February 20, 2008

(THE UNITED STATES)

Gun Control and School Shootings

For anyone who may not have heard, recently there was another school shooting in the United States. In the two years since I left America, there have been half a dozen such instances, and I struggle to understand why so little has been done to prevent reoccurrences. So, this morning I got into a debate with my father over the subject, and since I have a tendency to get carried away in such circumstances, I decided to type my thoughts rather than spit them out in a hostile manner.

The long and short of my argument for greater gun control is that while the country was certainly founded on the rights of the individual - and the need to protect those rights, by force or otherwise, from a government or foreign power that infringes upon them - in the modern age the very weapons meant for  protection (guns) are becoming the tools used to instill fear, carry out murder, and inflict destructive blows to an otherwise prosperous element of society (schools). While all of this may sound overly simplified, and indeed it may be, the fact remains that school violence has needlessly led to the slaughter of too many of America's future bright minds. The recurrence of such events has led many foreigners (who have the benefit of objectivity) to view the United States as an unsafe place, and in fact they have a very valid point: there are more gun-inflicted homicides in the United States than anywhere else in the world, which is absurd considering the high level of development and education of the populace. However, more importantly in the minds of many Americans is that this debate isn't about protecting our national pride, nor is it about making America seem like the greatest society on earth, but rather something more fundamental: it is about protecting the individual's basic right to freely pursue happiness.

With repeated school shootings cutting down ambitious, intelligent students who are working toward improving the world, the right to bear arms is no longer serving its original purpose of protecting the individual for the greater good of the society. Instead, the right to bear arms is empowering those destructive few from whom guns were originally intended to protect us. The question is what to do about this problem, and with groups like the NRA more concerned about the means (owning a gun as an American right) than the end result (guns have become the most serious detriment to both individual and societal peace), it is small wonder that nothing has been done about this problem.

What do I think should be done? Well, as my father pointed out: I am clearly not willing to invest enough of my time toward fixing the problem, so I should pick my battles wisely and stay out of the ones I won't see through until the end. It is fair advice, especially considering how worked up I can get over such things, but something within me won't give up the fight so easily: just because I cannot change the gun problem on my own does not mean I will not voice my opinions and engage those who think differently. After all, my goal is not to prove my ideas right, but rather to work out a solution to the problem. And these shootings won't go away by protecting a broken status quo, nor will they be changed by keeping quiet about it.

I have a tremendous amount of faith in the American people for they have proven time and time again their ability to free themselves from the chains of tradition and to adapt to the changing world. This is something American politicians have frequently asked of other societies - to forget what their religion, customs, or traditional laws call for if it conflicts with a harmonious global society - but perhaps other societies are not the only ones guilty of adhering to outdated, century old practices. It is a near-sighted aim to lead the world by force; the greatest impetus for change is always to lead by example.