The terrible tragedy in a small town in Connecticut should lead us to question the American obsessions with guns, not meant for hunting but to kill people. 12000 deaths in the USA every year should cause us to wonder if more guns mean more gun violence. Instead it has led to more gun purchases, record amounts since the killing of the 20 children which can only lead to more gun violence.
It has led to more stigmatizing of persons with mental illnesses or brain injuries, which can only lead to less access to treatment and less willingness to accept treatment because that means accepting the great Stigma.
I had some family members who were flying standby on an airline. They got here as planned but returning had a problem. It led to checking computers and going back and forth to the airport waiting for an available seat. What was planned as a brief fun trip has turned into a problem of returning home and back to work.
I mentioned this because it relates, in some strange way in my mind, to gun violence. People purchase a gun to protect themselves and often in a moment of passion or anger they become the perpetrators or victims of gun violence. They have easy access to guns, as a standby flyer might have to airplane, but often like the stand by flyer they are left holding the luggage of their ‘free’ trip as the plane flies away. But in the case of easy gun purchases the consequences are greater. They end up killing or being killed.
Guns in the hands of Americans kill more Americans than airplane crashes, more Americans than in our present endless wars each year. Yet like the more access we have to ‘standby flights’ the more access we have to guns leaves to more frustration and fear, and in the case of guns more death.
More guns mean more gun violence. When will ever learn? Maybe someday we will learn that as flying standby leads to risks of not flying, purchasing guns leads to risk of death and suffering.
Comments
(:commentboxchrono:)
