Late Sunday night, many people died and many more were injured due to a mass shooting at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. Near the end of Jason Aldean's performance, Stephen Paddock started open firing on the crowd from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of a neighboring hotel. Authorities claim that Paddock acted on his own, but they haven't been able to find a motive yet. His brother is baffled by his actions and defends that there were no signs of his hostility prior to the massacre. Many now work tirelessly to help the victims of this tragedy, and many more are participating in the gun control debate. This has been the largest mass shooting our country has seen to date. However, there is the question as to how things may change to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in the future.
This event was horrifying to me because my dad always goes to country music festivals and was about to go to this one for his birthday, but decided he wanted to spend it with his family instead. He was so close to being in danger just because he wanted to have some fun. Citizens shouldn't have to fear for their lives when they are out in public. Even though this man had a clean record and no motive (as far as we know) he never should have had access to those guns in the first place. When the second amendment was made for the right to bear arms, our country was fighting for our freedom from a country that clearly didn't know what freedom meant. However, times have changed. We have a civilized and strong government that has the power to protect us from other countries and threats- that is the faith we put in them when we decided that the president was to run the army. As normal citizens, we are no longer in need for these weapons that were created to hurt people. There was a time for guns and violence, and there is time for safety and security. Now is the time to evaluate why these guns are needed and whether or not they really are needed. We can't overlook this because the shooter was a privileged citizen who had a previously clean slate- it's time to dig into the problem and make an effort to solve it.
When open carry was allowed I remember being so upset and worried that stuff like this would become more prevalent, and it's horrible to see that it is. I believe more laws should be put into play if someone wants to be in possession of a gun and they should meet a certain requirement. However in his situation Stephen Paddock had a clean background, which makes it even scarier.
ReplyDelete"Remember when Australia had one mass shooting incident, then banned guns, and like... didn't have one again? an interesting thought...." I mean I know the 2nd amendment exists but this is devastating.
ReplyDelete