What Up Steemit,
This being my first official post, not counting the intro, I figured I would wrestle with a topic sure to ruffle some feathers. So, lets talk about guns in America and more specifically, gun violence. What is going on in this country with mass shootings and gun violence. I don't know... but I'll tell you what I think.
Being over 30 now I have spent my fair share of time around guns. I shot my first gun when I was probably 8 or 9 and have been around them either with family as a child or now owning some as an adult and also serving in the military. I love guns, I think shooting guns is part of being a man. You don't have to shoot guns to be a man, but it helps. Much like everybody that may read this post, this mass shooting thing is crazy to me. I still remember hearing about Columbine and being blown away and now it is almost to the point where you aren't even shocked by it anymore. So what's happened, is it the gun? I say no. We have had guns in this country since the founding. Is it the AR-15? Again I say no. The AR-15 was developed in the 50's and has been around in different variations ever since. Also, for those that don't know AR does not mean Assault Rifle. AR means Armalite Rifle because that's the name of the company that created it.
What I think the problems are that have led to this is this countries lose of moral standards and probably social media, which those two things together wind up leading to mental health issues. I think this country losing its Christian foundations and becoming more and more secular has resulted in people not having a compass to follow and being confused about right and wrong. You couple that with social media where all you see is everybody's fake perfect lives and it causes those that aren't happy with there circumstances to become angry and resentful and want to lash out at society for what they perceive as injustice or unfairness. Check out this chart on the age of the shooters from the BBC.
Now, that's not everybody, also this chart covers all mass shootings since 1982 but a lot of young people on there.
I think we have an overall societal problem and guns are just a means to an end. I don't believe that if guns weren't around we would have less death, it would just be different. We have seen this with explosives, vehicles and other weapons. My solution, open your Bibles and get off Facebook!
One last thing that I have thought for awhile about the number of guns in this country. I think one of the reasons that the USA has not had an invading force come to our shores aside from the fact that our military kicks arse is that we have more guns in civilian hands than the military has. I imagine that has to be considered if another nation wants to attack us. Check this chart out from the BBC.
Please feel free to respond and let me know what you think the problems are. I'm not saying I right I'm just saying. I'm more than happy to hear any alternative voices.
Peace to the middle east!!!