The attempted assassination last week of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, which also led to six people dead and thirteen wounded, has again brought attention to gun control and access laws.
The astounding reality is that states with higher gun ownership and lax guns laws have much higher numbers of gun caused deaths!
It is ironic that the average citizen seems to think that owning and carrying a concealed weapon makes one safer, when in reality it does not!
One of the people in the crowd at the event in which Giffords was shot had a gun, had not pulled it out, and realizes now that he might have , in the heat of the moment, been seen as an accomplice had he done so. Also, others might have been shot in the moment of the anarchy of what was going on.
The idea, as in Arizona, that one can bring weapons to a bar or restaurant, where drinking can lead to arguments and fights, and that such carrying protects you, is a total insanity!
The idea being considered to allow people to bring guns on college campuses is totally unnerving, as an educational institution is no place for such weaponry!
We are becoming more and more two nations, defined by gun ownership and carrying of such weapons. Popularity of guns ownership is much higher in the South and the West, reminiscent of the old tradition in the nineteenth century of the frontier and the Wild West. The Northeast, Pacific Coast and major metropolitan areas in general see much lower rates of ownership and carrying, which is ironic as more people live in these areas, and yet the level of violence is much lower.
The fact that this nation is the most violent in the world, with the highest death rate from guns, should be a sobering point that makes us wonder whether there is not a need for some type of greater controls for reasons of public safety.
And the concept that ownership of guns protects us against a tyrannical government is truly insane, as we do not have that kind of government, and anyone who believes so is indeed dangerous, as he or she is paranoid and schizophrenic–in other words, mentally ill!