"I probably shouldn't have stayed up so late," you think to yourself as you roll out of bed in your childhood home, and lace up your sneakers to go to the gym with your best friend. You put on a few pounds while away at school and as the weather is heating up in late June, you want to work on your "bikini body." You jump in the car and blast some high energy pop music to try to wake yourself up. "Get in the car you weenie!" you yell to your friend as she climbs in. You arrive at the gym and start lifting weights. Something strange catches you in the corner of your eye - a young man, disturbed, in an all-black jumpsuit. You look around the gym for your friend, hoping to lock eyes so you can make a funny face. "Look at this guy," you laugh, thinking he must be new at working out. There are gunshots. You turn around and see both receptionists on the floor, blood pouring out of their still, motionless bodies like water out of a pitcher on a summer night, and then it happens - five down, six down, you turn to find your friend panicking that you can't find her, and when you do, she's number seven. Then it happens to you.
The news calls this a "terrorist attack," as it seems the shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS, directly stating how much he hated the western world and their narcissistic obsession with working out. "22 shot dead at Planet Fitness in Albany, New York," the headlines read, and just like that you are just another statistic.
People will begin to discuss: should we have the right to carry a gun?
Amendment II to the United States Constitution, as included in the Bill of Rights, reads directly as:
"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."
The U.S. constitution was originally written in 1791 and modeled after the Magna Carta, which was intended to protect citizens from being abused under royal power. The second amendment refers to the importance of a militia, which was vital during the revolutionary war. However, I don't see any militia presence now that we have a well regulated military. However, people are very quick to reference the second amendment in discussions of gun control.
The gun control debate has a surface interpretation of an argument between the accessibility of guns. Should Americans be able to carry rifles and the like in public? What about in their homes? After a background check? To work?
There are many platforms and points of view to this discussion. Personally, I believe the bigger issue in the realm of the gun control debate is the significance of repealing the second amendment.
The Bill of Rights, or the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, is what makes America, "America." Here we have rights of freedom, of speech and assembly. We have the right to deny any solider or government official a place to stay in our homes. We are protected against unreasonable search and seizures. All citizens have the right to a fair trial by jury after being accused of a crime - we are "innocent until proven guilty." Excessive bail is not legal, and ultimately the people have all rights not given to the state or federal governments.
Moving backwards, due to the prevalence of mass shootings in the last 20 or so years, it may seem as if the people shouldn't have the right to bear arms. Historically speaking, it made sense as defense against unlawful government or military officials--for hunting, or protecting your home. Guns have now become a weapon of mass destruction to kill our children, mothers, fathers and loved ones.
I believe, as many other Americans do, that guns can be a good thing. Perhaps we should raise the restrictions and requirements of owning them, but they should not be outlawed, as they are our constitutional right.
However, adding such requirements would modify the core of the Second Amendment as it would infringe the right of many people to keep and bear arms.
Let's say the United States government decides to repeal the Second Amendment. Even if they proposed a new one with stricter regulations like background checks or restrictions on where you may carry guns, that would still result in repealing the Second Amendment.
What happens if you repeal one of the first 10, and arguably most significant, amendments to our constitution?
Can you then repeal the first? Second? Fifth?
I interpret the gun control debate to be deeper than surface value. I believe that we cannot take away the right to bear arms as it has been given to us in our Second Amendment. However, I do believe that we need to devise a plan to increase restrictions on those who do carry weapons, and I don't think in this scenario, government regulation is the devil, which so many politicians are lobbying.
What if that girl was you in the picture I painted earlier?
What if this was your life?
July 19,1984--21 killed and 19 injured via gunpoint in a McDonald's restaurant by a 41-year-old security guard, only being stopped after being fatally shot by a police sniper.
August 28, 1986--after being given a bad report from his supervisor, Patrick H. Sherrill, 44, a mail carrier, walked into a United States post office and killed 14, and injured six in Edmond, Oklahoma before killing himself with a bullet to the head.
April 20, 1999--13 killed and 24 injured at Colombine High, Colorado by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before the shooters took their own lives.
April 16, 2007--32 killed and 17 injured at Virginia Tech, Virginia by gunman and student, Seung-hui Cho, before taking his own life.
Nov 5, 2009--13 killed and 32 injured in Ft. Hood, Texas on an army base from Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist on said base.
December 14, 2012--20 first grade students and six adults were shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, before the shooter took his own life.
June 18, 2015--nine were shot dead inside of a historically black church by a suspected white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina.
December 2, 2015--14 were killed and 22 wounded in San Bernadino, California by a married couple who had an arsenal of ammunition and pipe bombs in their home.
On Sunday, June 12, 2016--Omar Mateen walked into a gay bar, Pulse, in Orlando, Florida, and shot 50+ LGBTQ+ community members after pledging allegiance to ISIS.
A gun can kill a person in five seconds if fired in the right location.
During a time where we have completely politicized the idea of carrying a firearm, when will the violence stop? How can we combat this issue without taking away our fundamental rights as U.S. citizens?
