Thursday, April 11, 2013

Gun Control - Does it go far enough?

One of the hot topics currently is the eternal debate about gun control. There are very few discussions more polarizing than this one, and many people have an opinion. I come from Georgia where most people are against reforming gun control laws and stand by the second amendment with respect to the right to bear arms. The town of Nelson, 50 miles north of Atlanta, has taken the second amendment one step further by passing the 'Family Protection Ordinance' which requires the head of each household to own a gun and ammunition. 

A bear questioning the second amendment
The second amendment is often misunderstood

There are many arguments for and against increasing gun control and many of these have been in the public eye since the Columbine school massacre in 1999. Most recently, the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Co and the killings at Sandy Hook Elementary, Ct have brought gun control issues to the front page.

The pro-gun party say silly things like "guns don't kill people, people kill people" because they do not want their 2nd amendment rights revoked. The idea that keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and crazy people is justifiable until the very same pro-gun party oppose increased background checks and psychological evaluations to identify the criminals and the crazies.

Big Butts
"Do these holsters make my butts look big?"
Anti-gun groups say that the mass murders like the ones mentioned above would not have happened if guns were outlawed. That conjecture rests on the fact that if a person is desperate enough to go on a murder spree, they will find a way. Just this week, a guy went to a Houston community college and stabbed 14 people with a utility knife. Should we ban knives too?

There is no perfect resolution to this situation. Both sides will need to compromise to make the world a safer place. Restricting access to firearms with the use of background checks for all purchases is absolutely necessary. The outlawing of automatic (assault) weapons and high capacity magazines is a strong positive step. We can never keep all of the guns out of the hands of all of the mass murderers, but making it tougher for them to repeat the tragedies which have gone before is a good start.






2 comments :

Sci-Fi Gene said...

As a UK citizen I feel so safe when visiting the US knowing that your country has the strictest Kinder Surprise Egg controls in the world.

Alexa Rankin - Slap the Penguin said...

Thanks for your support, as a responsible nation we have to prevent the choking hazard presented by those Kinder Eggs. We also need to prevent ingestion of that awful chocolate coating around the surprise.

Most viewed pages (last 30 days)

Slap the Penguin, more than just a satirical news blog

.