Recently, a teacher in Virginia named Abby Zwerner was shot non-fatally in the hand and chest by a student. A six year old.
Yeah.
The student used a legally purchased handgun (owned by their mother) that they smuggled into the school in their backpack. After an altercation with the teacher, they apparently decided it was appropriate to threaten the life of a schoolteacher. Look, I get it, you want to have a gun to be safe, but, with all due respect, what the heck people? There’s no way to justify that. A child had easy access to a gun. A six year old stole a gun from a parent and injured a living human being with it. There was clearly some negligence there; whose fault (psst… it was the parent who left their gun out) it was is not the purpose of this.
Why in the world did they get a gun in the first place? Clearly the legal owner was kind of an idiot if they let a baby take it from them. I thought the background check and licensing procedure was meant to prevent that.
And there you have it. Gun violence is because idiots get guns (see: every school shooter. Like literally ever). It isn’t because organized terrorists get guns. It’s because the average Joe with serious psychological problems is allowed to get themselves a firearm and unload it at will.
Now you’ll probably object. “Bad guys get guns anyways and if the good guys have guns they can defend themselves.” Naturally. Because, my dear gun lovers, if that teacher had a gun nobody would have gotten hurt!
I’m writing this primarily because a friend asked me to publish a poem about gun violence on my blog. Without further ado,
Why do we hate
Why are we bad
Why are we sad
Why must we do this
Why do hurt others
When we hurt
Why we destroy others
And why do break ourselves
Why aren’t we kind
Why do we hate
Why do we make rumors
Why can’t we love
Why must we be dumb.
Why do we fight
And when will it be done
Why is war a thing
Why must we attack
Why do will kill
When there could be hugs
Why do we cheat
Why do we burn
With fury so great.
Why must we hate
Why can’t there be love
He further said,
The background included was when my friend was crying after she was bullied. I wrote this out of anger. Today I found out about the six year old shooting a teacher. I would like to reiterate what I wrote that day.
Let’s be fair. Guns have uses. They have uses in the military. They have uses in the militia that the second amendment was talking about. They do not belong in the homes of people who do not know how to be responsible with them. Guns don’t belong in the hands of children. Guns don’t belong in schools.
I have little more to say. Just, please, people, drop the politics and get your act together. This is a problem, and the solution is simple and clear. I would like to make one thing clear: Every time you oppose stricter gun laws, every time you give someone under 18 their first gun, every time you squeal about how “guns is our second amendment right”, the blood of children is on your hands. Individual choice is everything here in America.
My friend's blogs: Wizardwatch's overall site, Sawyer's blog (the .org part bemuses me), Luke's site. If ryleu decides to actually put something on his site, I'll link it here.