GUN-CONTROL ARGUMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE DEADLOCKED

I am an American living abroad and have been traveling for most of my life.  What

my country, the United States, is infatuated with right now amazes me: people wrapped up in the controversial topic of gun control in the face of endless mass killings but using half-baked arguments to represent their opinions.

We have heard much about guns and gun control in the United States, a unique country with a unique past.  The Right to Bear Arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and therefore when read literally and interpreted literally, gives ground to the believe that gun possession is a fundamental right.  Those who interpret the Second Amendment as part of the Federalist Papers, in which the Founding Fathers wrote the intent behind the Bill of Rights, believe the Second Amendment framed the right for states themselves to maintain separate militias and not individuals themselves.

This never-ending back and forth argument that has swallowed our society since 1963, when we experienced the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  

In this essay, I am not taking sides in this argument on gun possession versus gun control.

But you, the reader, will be given facts and logical points and, at the end, you will see this issue is a endless whirlpool of feelings, points, logic and many other opinions that go into this tangle.  Beyond the basic fact that the Chinese invented gunpowder more than 1,000 years ago in the 10th century, the year 1364 is the first recorded use of a firearm in Europe. By 1380, the use of guns in western warfare had become common.   Fast Forward to early days of the colonies in America where English gunsmiths were forging long rifles. The famous American gunmaker, Remington, started his business in 1816. Another famous gunmaker, Samuel Colt, patented his firearm, the Colt .45 in 1836.  American gunmakers had suddenly gained worldwide popularity.

In the United States, gun laws are state-controlled and access to guns largely depends on what state you live in.  If you live in California the laws are very strict on how many guns you can own and the types of guns you can own, whereas if you live in Texas they are looser.

I’ve heard a lot about gun control in the past year and how it works and doesn't work. All of these debates only seem to occur every time there is a rare mass shooting and politicians feel forced to respond to it. There are roughly 27-30 gun homicides each day and most are in low income areas where guns are bought off the streets and easy to get. No one seems to focus on this and all this talk about reform seems just to be a quick response from politicians Look at Chicago where 97% of gun homicides are made with handguns yet after one shooting with a so-called assault weapon politicians call for an assault weapon ban.

People of America, can we face the fact that all this rambling is to keep us preoccupied and isn't helping anything; instead of dividing, we should unite for a common cause. We all want to protect the children of our country, our future itself. Most mass shootings are committed with handguns so don't say that we need a so-called assault weapons ban, but we also don't need people putting gasoline in a wildfire yelling about how the left wants to take away our rights and all the while raising tension. My family owns guns as do many other families in the United States of America, who believe the purpose of the Second Amendment is the right of self preservation and self defense. Most gun homicides are with guns bought illegally, so smearing gun control over the issue is not an actual solution just a politicians’ way of evading the issue.

All that's being said is we as a people need to recognise it and band together to fight for a common cause. What I'm seeing is we all want the same thing but it's just that we have different ideas of achieving it. This next part may seem a little biased but as I said there strong opinions on both sides on both sides of the argument. Why guns are not the problem: February 14, 2018, the Florida mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 dead committed with an AR-15 was one of the events that sparked a rallying call for why “assault weapons” should be banned, April 16, 2007 VA (Virginia) Tech shooting left 32 dead (33 including the shooter) proving that its not the gun that affects the measure of casualties its many factors such as, skill of the shooter, time of police reaction etc.

It is also a matter of mental illness, and here’s where the left is correct, mentally ill people should not be able to own a firearm. Yes, I understand the argument mentally ill people are citizens too if someone close to you (a family member or friend) was of age to buy a gun and they had a depression which is a chemical imbalance in the brain, would you feel comfortable with them owning a firearm when they are unstable?