches - all of those things can be dangerous if they get into the wrong hands.

Next, look at our society. Firearms have been legal for more than 200 years but school shootings and other mass-murders have only really started happening in the last 30 years. Why is that? Possibly the lack of discipline in our schools and families? Maybe because our societal morals are becoming more and more loose? We have adopted this “I can do whatever I want and don’t have to answer to anyone but myself” attitude about life, when actually, whether you believe in God or not, we are answerable to many more people than just ourselves. Our actions have real consequences. The way we treat other people matters. Why are school shooters always the outcasts, the quiet ones, the kids with no friends? The way we treat other people matters. Maybe if these kids had grown up in stable homes with a mother and a father, if they’d had just one or two friends at school and weren’t bullied or made fun of, if they had something positive going in their life and a hope for something better, something bigger, they would’ve never gravitated toward the gun in the first place.

If you still think gun control is the answer, that’s fine. You’re entitled to believe that because you’re fortunate enough to live in a free country. But don’t just look at this issue from the one specific, narrow angle liberal adults and the media want you to; an issue this huge deserves to be studied and thought about and examined from every possible angle.

And lastly, don’t forget you live in a free country which means free speech, the freedom to have your own opinions, and basically do whatever you want as long as you’re not hurting anyone else. Think long and hard before you demand the government start taking away those freedoms because I promise you, once they’re gone we will not get them back. And you don’t want the government (who will still have guns, by the way!) to wield that much power over the rest of us.