Things That Exist But Shouldn't - Part 18

18) Access to Firearms

This post is going to be a little more serious than others, simply because I think it needs to be said and I don't (usually) like using my Facebook to get all political. #ReadyForHillary

This past Friday - a day before the anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting - another individual took advantage of lax gun control laws and opened fire at a school. One victim remains in a coma in life-threatening condition.

This is the second shooting in the past year and a half in Colorado alone, and what seems like the millionth nationwide in my lifetime.

The past two decades have been marked with horribly tragic shootings. 
The lessons that they each have taught us are:

1) There is not always a known motive
2) No area is safer than others -- it makes no difference whether it's an elementary school, a movie theater, or a mall
3) Guns are far too easy to buy

Clearly, I come from the mindset that stricter gun regulations should be in place. I'm pretty sure the Second Amendment did not intend for the general public to have access to machinery capable of massive destruction. Machine guns were not designed to be used by the average civilian. Why can someone walk into a store and walk out with a weapon? Impulse buys should be reserved for $6 lip gloss.

Each time a tragedy happens, we (the public) beg them (the lawmakers) for tighter regulations. Every shooting is further evidence of the necessity of these laws, and yet nothing has been done. It keeps happening.

The media has also irresponsibly elevated the shooter to a celebrity level. We should not know this much about Adam Lanza's high school experience or exactly when Seung-Hui Cho emigrated to America. The shooters are perversely idolized, and I can't even imagine what seed that plants in the minds of other would-be shooters.

I also can't stand the immediate parallel drawn between these shooters and their mental states. Autism? Depression? Proclivity for violent video games? Those factors together probably describe half of America. What is the point of looking into the shooter's personal history or analyzing their DNA for a "violent gene"? We are not going to persecute other "would-be" shooters who might have increased risk factors because they haven't actually done anything. Don't forget, this is still America.

What we can do is take control access to guns and keep tabs on those that are sold to have an idea of who's putting them to use.

Guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people. So let's take away those guns.