Politics: Gun Control

  If you've been a reader of this blog from the start then you'll know that I try to stay away from politics. For some reason, a lot of people find it tiresome rather than fascinating so I keep my opinions on feminism and the gender wage gap to myself. By no means does that suggest I'm scared of stating said opinions because I'm not. Sometimes it's just easier to avoid the arguments.

  One thing I cannot ignore is the ongoing issue and debate on gun control. I've had three different conversations, ranging in severity, within the last two days on the subject. All three of the conversations were with somebody that's pro-gun. three out of three were left unresolved because there was no middle ground.

  You see, when somebody is pro-gun, they will always fall back on one of three arguments;

1. I own a gun. It has never and will never pose a threat to another human life.
2. Well if there were no guns, I'd just be stabbed. So what's the point?
3. If somebody pulls their gun, I need to defend myself.

  All three of these arguments are absurd and are simply used when a debate cannot be won. It creates an impasse because the points are difficult to challenge in certain circumstances. I constantly hear, "it isn't the gun, it's the person wielding the gun," which is something I am completely bored and infuriated by. If the person wasn't holding the gun in the first place then lives wouldn't be lost, so the point is completely invalid. Sure people have been killed in misfirings but again, no gun, no death.

  In terms of knife crime, of course, it does happen, but it's illegal to carry a serrated blade on your person, and the buying and selling of kitchenware are regulated. Therefore the numbers for knife crime are substantially lower, and that alone shows that weapon control works. A school shooting, the Dunblane Massacre, in the UK in 1996 resulted in guns being banned, and we haven't had another since.

  When people tell me that they own guns, and "my guns would never be used to harm another person," (believe me it's always the first response every single time), it baffles me how they can miss the point by so many miles. It is impossible for you to know whether or not your gun will ever harm anybody in the present or the future. There is always room for human error. Of course, pulling your gun on somebody might not be the first thing on your mind, but it could be the first thing somebody else thinks to do. You might not be a threat, but any number of other people could be, and oftentimes are. That's exactly why gun-control is necessary.

  There've been eighteen school shootings in the US this year. That's eighteen separate occasions within 46 days that a gun was taken into and fired on educational grounds. Not all of these instances resulted in death or injury, but that certainly doesn't declassify it as a shooting. If those numbers don't tell you something is blatantly wrong, then I have no hope for you and you should head elsewhere.

  I apologise if today's post is boring to my usual readers but as I said, I felt that it was important to address. If you want more talk on politics in the future then let me know.

Signed,
Elijah.
Meta Sentience.
16/02/2018