Everyone has different views on political issues. Some have recently backed a man whose screech sounds a bit like what Michael Jackson might belt out upon looking himself in the mirror, while others stand behind a man who cannot make a coherent sentence. We have different views on abortion, gay marriage, public education, and the like. It has been said (and I acquiesce) that everyone is welcome to his or her own views. That is the beauty of America: we have a militant commitment to free speech. One can be a tree-hugging, rich-taxing, progressive liberal or a capitalistic-peddling, rich, tax code-cheating, oil hugging conservative, and theoretically no one can discriminate against either man for his views. However, this is not always the case in our new, politically correct society. Nevertheless, it should be.With this in mind, I have chosen to give my opinions (which I am welcome to) about a touchy issue: gun control. As Americans, we have the right to carry a gun. This is a wonderful gift from our founders and each of us should embrace this opportunity. Not only do guns prevent crime, but they also neutralize the strength margin between men and women. In a study done by John Lott, a Yale economist, he found that the more restrictive gun laws that any United States county had, the more crime they had. Moreover, counties in the United States with more lax gun laws had less crime. This shows that the fear of not knowing who has a gun makes people less likely to mess with just anyone. If bank employees are all able to pack heat, criminals may be less likely to waltz into a bank and rob just anyone. Men may be also less likely to assault women if they are concealing a nice-sized gat in their stockings (but we do not often think that women are carrying guns). (Women who carry guns are also sexy.)
Moving on to another tough issue dealing with guns, let us address the school shootings and more specifically the tragedy in Columbine, Colo. The individuals at Columbine clearly used guns as the means to end human life, but who really killed those kids? Guns did not: Eric Harris and Dennis Klebold killed them, and their weapon just happened to be guns. The gun got all the blame. If I were a gun, I would not be too happy about taking the blame for these two kids’ actions. I can just imagine two guns talking to each other about the activities they are being blamed for. It may go something like this:
“Hey Cal. How was your day?”
“Well Rem, I was just hanging out in my drawer and this kid came along, started playing with me, pulled my trigger; of course I went off and now his friends are dead.”
Rem replies, “Then what happened?”
“Well after I went off I just decided to watch old Charleston Heston flicks and hang out, but my movie was interrupted by a news brief about the kid who pulled my trigger. It started out telling the truth, but then they started blaming the kid’s death on me, I could not believe it. They even called me by my full name, Remington. Only Mom does that!”
You get the picture. Blaming guns on Columbine is like blaming Rosie O’ Donnell’s obesity on a spoon. What is the real problem with gun control? (Remember, we can only address gun issues concerning non-criminals because criminals will get their hand on guns no matter what.) For my point, we have to focus on the average American and what he decides to do with a gun. The problem is that the average American is uneducated about the dangers of guns, and this malediction results in kids who do not understand the dangers of guns. Such neglect can lead to gun violence among children. When a five-year-old brings a gun to school, the problem is not that he has a gun; it is how he got the gun. The answer is simple: neglect. Parents neglect their children by not securing guns and that is why we lose thirty to fifty children each year due to guns. We have to keep in mind that we lose more children under eighteen to drowning in pools than to gun accidents. Should we have water restrictions or have safety devices on Evian?
As I stated earlier, this is my opinion and you are welcome to yours. There are many ways to solve our gun problems in the United States, but not allowing American citizens the right to bear arms is not the solution. This would then allow only criminals and police officer’s the right to protect themselves with guns and that would create a huge strength boundary between them and us. I agree with John Lott’s study that more guns will bring less crime. My advice to men is to stop working out: “Do you need pecks, when you have techs?” Women: get the ultimate strength equalizer; splurge on that sawed off or reach to the top shelf for that semi-auto-matic.
Ben Price is a junior majoring in political science.