In the aftermath of some terrible shootings and mass murders that were orchestrated mostly in schools and highly populated areas in the United States over the last few years, there is a lot of controversy over US gun laws. American students marched recently, calling for change. I used to hold the opinion that the US gun laws were quite idiotic and I couldn’t understand why people would want to walk around with guns, but I didn’t really know much about all that back then. I have, however, done my research and changed those opinions.
It seems that a lot of people in the US are calling for a complete ban on guns, they think that by doing this it will eliminate gun crimes to a great extent. Australia is commonly used as an example of why it would work, as is the UK. But those same people obviously haven’t done their research because gun crimes in both the UK and Australia have been increasing since they banned guns. The UK and Australia didn’t have a big problem of gun crimes in the first place, the laws were enacted as a result of horrifying shootings that unfortunately involved children. Also, the US has tried to ban guns before, between the years 1994 and 2004, the AWB (Assault Weapons Ban). This put a ban on semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols. It is important to note that the Columbine shooting (one of the worst) took place in 1999, right in the middle of the ban, and an AR15 (semi-automatic rifle) was used by the shooter.
I think it is also important to point out that not a single shooter has been part of the NRA (National Rifle Association), which is a non-profit organisation that advocates for gun rights. Also most of the shooters had been abusing pharmaceutical drugs, which you might think isn’t really relevant because everyone in the US takes Big Pharma’s drugs, but after doing some research I found countless studies that show a link between psychiatric drugs and mania, violence, hostility, aggression, psychosis, and homicidal ideation (thoughts or fantasies of homicide).
It seems to me that those advocating against gun laws haven’t really put much thought into the whole situation and are lashing out at the easiest possible target. No one is looking at the mental health of the entire country. A generation of kids brought up being given pills when they felt sad or anxious, which might have given them some short-term satisfaction but all the research and evidence has shown that it rarely works out long term. The Parkland shooter was taking anti-depressants, and his mother had died a few months prior to the shooting. But it must have been those pesky gun laws that made him do it…
It’s a lot easier to take away everyone’s guns than to re-educate an entire society. No one wants to believe that they are uneducated and their behaviour is damaging, especially in a country like America where everyone thinks they are special and deserve the world. To me it seems like gun laws need to be stricter on who can and cannot buy them, the legal age to buy a weapon should be greatly increased and background checks should be run on everyone applying for a licence. I also think that major changes need to be made to the country attitude to mental health. It needs to be taught in school from a young age. Something I noticed recently is that people don’t quite know how to think positively, they are constantly filling their heads with shitty thoughts.
As for people walking around with guns, I’m on the fence about that one. I like the idea of an armed society. I am very anti-statist and I think that there is no better way to fight a corrupt government than to arm each and every citizen. In most countries, governments hold all the power and they back that power up with the military, so the citizens are left completely vulnerable (Look at what happened in Turkey a few years ago as an example). The US has a military force of 3 million soldiers and lots and lots of fancy toys and bombs, but that is nothing in comparison to 300+ million people with pistols and rifles. Safety in numbers. History has also shown that it’s not about all the high-tech equipment and huge tanks (Afghanistan). That being said I don’t like the idea of hot-headed red necks constantly having loaded weapons. I also don’t really see the need to have it on your person at all times. I think a gun safe at your home would be sufficient.
I also think that the US has a major problem with the militarisation of their police force that needs to be addressed. The police look more like elite soldiers than friendly coppers. This might be a little biased but I think all countries should follow Ireland's example and strip the police force of all lethal weapons. And with that they need to crack down on black market weapons, it’s coming from somewhere, and you're telling me that they can’t find out where even with all their fancy high-tech toys?
Of course, all of this could make the situation worse, we can’t know unless it’s tried and tested, but I think that this would be a much better approach.
Cormac