Guitars Don’t Kill People, People Kill People

 

With this Fourth of July weekend coming up I think it’s time once again to celebrate the United States continued dominance through out the world, to remind ourselves that we are number one, and to never forget that the American dream lives in all of us!  Not only in this country do we have a constitution that promises us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but also a promise of the right to keep and bear arms, the right to have the highest murder rate, involving guns, of all non-third world, higher income nations, a rate that is five times higher than Canada, and ten to forty-four times higher than other high income countries around the world.  According to the Brady Campaign, “in one year, guns murdered 17 people in Finland, 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 194 in Germany, 200 in Canada, and 9,484 in the United States.”  We’re number one!  Woo Hoo!  We should be so proud of our selves.  To anyone who says, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” I say DUH!  A gun lying on the ground with no one touching it is pretty harmless.  What a stupid argument.  I could say the same thing about a guitar string, but if I pick it up and wrap it around someone’s throat and pull it with all my strength, I could probably chop there head off, except that people actually use guns to kill other people, they rarely use guitar strings! 
 
The fact is this.  There is a direct correlation between the number of guns owned per capita, to the number of deaths by firearm per capita. And guess who is number one on both lists, the United States.  For example, the United Kingdom with only 56 guns per 1000 people had only 39 gun related deaths for the entire year.  Canada with 315 guns per 1000 people had only 200 gun related deaths for the entire year.  But the United States with a staggering 900 guns per 1000 people had 9,484 gun related deaths.  You can make any argument you want but these are the numbers and the numbers tell the story.  Listen, I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have guns.  If you hunt, you should have the right to own a gun.  I have no desire to deny those who like to shoot wild game for sport their right to do so.  Guns for sport are completely legitimate, but nobody needs a 9mm Glock, a sawed off shot gun, or a semi-automatic rifle to shoot deer, unless of course the deer learn to shoot back.  Hand guns are made for one reason and one reason only, to kill other people.  No one brings a hand gun duck hunting.  And I’ve heard the argument that if you take away the right for people to own guns, then the only people with guns will be the criminals.  To that I say OK.  Because you see, you have to start somewhere.  Too many people in this country are being killed by guns in relation to the rest of the world.  We’ll get to the criminals next.  The bottom line is this, any firearm that is not considered a hunting class firearm should be illegal for any person in any state to possess with the exception of law enforcement and those in certain security related positions.  And for those who require a firearm for there job, other than law enforcement, they should be required to pass a background check, a psychological evaluation, and have at least a two week waiting period from the time they apply for their firearm to the time they receive it.  In addition, and most importantly, we must pass legislation to close what is known as The Gun Show Loophole.
 
If you are not familiar with the gun show loophole, it is a fatal flaw in our system that in thirty-three states allows any person, regardless of their criminal or mental background, to purchase a gun of any kind from a private seller with no questions asked.  That means a person standing trial for murder could purchase a gun.  A person on the suspected-terrorist list, could purchase a gun.  A person with a documented history of dangerous mental illness could purchase a gun and nothing could stop them and it would all be considered perfectly legal according to our current laws.  There are gun shows every weekend in thirty-three states that allow anyone to walk in and buy as many guns as they can afford to with out even so much as an ID check.  No records are kept of these gun sales, who the guns go to, or where they end up. The fact that this is legal in the United States, a country that has seen so many fatal school shootings, so many senseless gun related murders, is beyond comprehension.  It is unbelievable to me that something that is so easily preventable is not being prevented.  How many more Columbines have to happen for this loop hole to be closed?  The fact is the gun lobby, that spends millions of dollars to keep gun-control legislation from being passed, has blood on there hands.  The NRA who refuses to support simple background checks for those who purchase a gun at a gun show has blood on their hands.  And the fact is criminals don’t have to be purchasing there guns in back alleys or behind closed doors. The private sellers at the thousands of gun shows across the country will be happy to sell to anyone who can breathe anything they want, with no questions asked, as long as they have cash.  The fact that legislation outlawing this practice at gun shows has not been passed is unconscionable.  I’m sure this is exactly what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote in the second amendment, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”  Ooooo, Ahhhh!  Was that a firework or did someone just fire a Glock?  Happy Birthday America.

 

 

 

 

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