The Parkland shooting from a year ago continues to affect the victims from that day. Recently it was reported that Sydney Aiello, a survivor of Parkland, took her own life as a result of Post-traumatic stress from the shooting. People that knew her say that she never felt safe in a classroom after that day, not even at college, and took her own life. Today it is being reported that another student of Parkland also took his own life last night. This is evidence that the trauma does not end when the shooting stops, that it continues on for months and years to the victims that survive.
I am old enough to remember Columbine, and 20 years later the survivors and family of the victims of that day are remembering their loved ones and how their lives have changed since that massacre. I remember all of them, Aurora, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, the list goes on and on, yet the laws in place 20 years ago have not been changed, no action has been taken and we wait for the next mass shooting to occur. That's right I said the NEXT mass shooting because there will be more, innocent lives will be lost, kids will be killed and as we look to those we elected for answers, they will do nothing.
Yet in the wake of the mass shooting in New Zealand a few weeks ago, their government IS taking action. They have decided to outlaw assault-type weapons, including AR-15's, and the Prime Minister isn’t getting any pushback from the opposition party in her government. This is how it should work folks, and I am sorry if you disagree with me, but I’m right.
There is no other reason for ANYONE in this world to own a weapon of this kind other than to kill people with it. It isn’t for hunting, it isn’t for sport, and it isn’t for home protection. These weapons were designed and marketed by the manufacturers and the NRA for the sole purpose of being able to kill the most amount of people as quickly as possible. I don’t care if it is fun to shoot, and I don’t care if you just like having one (or more) in your “arsenal”. there is no practical every-day need to own one of these weapons. You want to cite the 2nd amendment, fine, the words WELL REGULATED is part of that amendment and the government has the authority to regulate what weapons we can own. I feel that the obsession with these weapons has devalued human life, minimized responsibility, and allowed us to become numb every time someone snaps and kills a large number of people.
The owners of these weapons can come at me with any explanation why they feel they should have them, I have heard them all, but the fact is their reasoning is flawed, because the longer we allow these weapons among the general public, the more innocent lives will be lost, for every 100 or 1000 responsible owners there are out there, there will be a percentage of the population that makes the decision to use that weapon to commit murder on a grand scale. That is not a sacrifice we should make for freedom, because the freedom to live is greater than your freedom to own these weapons, and that should be the end of the discussion.