Following the incident in Aurora Colorado last week that left 12 dead and 58 injured after 24 year old James E. Holmes entered a movie theater and opened fire on its patrons, the debate on firearm regulation has sprung back up in the media. We have seen this debate come up every time there is a mass shooting somewhere in the U.S., such as the shootings at Virginia Tech, Columbine, and Fort Hood. The debate is on how much access normal citizens should have to firearms, specifically “assault weapons”.
First off, the term assault weapon is a completely made up and misused term. If you search around, the term assault weapon varies wherever you look. There are, however, characteristics that are shared such as a burst-fire or automatic action, a folding or collapsible stock, a pistol grip, and a detachable magazine with a high capacity. In light of this recent shooting, there are many who believe these types of weapons, along with semi-automatic look-a-likes, should be banned (Even though an “assault weapon” wasn’t even used) because they are specifically designed to inflict high amounts of damage in a short amount of time and have little to no sporting applications. I don’t necessarily believe that because these firearms are used for competitive and recreational shooting as well as self defense.
I have always been a strong believer and supporter of the Second Amendment. I grew up around firearms and was taught at an early age to respect them and learned how to properly and safely handle them. I have even used a variety of them for both recreational shooting and hunting. Even though I can no longer get out of the house to hunt or go shooting because of my medical issues, I believe restricting access to firearms would be a great loss to American culture and interfere with our right to protect ourselves.
To think that restricting access to firearms would stop shootings like the one that took place in Aurora Colorado, and reduce crime rates, is no more more than a pipe dream. Firearm regulation only keeps firearms out of the hands of law abiding citizens. Even though James E. Holmes, the Aurora Colorado shooter, acquired his firearms and ammunition in a legal way, he could have easily gotten them illegally as well. If this guy was intelligent enough to build terrorist grade IEDs and rig his apartment to explode upon entry, then I think it’s safe to say he could find some firearms as well.
The NRA slogan “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” has a lot of truth behind it. If we want to prevent crimes such as the shooting in Aurora Colorado, we need to focus on figuring out why these people commit these atrocities and work on those issues instead of focusing on the tools used to commit them.
Inside Matthew's Mind 