Us vs Them

Gun control? No. This is a mental health issue. This is a result of our nation falling out of line with God. A gun didn’t kill those kids, a person did. AND he was crazy. This isn’t a gun problem. I have rights. You can’t take those rights. The Second Amendment states…

Sound familiar? These are a few of the most prominent responses to Parkland shooting, where 17 people were killed by a military grade weapon in the hands of another person.

I am so sick of this debate.

The people arguing that this has nothing to do with guns are the people who are basing their view solely off opinion, emotion, and their distance from the situation.

While I believe this should not be a debate, I know this is not an easy topic. I researched this topic for a long time before I spoke about it because I do not want to base everything off emotion. I do not want to be pinned as "the whiny, little girl liberal who hates guns and doesn’t actually know what she is talking about." That is no better than the people crying about their rights being taken.

And I am not that person.

The main issue I have with the argument “guns are not the problem” is the simple fact that, for the most part, guns are the weapon in choice for mass killings like these. Cars aren’t being driven into schools to kill kids. Bombs aren’t being built to blow up churches. Knives aren’t killing dozens of people in a nightclub. Guns are. Guns are much more lethal and effective than these other methods (that’s important to note, you should watch the video above).

Yes, people are controlling these guns. I am aware that guns do not have the ability to “get up and walk into a school.” Thanks for reminding me, though.

But, let’s think about something for a second. Let’s drop out political bias and or our immediate reactions that come up when we here the words “gun control,” and let’s think.

Anyone who kills innocent people has mental health issues. Right? I think we can agree that anyone who steps into places like a church, or a school, or a nightclub, or movie theater, or anyone who camps out in a hotel room and shoots into a crowd at a concert has a mental health issue. They do.

Did you know I have mental health issues? I have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and touch of OCD to sprinkle on top. And, by the way, that doesn't mean I am "out of line with God." That means I have a chemical imbalance. Mental health issues run in my family. My dad also owns several guns. Have I shot up a movie theater? No. Can I legally buy a gun? Of course. Almost anyone can.

But let’s say for a second that my mental health condition is so severe and so impulsive that I should not have access to a gun. I should be nowhere near a gun. However, I have a clean background check. I don’t have a history of assault charges or documented past violence. There is no reason for anyone to believe that I shouldn’t have a gun. So, I can buy one. Not just one. I can buy a bunch. And I can take them into my school the next day and I can shoot those guns. Now, can I still legally buy a gun? Of course. Almost anyone can.

Do you see the issue here?

Does this have to do with mental health? Sure. The people who kill like this have mental health problems that totally need to be treated. However, it takes a diagnosis to treat them, and to get a diagnosis, they either have to be admitted/referred, or seek help for themselves. Right? Sometimes there are no outward signs at all. Sometimes there are. It can go both ways. Right? Right. And sometime people can just "snap." There were no mental health concerns and everything was totally normal until one day, something changed...

People go untreated all the time for various reasons. The stigma from society. The ever-growing cost of medication. The feeling of failure. The feeling of isolation. Being called crazy, unstable, nuts, stupid, abnormal, emotional, too sensitive (all of which I have heard). Being told that God didn’t mean for them to be made that way, and that they are a mistake and that they should be locked up… There is a multitude of reasons why people go undiagnosed or unmedicated. And let me be the first to say, many of these reasons are our fault. My fault. Your fault. This falls back on us. Everyone is responsible.

So, is this a gun problem? Yes. We have easy access to a wide variety of guns, and we shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. You shouldn’t. That racist teacher shouldn’t. That pastor who is molesting a boy from his youth group shouldn’t. That veteran with PTSD shouldn’t. That person with undiagnosed, severe mental health issues that is about to shoot his neighbor shouldn’t. None of us should have this much access these kinds of weapons. And I am not sorry if that offends you. 

There needs to be rules. Like, lots and lots of rules. There needs to be extensive background checks, and mental health screenings, and personality tests, and lots and lots of training and documentation that goes into owning a gun. That will help prevent the people who shouldn’t have a gun from ever, ever getting one, which would in turn help prevent deaths to these weapons.

*Notice through all of this, I say “help prevent,” meaning, “Yes, I acknowledge that it can still happen, but it will also decrease the chances of it happening.”

Should we all be armed- every teacher and pastor and movie theater worker- so we can keep the “bad, crazy, sick, nuts” people at bay? No. Because then we’re just continuing to arm people, even the ones that shouldn’t have guns. It has also been proven that, as the number of guns increase, the amount of death or injury to guns also increases- meaning that giving everyone guns would just increase the rate at which innocent people are killed by guns. Don’t believe me? Watch the video up there, if you haven’t. It contains *unbiased, reliable statistics* that map this out.

My opinion, based on facts and available information? Common sense. That’s what we all should have with this situation. We need to look at the research, become informed- and that doesn’t mean just reading what we want to read. Read the stuff that challenges your views. Because, after looking into the complexity of this topic and doing my homework, common sense seems to be part of the answer. Extensively screening people who want guns will help weed out the people who shouldn’t have them. Sure, if they want to kill, they have other methods. But those methods are harder and take more energy and more time- which gives more time for them to either be caught, be overpowered, or even be deterred from committing the crime. These other methods also are not as likely to kill people. You can’t kill 50 people with a knife in a matter of minutes.

Common sense gun laws also would assist in decreasing the amount of suicide in our country, as well as the gun related deaths and injuries we currently have due to domestic violence. This is also important to note, because it is a huge part of the reason why we need gun control. Watch the video up there. It’s important.

Am I trying to take your guns? No. If you still think that is what I am saying, listen to this… If you are fit enough to have a gun, by all means, get a gun. Shoot your targets, and your deer, and your pesky raccoons (even though I love animals and wish you wouldn’t)- because you went through the process of the intense screenings and you jumped through the hoops, and you don’t seem likely to shoot our kids. Good for you! I respect your right to a gun. Now go respect the power of your gun and use it well.

It’s just that I also respect my right to life. And your right to life. And their right to life.

They deserved to live. Everyone from the Parkland shooting. Everyone from the Las Vegas shooting. Everyone from the Orlando shooting. Everyone from the all of the shootings that I have seen in my short lifetime. They all deserved their life. It is my belief that they deserved their life more than you deserve your guns, but that isn’t what I’m trying to do. I am not fighting to take your guns. I am fighting to protect the lives of the people who die to the guns. They deserved to live, and they deserve to live.

This is not exclusively a mental health issue. If it was, guns wouldn’t be involved whatsoever. But because they are the weapon of choice, and because they are so easy to access by anyone who wants one -for whatever reason they want it for-, and because they are so lethal, they are part the problem. And for anyone that thinks otherwise, watch the video...

Creating common sense gun laws that mandate common sense screenings verified by psychologists and the experts in the area of mental health will help save your kids and your siblings and your parents and everyone. Requiring extensive screenings in order to purchase guns will help save lives. By supporting people who support gun control, you are helping save lives.

The Second Amendment was created in a time where these kinds of weapons did not exist. Let’s modify our laws appropriately and collectively, with respect and common sense, and let’s work towards protecting everyone’s right to life. Let’s stop making it an “us vs them” issue. If we continue to be a nation divided, our people are going to keep dying.