In December of 2012, a man walked through the entrance of an elementary school in central China and began knifing down students left and right injuring nearly two dozen people. No one died. It was a very similar scenario to what happened at Sandy Hook elementary except for the difference in weapons used. Thankfully, this man did not have a gun but it raises the question: what if he did?
Last year in the US., nearly 9,000 people were killed by guns, however, in similar countries like Canada there was only 150 and in Germany 170. This could be due in part to the higher availability to weapons such as guns, explosives, and rifles in the U.S. than in almost every other industrialized country. Almost every other industrialized nation has reasonable gun laws.
Unfortunately, as tragedies continue to happen in the U.S., with the most recent one being the explosions at the Boston marathon, the more states try to pass laws for people to carry guns to protect themselves. Many argue that people are going to find ways to get guns in their hands no matter what. Maybe the reasons why these other countries continue to have less homicides is because they didn't have relaxed gun laws to begin with and it is now too late for the U.S. to go back and mend their laws.
Right now, the gun issue in Texas and the rest of America is still up in debate. HB Bill 972 would eliminate the current ban on guns in universities but will allow public schools the choice to "opt out" of using weapons if they meet with faculty first and discuss the option. The specific language of "opt out" has softened the opposition amongst people who were against the bill. Authors of the bill expect it to pass in the house but there is uncertainty of how it will do in the Senate. It will be interesting to see how this bill plays out in the final days of the legislature.
Rian Worm
No comments:
Post a Comment