With Sandy Hook still fresh in Americans' minds and gun laws as the hot topic, we witness another tragic event as a result of gun violence. Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl from Chicago, went to school on Tuesday January 29 to take final exams; after school she in her friends sought refuge from the heavy rain in a nearby park. One of Hadiya's friends noticed a man scale the park fence, gun in hand. By the time her friend started giving out a warning, the gunman oped fire. Hadiya was hit in the back, a 17-year-old Eagle Scout was shot in the calf, and another teen's ankle was grazed by a bullet. A nurse who lived nearby went over to help but she wasn't able to save Hadiya. The motives for this attack are unclear but police think that the gunman may have mistaken the teens for rival gang members. The current reward for the arrest and conviction of the shooter is set at $24,000; money raised by clergy and other community leaders. The main reason as to why this story has received much attention is because Hadiya, an honor student and majorette for her dance team, had days before preformed at Pres. Obama's second inauguration.
This shooting really makes me question the need to have guns on the streets. Why does any American, not in the military, need a firearm? The NRA loves to point to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Does that mean that we should be allowed guns? I think not, this amendment says guns shall be allowed for the purposes of a well regulated militia. United States Army and its branches are the only well organized militia that I know of that exists in the US, so there is no reason citizens not in the military should have guns. The US military is more than capable of protecting us; take a look at this chart and tell me I'm wrong: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgu34Tg7YSVjTlvGmD5SLkIJP5PoE8OiUZNfEKh_jpHN-VwD-7kvH6bCGdgrZJSgXZuOdC_LjZLsxx1wZjV4P8uUIJwkAy8toIiRQMQGDuW7cK0LsIOs-a9Pm6E6nn6uvf6VefQK5JR7X6/s1600/country-distribution-2008.png. The only purpose for the Second Amendment is for citizens to protect America from foreign attack and as I said the military has got that covered.
Link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-hadiya-pendleton-0201-20130201,0,4698937.story
I have to say that it's not entirely the fact that there are guns, but that the fact is that there are people with guns. If someone, who is sane requires a gun for their own protection that is a big difference from this case where this guy was using it to most likely fight another gang. Jack, I think that the military is not the same an open state militia, militia implies within our nation, and some of our military isn't in our nation. I would point out that I consider the police to be a small militia, but my version of a militia would be more like an emergency fighting force not immediately called upon by the military.
ReplyDeleteFair point Nathan but say you were an average American adult right now and felt the need to have a gun for your protection, as you said people want guns for their protection. Well if there were no guns on the street as I have suggested then why would you need a fire arm for protection if there were no other fire arms?
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