The Power Of Guns Should Not Be Abused
Gun violence has taken power over us. Many innocent lives are taken away without an explanation or cause, and it is not fair that people’s dreams get shot down, leaving plenty of families in the darkness and with unanswered questions.
The sad part of all these events is that we are losing our youth. Young lives are involved on both sides since young people are both killing and being killed. The fact that teenagers have the way to posses guns and use them to harm is discomforting. Our youth should be the hope for the future.
This past January, 6-year-old King Carter was killed in a crossfire of a gun fight, and an innocent life was lost due to irresponsible human beings who didn’t really care, young people, whose only guns should be books.
It is very easy to own a gun. I have a friend who owns one, so I asked her what type of documentation is needed. She answered: “you just need to take a concealed weapons course and then they do a background check.”
I was shocked by her response. It should be difficult to get a gun and, besides a background check, there should be some mental background test to see if the person is capable of responsibly owning and operating it.
Because some many of the shootings that have happened are executed by people with some sort of mental disorder, getting a gun should not be an easy thing. We are considered a free country where we all have the right to own weapons; however, we all have the right to live peacefully, and the U.S. has gone through a lot of tragedies. Where are the people who represents us citizens? Those who make the laws should take into consideration that we somehow are not protected from being free to own a deadly weapon.
Are we supposed to feel scared in a country where we should feel protected? Are we even safe anywhere? It is time to start taking some serious actions, so that shootings like the one in Orlando don’t happen again. A gun reform needs to happen now, because innocent people are paying for someone else’s anger and ignorant actions.
On the other hand, even police officers abuse the power of possessing a gun. The use of guns in some cases is unnecessary and completely preventable. Officers are equipped with a variety of tools they can use to detain people and they undergo training before actually going out into the field.
Their first instinct should not be to shoot to kill because they are not military, their first instinct should be how to apprehend the target with the least lethal form possible. That means using their firearm as their absolute final resort.
Recent deaths due to police shootings have been constant and unacceptable because this is obviously an extremely sensitive issue within this country and it continues to happen as though it hasn’t even scratched the surface of law enforcement.
Video evidence shows police officers clearly shooting victims with their backs turned or hands up and that is an undoubtedly a form of execution, not a form of self defense. They are meant to serve and protect the people not intimidate and oppress the people.
At the end of the day, a badge doesn’t put you above the law or the people the law governs and when you clock out that officer is a normal human being just like everyone else, so why are they so strongly impulsed to shoot first and ask questions later? In my opinion, it’s due to the fact that they come into the force with a predisposition against certain groups of people and have underlying prejudices from the beginning.
Being law enforcement officers means putting those personal issues to the side and thinking as well as reacting to situations under whatever type of conditions in the most logical, reasonable, and appropriate way possible. I understand that it’s a tough job. Tim Marks, a Miami Dade police officer said, “Sadly, our country is divided, but our job is to react.” He believes racism exists everywhere. However, I believe police officers as well should not abuse their power on guns.
