Owning a Firearm: Stop and Think

I recently read on article on CNN, titled "It's easier to get a gun than to get a puppy" in the United States. It also entails divorce, a passport and cold medicine as other things that are more difficult to obtain than a gun. A gun, people.

Reading and watching about the recent shooting in a church in Texas on November 5th, and the Las Vegas massacre, I also found out about just how easy it is to obtain a gun license. US gun crime has been an unaddressed ongoing issue in the States, something that has yet to be confronted.

The Second Amendment states: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed", something that President Trump supports. Although all states have different regulations regarding ownership of firearms, federal laws set minimum standards for firearm regulation, and approximately 40% of United States citizens own guns.

I think the idea behind owning a gun is to protect yourself and your family if you ever are needed to. It sounds quite heroic, the reason to owning a gun being to keep your loved ones safe. But, America has the highest homicide rate caused by firearms in the world. And fighting violence with violence? When is that ever a good idea?

Obviously, I am just an 18 year old student, with no federal ties or intelligence, so I will not try and pretend I understand the gun laws better than I do. But to the average person, someone like myself, we see the news, we see the Las Vegas, Sandy Hook Elementary School, San Bernardino shootings, and we think, "If guns were regulated better, would this have happened?"

This is an issue that's bigger than this article, obviously. But, essentially, my thoughts are that violence does not solve violence, never has, and never will. To me, the thought is absurd, and I do think that guns should be regulated, as a safety precaution to the owner or buyer, and to those around them. It is not the fault of the gun itself for any mass shootings or shooting of anyone, but the fact that almost anyone can have access to it? It can be argued that mental illness is the top cause of any shooting. The fact that someone mentally unstable can have ownership of a gun? We need to stop, and think for a second about how detrimental that can be on a society.

Of course, I am not saying that the American public are awful for owning a gun. There are many reasons for people to do so, and it is within their rights. I am not an American citizen, so I cannot begin to understand the laws and the reasons behind the desire to own firearms. The fact is, if the idea is to fight violence with violence, then that should not be the reason to buy a gun. I think regulation should be stricter, in order to decrease the risk of harm. Please do not think I am generalizing by saying anyone who owns a gun is obviously a, pardon my French, a violent maniac. But if we take the United Kingdom, a country where gun laws are more severe, the last mass shooting was in 2010, in Cumbria. That is just fact. So, if a puppy is harder to obtain than a gun, then I think there is something wrong with the system.