Orlando, Florida is not only the city in which the United States experienced its worst mass shooting, but also the city that brought every issue regarding gun laws in our country to light. Generally, I am very quiet about my views on gun rights because I feel like I do not know enough about the issue to voice an opinion on it. However, after the events of last weekend, guns are an issue that I, and we as Americans, cannot keep quiet about any longer.
"People who are on the No-Fly List or the Terrorist Watch List should not be allowed to buy guns," is so blatantly obvious that we should not be having this conversation in 2016. This is a policy that should have been established years ago. It is both unbelievable and terrifying that that our government completely overlooked the sale of an assault rifle to Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub shooter, who was on the No-Fly List and had been investigated by the FBI multiple times. Being that this tragedy could have been avoided makes it even more terrible. However, it should also be an eye-opener to Americans that our government is not doing enough to regulate guns. Ever since the massacre took place, there has been a lot of discussion in Congress regarding guns and there are plans for policy proposals to be made sometime this week. However, simply putting a policy into place is not going to be enough to solve any of our problems with guns if they are not enforced properly.
If our government was so negligent in Omar Mateen's situation, then are there other suspected terrorists who have bought guns in our country? And why should we believe that there will be stricter enforcement with a new policy?
Banning people on the No-Fly List and the Terrorist Watch List from buying guns is one step in the right direction, but it is absolutely not enough. It is important that we also remember the shooting of Christina Grimmie, the 22-year-old singer, in Orlando the night before the tragedy at Pulse nightclub. Her shooter, Kevin James Loibl, had no ties to terrorism, but still used a gun to kill; this is also a trend in mass shootings that our government has neglected to address.
Although this case in particular was not a mass shooting, it should bring more attention to who should and should not be able to purchase a gun. Our government did not get tough after the Aurora movie theater shooting, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting or the Charleston church shooting that occurred just a little over a year ago.
How many more shootings will be added to this list before our government decides to get tough on gun ownership?
All of these tragedies were conducted by white males with either psychological issues or strong intents for violence. Why were people with these issues able to purchase a gun in the first place? Something needs to be done about these types of shooters as well who conduct attacks even more frequently than suspected terrorists.
In a press conference this week, presidential nominee Donald Trump said, "If you had guns in that room...if you had a number of a people having them strapped to their ankle or strapped to their waist where bullets could have flown in the other direction right at him, you wouldn’t have had that tragedy."
It is disgusting that Trump believes that the victims who had their lives so tragically shortened or changed by this event could have done more to protect themselves; they should be rightfully mourned for the unimaginable terror that was inflicted on them. They were at a nightclub, a place where people go to have fun and forget their problems, meaning there is absolutely no reason why they should have needed to have guns on them. A society in which I need to have a gun on me at all times in order to feel safe is not a society that I want to live in.
Gun violence is an issue that has gone untouched for too long in our country. Guns have caused enough problems for our country already. We certainly do not need more guns and more problems. Americans may have the right to "bear arms," but there is absolutely no reason as to why anyone should own an assault rifle or even anything more than a handgun (at that).
Get tough and be smart; stop gun violence now.
