Today I will write on a much more serious note: guns in America. The initiative for this was Florida's massacre, when on February 14th a mass shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Seventeen people were killed, making this Valentine’s day shooting on of the world’s deadliest school massacres.
I am not going to go into the depth of Florida’s shooting as I will leave it up to you to keep up to date as there are constantly new facts arising about the shooter. Who is he? 19-year-old suspect, Nikolas Cruz, told police he was responsible for the shooting.
How come young people like him come to decisions like this? To kill? And how is this possible that only couple of months into 2018, there has been already EIGHTEEN school shootings in US since January 1st. That makes it on average 3 shootings per week so far.
https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/16/how-many-school-shootings-in-2018/
Those shocking questions have been on the horizon in United States, or actually the whole wide world, for a long time. People tend to forget, of course not the families and friends of the victims, but society overall. And then days like this year’s Valentine’s Day in Parkland, Florida, reminds everyone that gun laws in America need to be changed.
I have a few examples of how American people perceive having guns. In December 2012, I was in New York State, USA, when school shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, took place, resulting in the death of 20 children between six and seven years old, as well as six adult staff members. 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in his mother’s car. After his massacre he committed a suicide. Me, being from a country where gun laws are more strict and where at that time I personally did not know a single person who owned a gun, resulted in having many debates about the guns laws in USA.
I even had a presentation in the class regarding guns in US. What was shocking, was that when I mentioned to the class that I did not know anyone who owned a gun from my home country, and here my classmate's gradation gift was a new gun, her THIRD one by the age of 20 or so, their response was just laughs and giggles. I was speechless as I tried to make them realise this is not a normal thing, it' not normal to have a gun as graduation gift, but for the whole class it was a very normal thing to have.
Or another example is when my friend from USA wrote to me, after 5 years we hadn’t been in touch. Her first letter was to let me know that she had become a mother of a beautiful baby girl. The second letter was to let me know that they had moved into the country side and now she needs to buy a gun. I did not know what to say. I just asked: why? Her only explanation was to protect herself and her family.
How does the gun laws exactly work in United States? Well, on a country-wide level, the Second Amendment in the Constitutions enshrines the “right of the people to keep and bear arms”. Then the federal laws sets out who is exempted from this general right to have a gun.
Federal law requires someone to be at least 21 to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, but only 18 to buy so-called “long gun” - a firearms with a longer barrel (shotguns, riffles). For example in States like Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, 14-16 year old can buy long guns without parental consent.
Also one interesting fact: Accoring to the Small Arms Survey conducted in 2011 showed that on average there are 88 guns per 100 people in America.
Interesting enough is that drinking age in USA is 21, while you can buy guns at 18, in some places even at 14. Where is the logic in that? You cannot have a beer when you are younger than 21, but you can enlist in the United States military at 18 (17 with parental consent). How is beer more dangerous than giving a child a gun?
Society is starting to realise that having more guns is not going to solve the problem. But people are frightened, especially because of the days like it was on Wednesday, February 14th. And more an more people want to get a gun to protect themselves, like my friend wanted to. Because they do not know any other way: eye against the eye, fist against the fist and gun against the gun. This creates bigger demand for guns, creating more guns on the market. Good for gun industry, but devastating for human kind. Did you know that in 2015, according to the Gun Violence Archive, 13,286 people were killed in the US by firearms. You have a family of..what… 4 people. That makes on the average of 3321 dead families in 2015 just in the US. Add here the mental devastation or even mental death of the people who lost their loved ones.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34996604
But some gun owners are finally taking a stand. They understand now that fighting guns with guns will not take them anywhere, as the time has shown that US gun laws have not changed for better as so many people die through guns every year in US. It has been a vicious circle.
And Florida long-time gun owner and a firm believer in the Second Amendment, Scott Pappalardo, who even has a tattoo reading “the right to keep and bear arms”, filmed how his sawed his legally registered AR-15 in half. His video went viral. It has more than 24 million views and more than 418 k shares. People have started using the hashtag #oneless to back Mr Pappalardo’s cause.
Mr Pappalardo states a really good fact in his video. I also had a conversation about it with my American friends. They said that if the law is going to change (or be more strict) and people will not have the legal right to own the gun, then black market for guns will thrive. And that will result in criminals having guns and civil people not, and how will they protect themselves? Mr Pappalardo broke the news that Florida’s mass shooter, Las Vegas mass shooter...they were legal gun owners. People can snap and commit a horrific crime. He also said that getting rid of his gun by selling will not solve the problem as the gun will still exist and someone can get a hold of it. So he basically destroyed it making sure it will never take anyones life.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-02-21/florida-shooting-us-gun-owner-destroys-his-rifle/9464708
Look at his video below:
https://www.facebook.com/100007513365065/videos/1993503840910042/?id=100007513365065