Okay, I know there is something that I have never understood... nor will ever understand - that is man's capacity to do violence to others. I admit it - I'm a pacifist. Even an über-pacifist, if that's a word. Understandably then, I'm pretty freaked out over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. When I was growing up, school was a safe haven and it disturbs me that it no longer is. Friday's shooting came on the heels of an incident on Thursday in my school in which we ended up in a lockdown situation. This incident was due to two students who got into a fist fight, sending one student to the hospital. The hospitalized student is one of my seniors that I adore and it disturbs me that this young man resorted to fisticuffs to settle a ridiculous dispute. I know that I am hypersensitive to violence and that it affects me deeply. I kept thinking all day Thursday and Friday that I was working in the wrong school district for someone with my sensibilities and then I heard about the shooting in Newtown and I thought "Well, nowhere is safe."
I think that's pretty true in the United States due to our antiquated and barbaric gun laws which allows any disturbed individual with a credit card the ability to get a legally registered weapon of destruction. If lawmakers don't understand the need for harsher gun control laws after this recent shooting, then maybe it is time for me to leave this country. The U.S has three gun homicides per 100,000 people. That’s four times as many as Switzerland, ten times as many as India, 20 times as many as Australia and England. Another reason why I keep saying I going to move to England the minute I get the opportunity!
Gun owners: don't give me that old lecture about how "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." I think the guns help. If lawmakers are unwilling to outlaw guns in this country, then let's at least have a compromise. Let gun owners keep their filthy guns. Outlaw the bullets! I acknowledge that a disturbed person who has the capacity to do violence will wreak their destruction no matter what, but without semi-automatic weapons available, the destruction is severely lessened. Without these weapons, right now we would not be mourning the death of 20 innocent children, not to mention the 6 brave educators! Wake up, America! The Right to Bear Arms was a necessity back during the Revolutionary Period, but no longer. We are long overdue for changing the gun laws in this country!
Gun owners: don't give me that old lecture about how "Guns don't kill people. People kill people." I think the guns help. If lawmakers are unwilling to outlaw guns in this country, then let's at least have a compromise. Let gun owners keep their filthy guns. Outlaw the bullets! I acknowledge that a disturbed person who has the capacity to do violence will wreak their destruction no matter what, but without semi-automatic weapons available, the destruction is severely lessened. Without these weapons, right now we would not be mourning the death of 20 innocent children, not to mention the 6 brave educators! Wake up, America! The Right to Bear Arms was a necessity back during the Revolutionary Period, but no longer. We are long overdue for changing the gun laws in this country!
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| In honor of those lost in Newtown! |
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