Sunday, December 16, 2012

On Attaining Peace

                The other day, I cried. I cried for those who had lost their innocence. I cried for those who lost their children. I cried for those who had lost their lives, the heroic teachers and the little tykes. I cried for those who have lost faith in society.  But after a week of tragedies, what should we expect?  The world has unleashed a realm of hatred, violence, and grief that we have never known. From the Virginia Tech Massacre to the Fort Hood shooting to the current Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, the power of evil-doers has been witnessed. We claim that we have become so “advanced”. We claim that we have become “civilized”. We claim that we have become “modern”. Well, if this is advanced, civilized and modern, then I would like to live in the era before 1364 (the year that this hideous firearm was first used).
                Maybe we could restrict gun ownership. But because people love their hunting “rights” that won’t happen. Why don’t we provide each individual with a firearm for their protection? No matter what their age, age 4 (that innocent young person who shoot his sibling), age 20 (that malicious man who went on a killing rampage through a helpless elementary school) or age 65 (that senile man who “accidently” shot his acquaintance while hunting), everyone deserves a gun. Whenever someone feels harmed or threatened, they will have a gun by their side to protect them. Sure, it may cause collateral damage, but anyways we have a global population of 7 million – maybe we can afford some losses.
                We could just restrict the usage of guns or remove them completely. Maybe we could model our gun policy after Britain (they have one of the world’s lowest rates of intentional gun homicides at .07 per 100,000 persons compared to the US rate at 3.0 per 100,000). Maybe we could eliminate gun ownership by the general populace. Maybe we could attain our peace. But no, that would be ineffective.  In our society, we value being unique and not following those snobby Brits. In our society, it is a necessity to maintain our “right to bear arms”. In our society, we value our right to murder animals to fulfill our carnivorous diet. In our society, these reasons are more important than saving several lives. I guess restricting or eliminating guns from our society would overall be ineffective. So instead, let us give the populace guns, so we can attain “peace”.

See Articles:

No comments:

Post a Comment