The Gun Control Issue -- How Many More Have to Die?

After a frantic last month of the semester, I finally am able to write a new entry in The Highlight Reel. The semester ended nicely. I got A’s in my Special Education, Special Education fieldwork, and 21st Century Schools courses and a B+ in Educational Psychology. While I have been stuck writing on educational subjects only, the world has continued its downward decent into damnation with the biggest stories of my time away from the blog involving senseless tragedies.  

On December 1st, 25-year-old Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra Perkins, before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide that shook the sports world to its very core. While a motive will forever remain a mystery, many speculate the tragic events occurred because of arguments between Belcher and Perkins regarding their troubled relationship and the possibility that Belcher was not the father of their three-month-old daughter, Zoey. After an argument following Perkins’ return from a Trey Songz concert, Belcher murdered her in front of his mother and daughter. Then, he drove to the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice facility and, in front of Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli and Head Coach Romeo Crennel, committed suicide as they pled for him to put the gun down.

On December 14th, the United States of America wept and the world mourned. Adam Lanza, a 20-year-old from Newton, Connecticut, entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire. In the aftermath of his rampage, 26 people died - 20 children between the ages of 6- and 7-years old and six teachers / staff members. Also in the rampage, Lanza committed suicide. It was later determined that Lanza murdered his mother before leaving for the elementary school. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was the second-deadliest mass shooting in United States history and the second-deadliest attack on an American public school.

In both instances, people used these senseless tragedies as the soapbox needed to stand on and preach their viewpoint on the gun control debate in America. It’s the same argument made in the wake of the July shooting in Aurora, Colorado in which 12 people died and 59 others injured during a shooting at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises. NBC Sports analyst Bob Costas spoke about gun control during halftime of the Sunday Night Football game the night after the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide. Hours after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, many political pundits were crying for gun control to become the top priority of President Barack Obama in the wake of this tragedy. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cannot stop saying this in the aftermath of the shooting. 

I am not going to say that gun control is not an issue in America because it is an issue. My problem with people like Bob Costas, Michael Bloomberg, and others right now is that this is not the time to preach the gun control agenda. Costas at least waited 24 hours but many like Bloomberg did not wait for the bodies to get cold before using their deaths as part of pushing the gun control agenda. If gun control really was as important an issue as so many are saying now, in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting, it would not take the backburner to the issues beaten over our collective skulls throughout 2012 -- namely gay marriage and the taxation of the wealthy. Gay marriage does NOT affect every man, woman, and child in this country. The idea of wealthy people paying their fair share of taxes, considering many millionaire pay less taxes than people who make less than $25,000 annually, is a matter of common sense and equality. However, it too does NOT affect every man, woman, and child in this country. Gun control DOES affect every man, woman, and child in this country. Every time someone leaves his or her home, he or she is walking into the great unknown where a psychopath may be waiting with an assault riffle and a vendetta against the world. 

I am not saying that the Second Amendment should be repealed and that the right to own firearms should be taken away from the American public. People do have that right. However, that right should end with hunting rifles and other small caliber weapons useful for home protection and safety. Nobody deserves the right to own a high-powered automatic assault weapon unless he or she is a member of a police force or branch in the armed forces. At that point, they only have access to those weapons as part of their job and not for recreation or whatever term you want to use for the proverbial penis-measuring contest in which gun owners participate. There is no reason at all why a person should have a high-powered assault rifle at home that fires off 100 rounds a minute or some other ungodly amount.

I may lose respect from friends over that opinion. I may not. I do not care. What I do care about is that this country finally regains a sense of safety in places that should be safe havens. Children should be able to go to school without their lives being on the line. Men and women should be able to go to the movies without worrying about being a target. We should be able to go to the mall, a park, or a restaurant without having a bulls-eye on our backs reading, “Come shoot me, Psychopath!” 

We cannot forget that the lead contributor in the Colorado theater shooting, the Jovan Belcher murder-suicide, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and so many other shootings is that the perpetrator of the crime was crazy. Outhouse rat, bat shit CRAZY! Their rage and inability to handle that rage led to the deaths of many innocent people. Removing guns from the equation does not eliminate their rage or insanity. However, it does take away the tool that each man used in his masterpiece of chaos. Maybe with a less-productive weapon, some of these innocent victims may be with us today because the opportunity to stop these rampaging murderers would be greater. Perhaps Kasandra Perkins could have avoided Jovan Belcher’s knife. Perhaps… perhaps a lot of tragic outcomes would be different.

I just hope that, as the gun control issue remains the hot-button topic for the remainder of this news cycle, people screaming for the outlawing of all guns and people screaming about their right to have the most high-powered gun known to man remember one thing - the most important thing about this most recent incident. 

• Charlotte Bacon – 2/22/2006
• Daniel Barden – 9/25/2005
• Rachel Davino – 7/17/1983
• Olivia Engel – 7/18/2006
• Josephine Gay – 12/11/2005
• Ana M. Marquez-Greene – 4/4/2006
• Dylan Hockley – 3/8/2006
• Dawn Hocksprung – 6/28/1965
• Madeleine F. Hsu – 7/10/2006
• Catherine V. Hubbard – 6/8/2006
• Chase Kowalski – 10/31/2005
• Jesse Lewis – 6/30/2006
• James Mattioli – 3/22/2006
• Grace McDonnell – 11/4/2005
• Anne Marie Murphy – 7/25/1960
• Emilie Parker – 5/12/2006
• Jack Pinto – 5/6/2006
• Noah Pozner – 11/20/2006
• Caroline Previdi – 9/7/2006
• Jessica Rekos – 5/10/2006
• Avielle Richman – 10/17/2006
• Lauren Russeau – 6/10/1982
• Mary Sherlach – 2/11/1956
• Victoria Soto – 11/04/1985
• Benjamin Wheeler – 9/12/2006
• Allison N. Wyatt – 7/3/2006

Their lives are over. They died at the hands of a lunatic who had guns, legally obtained, and a hatred for the world. In the case of 20 of these individuals, they will never have the chance to drive a car, become a parent, have a lover, or live life to their best efforts. Whatever happens in this gun control debate stemming from this shooting, I pray that everyone involved does not forget these people. This is not about taking away your rights -- it is about making sure your name does not end up on a list like this as the victim of another maniac’s rampage.