Every time a tragedy happens such as the one that struck Colorado last week the same old hyper-polarized gun control debate is reopened briefly, and after a couple weeks those of us not directly touched by a shooting forget the terror and return to our quiet lives. All debate and demand for change is quietly put by the wayside and nothing changes. Is it too much to hope that maybe this time we'll finally say "enough is enough"?
I'm not suggesting that we ban all firearms overnight and all the people of the world will join hands and form a giant peace sign and sing camp songs around a bonfire... I'm not suggesting we ban things like hand guns, I'm not asking for the same strict gun legislation you'll find in most other countries. However, I will never understand why any civilian needs military-grade weapons, and why it's such a supposed infringement on their rights if we take them away. I don't care if you're a responsible, law-abiding collector. Some things don't belong in a collection (Biohazardous materials, for instance? Nobody's shouting from the rooftops their rights to collect dirty heroin needles). Defenders of this right claim that laws prohibiting sale of military-grade weapons to civilians will not stop crime. Of course it won't, and I think most people understand that. I think, however, that the massive impact and damage caused by military-grade weapons could be reduced when tragedy does inevitably strike. Military-grade weapons are made to inflict mass damage. If we want to prevent mass killings we need to place restrictions on access to guns designed to kill masses of people. Some also argue that criminals don't follow the law, therefore they'll still find ways to access these weapons. If we research mass killings however, the grand majority of shooters have bought their weapons legally. Every purchase the Colorado shooter made was legal. Yes, people will still be able to find these weapons illegally, but shouldn't we at least try to make it difficult for them? When it comes down to it, I feel as though the "right" to own military-grade firearms infringes on other Americans' rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Perhaps it's difficult for generations before Columbine to understand, but I think that many of my generation and those currently attending school have felt the terror in a very real way. I was a freshman in high school when two young men walked into their school and opened fire, killing 12 students and one teacher. That was the moment that everything changed, and we knew it. Most adults and school administrators, in an attempt to maintain some illusion of control and perhaps thinking they were shielding us from an ugly and violent reality, chose to avoid broaching the subject with students. We noticed the changes. Survailance cameras appeared in every hallway, on every corner. The principal said it was to monitor student population increases. We knew better. Along with fire and tornado drills we suddenly had a new kind of drill to interrupt the tedium of classes. The principal announced over the intercom that teachers were to lock all classroom doors and take an inventory of their students. They always said it was a drill, and yet it happened enough times throughout the year that we students knew that was also a lie. There were bomb scares for earlier generations, only ours were so terrifyingly real. There were times the power went out on a bomb scare day and you could hear the screams echoing through the halls. We were afraid to use the vending machines because we saw bomb sniffing dogs investigate them. Police officers with bomb sniffing dogs checked our lockers. One day rumors spread so badly that the local news arrived on campus, police were everywhere, and parents arrived in droves to the school to pick their children up and take them home. The school was in total chaos. I was also personally threatened by a very troubled young man in my school who, inspired by Columbine, wore a black trench coat to school and very proudly collected all sorts of weapons. I turned him down for a date and so he showed up after school hours claiming he had a gun. I was locked in the auditorium and he was escorted off campus by a security officer. My generation also witnessed school violence enter college campuses in the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting. You would think our parents would remember what happened in Texas.
Our children have the right to go to school and not feel like they're walking into a war zone. We all have the right to go to work, go to dinner, go to the movies without fearing that we won't make it home. Isn't this the kind of terror we tried to fight in two wars?
Why aren't we fighting terror in our own country?
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