Since people (i.e. litigious, McJagger) keep bringing this up, I decided to resurrect this thread.
I don't think guns should be completely abolished, but I definitely think the USA needs stricter gun control laws. The USA has experienced many tragedies that could have been prevented if it weren't for guns. There have been a number of school shootings. There was the Will Freund incident. Most successful suicides are caused by guns. Guns also make it easier to commit crimes.
As a future teacher, the gun issue is something I am going to have to worry about. Maybe not as much in New Jersey as I would in some other states (being that it's more difficult to legally buy a gun here than in a lot of the other states), but it will still be an issue that concerns me. It will be my responsiblity to look out for at risk/emotionally disturbed children who are in danger of hurting themselves or others. I scares me that there's always the possibility that a child could bring a gun to school and hurt someone.
Guns also make it easier to commit suicide. I agree that it's one's right if they want to commit suicide, but at the same time, I highly value human life. There's a big possibility that if people who commit suicide with guns didn't have them, they could still be alive. Maybe those who have committed suicide with guns would have eventually changed their mind and started to have quality of life. In most cases, suicide IS a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You can almost always change your life. Personally, I used to be suicidal, and I still occasionally think of it when I get depressed. I am very thankful that I (or my parents) never owned a gun, or else I may not be alive today. In one of my classes, my professor had her husband, a police officer, come in to talk to us about school safety. He talked about Columbine, some of the other school shootings, and suicide. In a documentary he showed, there was a police station taking a 911 call from a little girl. The child was hysterically crying and told them that her brother was dead. They asked her how he died, and she cried, "GUN!" and told them that he killed himself. This really moved me, and I had tears in my eyes myself. That kind of situation is NOT okay. That poor little girl is going to probably be traumatized for the rest of her life now.
Will Freund should definitely not have had a gun, but he did. The person who sold it to him said something like, "How was I supposed to know he was disturbed?" That's the thing. You DON'T know who's going to be disturbed, which is why guns shouldn't be sold to the general public or at least the laws should be much stricter. I'm fine with cops having them, and kind of okay with people in the military or who used to be in the military having them, but that's about it. I'm kind of iffy on hunters having them. I also really don't like people who have children in the house owning guns. Even if you lock your gun up, or store it really high, there's still a chance they can find a way to get to it.
Some people say if it's not a gun, they'll use another weapon to harm someone, but guns are a unique weapon. With knives, crowbars and such you need to be near enough to the person to harm them. With a gun, you can be quite a distance away to shoot them. This makes guns more effective when it comes to crime.
As for protection, there are other ways of protecting yourself. Most people don't *need* a gun in order to protect themselves. You can use mase, or take up karate or something. Besides, if the other person has a gun, they could shoot you first. There's also the chance they'll manage to disarm you and use your gun to harm you. I respect if people want to use them for protection, but it really doesn't seem necessary to me. I feel the risks aren't worth it.
As I said before, I value human life, so if I have to choose between having the freedom to bear arms and saving lives, I choose saving lives. If you look at statistics, there are a staggering amount of gun related deaths in the US as opposed to countries like New Zealand. I respect and have no problem with people who own guns and are careful with them, but I dislike guns and think they should be more difficult to attain because of the reasons I listed above. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind; I'm merely defending my position. I hope those of you that are pro-guns can respect my opinion too (and know that no matter what you say, my opinion won't change). Besides, it's not like my opinion is going to change the US government or anything.
