Last week, there was a tragic shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. 3 people were killed, including the shooter. This event came only three years after a tragic movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado. When reading about the shooting and the shooter himself, I learned something disturbing. John Russell Houser, the gunman, had purchased his gun legally. He bought it from a pawn shop in Alabama, despite having a history with violence and mental illness. His wife had gotten a restraining order against him, he supported neo-nazis and the KKK, and his family won a protective order against him in 2008. Despite all this, he walked into a pawn shop and legally purchased the gun he would later use to murder 2 people and then himself. This isn’t the first time a mass-murderer got his weapons via legal methods. James Holmes, the Colorado movie theater murderer, bought an arsenal of weapons legally. Even though forms of background checks are already in place, it is evident that there is a problem with not only how we as a country handle guns, but how we allow just about anyone to get their hands on a gun.
I should start off by saying that I do not care if you have a gun in your home. If you want to go to shooting ranges or protect your home, I’m fine with that. While I do not agree with keeping a gun in the home and will not do so myself, I respect your right to do so. However, we need to acknowledge that guns are dangerous weapons and there is a problem with gun violence in this country. As I mentioned before, James Holmes purchased his weapons legally then injured 70+ people with them. Not six months later, Adam Lanza opened fire on elementary school children in Newtown, CT. Then we faced a major threat at the University of Central Florida, a shooting at Florida State University. A racially-motivated tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina, then Chattanooga, and then Louisiana. What do a lot of these have in common? The shooter got their gun either through legal channels, or would have been able to. Despite the fact that he shouldn’t have been allowed to, Dylann Roof got a gun legally. Because Florida gun laws are very lax, the FSU shooter would have been allowed to keep his gun in the state. It’s possible that the Chattanooga shooter took advantage of a loophole that allowed him to buy a gun legally.
We aren’t stopping gun violence when we make it easier for mass murderers to get a gun. In fact, many of the people arguing against more background checks, including the NRA, put time and money into making sure that their convenience is more important than people’s lives. Background checks legally can only take take three days at most, which is not nearly enough time to make sure one is capable of using a gun. One “mistake” from a gun shop could cost someone their life, and when so many mass murderers manage to get a gun it’s obvious that current background checks aren’t working. These loopholes, mistakes, and failures have cost hundreds of people throughout the past few years, and if something isn’t done soon these deaths will continue. Deaths at the hands of legal gun owners.
Politics with Ashley 