Guns and Violence

Today is the day after the shooting at NIU. Within the last 2 weeks or so, this country has seen numerous shootings, mostly at schools. This to me bears the question, when are we going to get a clue and ban guns? I just don't understand how people can continue to support the right to use an instrument of death. Someone once made the argument to me that banning guns is like banning cars because of drunk drivers. My rebuttal to that was a car's primary purpose is to transport. Do people do dumb things which cause it to become a vector of death? Yes but its purpose is to kill or maim. Same thing with knives. Their primary purpose is to cut and slice things, mainly food items but still some people use them for harm. However, in the case of guns, their only primary purpose is death and or harm. Guns are not bought for charm, for art, or to open a coconut. They are bought to shoot things with the hopes of killing or maiming. It's quite simple.

So my opinion is to ban guns for the most part. My comprise for all you gun toting rednecks who thrive on violence and live believing an 18th century amendment still applies to 21st century America is as follows...

• The only gun a person can own would be a hand gun, and just one for that matter. Also, you would only be allowed to own a gun after several provisions are met. 1) You must take classes totaling over 100 hours of gun safety. 2) You would have to apply and purchase a gun license, which would be issued after you pass a test regarding gun safety. 3) You would have to pay high taxes on the purchase of your gun. And finally, 4) you would have to renew your gun license annually. Furthermore, this hand gun is only for home protection. You CAN NOT take it out of your house. It must be registered and required to stay home. If you are found with it anywhere; car, on you, in a purse, you will go to jail. Plain and simple.
• It would be illegal for you to own anything other than a hand gun. No one would be allowed to own a shotgun, semi-automatic, fully-automatic, partially-automatic, or anything else; period.
• If you are a hunter... (Personally I despise your kind. There is no reason to hunt. It is barbaric and only serves to sooth the ego of a species that believes it is somehow superior to the world when we really are its worst enemy. For those that argue "but, we have to thin the herds or they will over populate etc."; my rebuttal is this, who is thinning our herd? Why do we as humans believe we are so high and mighty? Our population growth is out of control. We are WAY overpopulated. We are the ones who have spilled over into natural land, their land. We are the ones who have created the problems in the world. When is our herd of stupidity and self-righteousness going to be thinned?)...then you rent your hunting rifle or whatever daily from a wildlife office at the entrance of a hunting area. Plus, you can only rent a gun if you have a license to rent one. And (you guessed it) you can only obtain a license by attending 100 hours of hunting and gun safety and take a test to obtain that hunting license. (And no, the 2 licenses are NOT the same. Different classes, different tests and different payments for each)
• Regarding both licenses; you would have to be of a certain age, probably 21 or 25 in order to even apply for it.

In my opinion, if you take away guns, you won't 100% fully solve the problem of school related violence today, but you will significantly curb it. Guns do kill people. A monkey with a gun can kill people. A baby with a gun can kill people. A string attached to a trigger can kill people. What is the common theme here? When you involve a gun, the chances of death or severe injury rises astronomically. I maintain that if it is harder to obtain these items, then the likely hood of some kid picking up a gun from the store or family member and coming to school and opening up on as many people as possible become diminished.

I wonder how many people, how many schools, how many innocent people have to die or be shot before we wake up and realize that guns are too easy to buy, too easy to obtain, and too easy to kill with? Is it going to have to take the death of loved ones of these gun-loving idiots to realize the problem? Does the board of the NRA need to be gunned down before people wake up? I am in no way threatening anybody but merely asking what is it going to take for people to give up their affection towards guns? The 2nd amendment is old and needs to be changed.

If you are for the 2nd amendment let me ask you one last question for you to think about...Which is more important to you; your right to live, or your right to kill?