Story by: Yves Adele Harlow Reporter
Here’s my theory on guns, passed down to me from my father. Guns aren’t the problem. People are the problem. Actually guns, kids, and parents are parts of the overall problem.
Guns are lethal. They can kill or injure and that is what they are used for. But they can be useful if a burglar has broken into your home and is trying to kill you and your family.
If you’re one of those people who think guns should be illegal, let me say this. Guns will always, and I mean always, be available to criminals. Just because they are illegal, doesn’t mean that criminals can’t get one. Do you actually think that when they find out that guns are illegal that they are going to quit using guns and trying to kill people? No! That’s why they are criminals! If guns were gotten rid of, that would actually hurt the citizens more than it would hurt the crooks. Less families could be saved because they would be shot with a gun by the intruder. The family would have no way to defend themselves unless one of then was a member of a gang who is really good beating people with a bat or if they are a Bruce Lee type.
If they really wanted to, criminals could go to another country and somehow sneak a weapon back. It’s highly unlikely, but it could happen. Mobsters, gangs, and other cons would sell guns in old warehouses for other cons to buy. Officers should enforce the gun laws we have now instead of trying to get 20 more laws.
Besides, if you make guns illegal to own that would mean getting rid of the second amendment of our constitution, which is the right to bear arms. If you tamper with and get rid of the second amendment, who is to stop anyone from getting rid of the first, third, and the whole constitution altogether? Our country was based on the constitution and we should not mess with it. Personally, I don’t like the freedom of expression. It’s fine and dandy for people who know what the fathers of our country meant, but other do not. Strippers and porno sites are expressing themselves way too much for my taste. But I’m not going to try and make Congress take away the first amendment. While strippers have a right to express themselves, I have a right to disagree with them. If I don’t like strippers, I should stay away from them, right? If you don’t want guns in your house, don’t get one, but don’t make everyone else who wants to be protected get rid of their guns.
I’ve grown up around guns all my life. Have I shot a gun? No. Why? Because my dad taught me about guns, and what they are capable of. He taught me how to hold one and how to shoot it if ever in my life I need to use it. But he taught me this: Guns aren’t toys. I could die if I played around with one or someone very close to me could die if I ever pointed a gun at them. Every couple of years he tells me again (which I hate because I know already), but it works. I never touch a gun even though I know how to use one and know better than to pull the trigger.
People like my dad are out there who tell their kids about guns and the consequences of using a gun. Those people’s kids have most likely not killed anyone. It’s the parents who have not educated their children about guns that should be blamed.
What parents need to do is tell their kids about guns, what they do, the parts of the gun, and how they work. That’s how I learned and I haven’t done anything. If kids have the knowledge about guns, then they are less likely to go shooting people. Everyone needs to know about it so that they won’t be afraid of a gun and will know what it is capable of doing to a person or animal. Like the old saying goes, “Knowledge Is Power.”
George Carlin: They say if you outlaw guns, only outlaws and criminals will have guns. Well, shit, those are precisely the people who need them.
Geroge Carlin: It has become very easy to buy a gun. It used to be, “I have a gun, give me some money.” Now it’s, “I have some money, give me a gun.”
George Carlin: A seven-day waiting period for purchasing a handgun is stupid. It just gives the buyer that much more time to think of people he’d like to kill. Now, instead of a single murder, you’ve got a multiple homicide on your hands.