This essay digs into current and past gun crime in the United States of America and other foreign nations. It went into past gun shootings and how the government of that country passed harsher gun laws and ever since gun shootings have decreased. Yet, America is unwilling to do that for a reason unknown to myself. Maybe it's because the men in America are obsessed with guns and they make them feel more powerful or more manly.
The shooting at Virginia Tech opened peoples eyes like Columbine did years back. But this time, it wasn't Marilyn Manson causing the shootings. Oh no, it was mental illness and depression. Do people ever wonder that maybe the depression that the shooter at Virginia Tech suffered through was caused my his peers and his teachers? By no one talking to him or no one sitting by him? One does not get depressed for no reason. Then there was the Columbine shooters. But everyones parents said that it was Marilyn Mansons fault because his music was "obscene" and "violent" and it forced the kids to shoot up the school. No, that is not the reason. Manson had absolutely nothing to do with it. The shooters were not right in the head. That's why they decided to kill their classmates and take their own lives as well.
Back to the gun control laws issue. The United States government has the responsibility to its citizens to protect them. Having stricter gun laws will do exactly that. Stricter gun laws will lower gun shootings in America. That's a fact. In Scotland, a gunman killed 16 kids and the government changed their gun laws. Since then, nothing like that has happened since. The same types of events have happened in Canada and Paris and the result has been the same. Shootings have gone down dramatically. When will the United States step up and do something?
The one thing I disagreed with in this essay is what to talk about after a fatal event occurs. The essay says we shouldn't talk about seat belts after a car crash. We shouldn't talk about cigarettes and tobacco after someone dies from lung cancer. We shouldn't talk about gun control after a mass shooting. Why the heck not? That is the PERFECT time to talk about that stuff. We have to talk about those things in order for them not to happen again! If we don't talk about them then, it will never be talked about.
The United States needs stricter gun control laws. But we also need to stop making excuses about why someone killed others. It's not music. It's something wrong with them. Don't blame the media. Blame yourself.
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Nice, thoughtful post, Justin. You make some interesting points. The issue of blame always gets brought up in the aftermath of a tragedy. I don't think it's ever as simple as finding one single cause. Life is much more complicated than that.
ReplyDeleteI like your point about the aftermath of a shooting being a perfectly appropriate time to talk about gun control, and I think the author, Adam Gopnik, agrees with that point, too.
Nice job, Justin-- keep it rolling!
One more thing, Justin: If you haven’t already, check out the blogroll on the class resources page, so you can start seeing what everyone else is up to.
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