Yesterday David Gregory said on Meet the Press that all 31 pro-gun rights senators refused to come on the show. On Friday, following the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, the NRA hid their Facebook page.
Why are these people in hiding and not out defending what they believe in? Do they realize that they are only hurting their own cause?
What happened Friday may have a silver lining. Sadly it took the needless murders of some of our most vulnerable, young children, but we may finally have the national discussion our country has so needed for years. We might finally get to talk about what is causing so many of our citizens to snap and kill so many innocents and what we can do to prevent it.
Needless to say gun control will be part of this debate. That part of the debate is very much needed, as is the part of mental health, violence in movies and video games and lyrics in songs. We need to discuss everything that can be contributing to this to see if a solution lies in that aspect. Ignoring one part defeats the whole purpose.
So why are these pro-gun rights advocates in hiding? Now is the time for them to make their cases and be heard. The very much need to be part of the debate, just like those against all guns. Without all sides of the arguments being heard, we can’t come to a reasonable conclusion.
Like many other Americans, I do believe in our right to bear arms. I also believe that the second amendment has been outdated and technology advances need to be considered in changes. We no longer have the days of musket loaders that fire a single shot every 30 seconds. We live in a time of high power, automatic weapons that can shoot a dozen rounds per second. These are guns with a single purpose – to kill mass people.
We also don’t live in a time where the normal citizen can arm themselves in hopes of fighting off our government; another reason the founding fathers wrote the second amendment. We now have a military with fighter jets, scud missiles, nuclear warheads and drones. No single person or small group of fanatics can stand up to the might of the U.S. military.
Speaking of that, it’s even more interesting that the very ones who push to grow our military and make them stronger are the same ones who believe in the right to own arms in order to defend themselves from said military. Until a citizen can own a nuclear warhead legally, their whole argument is moot.
What this means is that we need sensible gun control. A single person doesn’t need to own dozens of high power firearms and high capacity clips. If someone starts ordering thousands of rounds of ammo, then warning flags should go up. People need to be trained on the safe handling of firearms and we need checks to make sure people with violent histories and/or mental illness do not have the right to purchase these weapons.
Sure people can use other things like knives to kill, but the number of causalities will be much lower. No society will never rid themselves of needless murder, but they can take action to prevent them. The United States has become synonymous with these mass shootings and we can’t continue on this path.
So we need to get these pro-gun rights advocates out of hiding and get them involved in the debate. We need them to realize that we are at a point where every side is going to have to make some concessions and sacrifice. We can honestly say now that the lives of our children depend on this.