The recent Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando has stirred up gun law controversy yet again, just as the Sandy Hook massacre did. The blame is being placed upon what is seen as “easy access to automatic weapons”. In this article I want to place the blame where it belongs. Let’s discuss the most dangerous weapon available to man — the weapon we’re born with. It's always free, easily accessible, and inevitably deadly. The weapon? Hatred.
The media has been so quick to throw all guilt on guns and other weaponry, when in reality the act was carried out due to hate rather than possession of a weapon. I could own every kind of weapon available to man, but I'm not going to go shoot up a nightclub because I have the supplies to do so. Why? Because I do not hate people for their brave choice to love who they love.
The Pulse shooter hated the gay community. His hate was his weapon, his gun was used as a means to an end. He was not suddenly overcome with evil and hatred when his hands first touched the gun. The hatred was there long before he ever laid eyes on that firearm. Pulse’s shooter was full of hate, which was sharpened like a knife and loaded like a gun throughout the course of his life until finally reaching its crescendo and ending the lives of so many innocent young people.
If we want to end this violence, we must pull it up by its roots. We are in a new era. Teaching ourselves and others to love everyone and accept everyone, no matter their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, size or shape is the true key to ending these horrible acts of violent hatred. We can have a peaceful and loving world, but only if we make the change in ourselves and spread that change to future generations.