Gun Culture is the problem

 

Last updated 3/7/2018 at 9:31am



Last week, I opened the newspaper to find a [letter to the editor] mentioning how the NRA was not to blame for ANY gun violence, and that it was more of a cultural issue rather than a gun issue. I’m here to say that it is a GUN CULTURE issue, and that it’s not just people that kill people, it’s people with GUNS that kill people, and gun violence is the leading cause of homicides in the U.S. (source: procon.org). The NRA has fought against so many regulations that would prevent people from having access to automatic and semi-automatic rifles designed to kill as many people as possible in as little time as possible that it seems ludicrous to suggest that they have no part in this.

I found numerous factual errors in last week’s article, so I’m here to set those misstatements straight.

1) The NRA donated far more on political causes than was stated in the article, paying millions to state representatives and senators over the course of 20 years (source: fortune.com), with $15 million on Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign alone (source: New York Daily News), not to mention the $31 million that was spent to put Donald Trump in power (also fortune.com).


2) God was never meant to be in school, and I advocate for total separation of Church and State, because no one wants another religion forced upon them! Freedom of religion is the first right in the Bill of Rights, and so to suggest that only one religion would be represented in school is preposterous. If you are going to lean so heavily on the Constitution and your rights, then at least know what they are and know when you are violating them!

3) To add on to education regarding the Constitution and rights, I have learned my rights, and last year, in eighth grade, we spent a whole SEMESTER memorizing parts of the constitution and understanding what it means! Don’t say that, because I am young, I am easily impressionable, and that I cannot make rational decisions without being influenced by “liberal forces” that use people like me to spread political opinions.

4) Why is it that abortion deaths seem to be more important than fully formed human deaths, the deaths of students and adults alike with hopes and dreams? I won’t go into the issue of abortion, but if unborn people and fully formed people are equally important, then you should defend the sanctity of both! Stop blaming gun violence on the erosion of your perceived “cultural values.” If you choose to be pro-life, then that should surely include wanting to end gun violence and to prevent further unnecessary deaths due to political lobbies that only further destroy our political system, where government decisions should be for the people, by the people, not for the lobby, by the lobby.

Why is it so hard for people to detach themselves from chunks of metal that go “bang?” Is it so essential to your lifestyle that you are willing to turn against your neighbors in defense of your “right?” I make mention that this right was implemented hundreds of years ago, when most guns would miss and were far less powerful or reliable than now, where we have guns that can kill hundreds of people in a matter of minutes. In the Bill of Rights, it also states that guns must be kept in a well-regulated militia, the likes of which I do not see.

I do not want to go to school every day, afraid that I will be shot by someone that should never have had access to a gun. How long will it take people like you to love your children more than your guns? How many more mass shootings will it take? It seems like everyone has stopped caring for anyone other than themselves. Because that’s really what all of this is about: a bunch of puppets in suits that are just going where the money is, regardless of who it hurts, or what it does to society.

So that’s why you’ll see me protesting, because sooner or later, my generation will be in charge, and we will vote these political puppets out, and right the wrongs that past generations have made.

Lillie LaPlace

Editor’s note: The letter the writer refers to, “Defending the NRA,” was submitted by Carl Russell, whose name was inadvertently left off because of a layout error, for which I apologize. - SH

 

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