Gun Laws Are A Start. Integration and Education Matter Too.

It's not just gun laws, but gun culture that needs to change. We need to begin to look at guns and violence in general as a lesser option in this country. Wars and violence in the world are not to be celebrated.  It is to be discouraged as a primary objective of humanity.

The freedom that we have right now to bear arms is a large one; it is the most dangerous one.  We regulate everything else, we regulate our medicine, we regulate the drugs, we regulate cars , we regulate taxes and all sorts of things. But the deadliest things? The things that can cause harm to one another?   The ease of procurement of lethal weaponry in the US is second to none.  Both legally and illegally.

Young people and people that are emotionally or mentally disturbed OR MAY BECOME emotionally or mentally disturbed have it very easy to obtain a weapon in this country and that presents a problem in this day and age when those weapons can decimate a large number of people in an extremely short period of time.

I believe that people have a right to defend themselves with a personal defense weapon.

I believe that that weapon should be capable of completely incapacitating an aggressor.

I believe in the right to hunt with certain restrictions.  You can't change the entire ecosystem by decimating a population of elephants, for example.

I believe that skill shooting is a valid competition.

However I believe that gun ownership is a huge responsibility and as such, checks must be made to ensure the safety of others in this regulation.  Guns are weapons.  Let's not pretend that their function isn't primarily to shoot and destroy things. 

I think that a yearly check to ensure the person doesn't have any prior drug or alcohol related offenses for the past year.  That they don't have any violent offenses.  Not just to purchase a weapon, but to maintain ownership, especially if when referring to military grade weaponry. 

I believe that people can act responsibly one day and irresponsibly the next, so I don't think a one time purchase should lead to a lifetime of ownership for assault rifles and semi automatic weaponry.  It would be great if mankind constantly acted rationally at all times, but we know this is not the case.

I don't have the right right now to medicate however I please. There are certain drugs I can take and there's certain drugs that I cannot take.  The government attempts to regulate personal health with greater scrutiny than it regulates potential death to its own citizenry via the hostile actions of others. 

In some things I agree, that opioids in particular need to be an extremely scrutinized category drug due it's nature of addiction as well as acute overdose dangers. 

Marijuana on the other hand I find less destructive than alcohol, and shouldn't be regulated by the government.

I think it is time to regulate with far greater scrutiny weapons with large magazines and weapons that can discharge at a disproportionate rate.  We need to regulate them at least as well as we regulate cars, or medicine.

But the gun laws are really only part of the problem the real problem in the core of it starts with who we are as like a people and how much do we love each other and try to support one another versus how much are we looking out for ourselves and our own selfish interest and greed.
 

I believe that the school shootings in particular could be prevented by additional help and funding in the classroom and in school and escalating problems and how we interact with one another how we interact and deal with bullying in our lives at an early age, talking to one another and communicating to one another is one of the most important things that you can learn.  I think it helps prevent anger and hostility towards one another when we treat each other in it. Don't bully tease and put people in isolation that don't need to be there.

For some people its hard or difficult to interact with the outside world and they have fears or anxieties or their stress or any multitude of things but it's important as a society to try to reach out and love those that maybe other people have had difficulty reaching out to for whatever reason.

I really believe that America as I see it today is at a bit of a crossroads to who we want to be. Do we want to be a country that is angry all the time that embraces this winning or nothing mentality and will do anything to get ahead?  Or do we bond together and try to talk about things that affect everybody even though you may not be able to see it or feel it at times.  To take action on helping other people with social programs that uplift the country as a whole, rather than invest in a weapons and military industry that in my view isn't built for the problems and securities of today.

Gun activists and proponents of guns and their freedom with them like to point out that if the person was dedicated enough he could still get his hands on multitudes of weapons or bombs or poison or what have you to have a great effect on their target whatever their target is which is true.

However we still don't see though any of those sorts of activities happening in other countries.  For example we don't see the disaffected youth of France you know bombing their schools we don't see the disaffected youth of Germany, Russia, Australia, Franz, the UK, Mexico, Canada, for anywhere else in the world destroying their own.

I am sure there have been isolated incidents all across the world, but they are exceedingly rare in comparison to what is going on in the United States right now.

So I think to myself. What is the reason that are youth and our populace is so upset and why are we so angry and why are we so scared?

One of the things I think is a problem is that we are constantly pumped fear by our politicians and news media about different things, namely crime. We always have a fear of a burglar, a rapist, a murderer, a terrorist or an off kilter nut-job.

The second thing that I think is that our schools are woefully inadequate and how they are performing and how they are funded, the kids aren't getting nearly enough resources and things such as bullying and social isolation need to be addressed.

If we want better kids and we want better parents and we want everything to be better, we need to begin to at the very start and investing in our future we need to invest our collective ability to learn and adapt and that comes primarily through education.

We need to invest to get a people, opportunities and jobs. Technical and trade schools.  Community Colleges.  Anything really to kind of help get people working and being productive would be great. 

In the end, while restricting access to military grade weaponry will help, it will  by embracing a culture that loves one another rather than fears and hates one another.  Build through education and social programs that uplift.  Care for one another rather than only looking to help ones self.