LatinaLista — Today’s senseless tragedy on the campus of Virginia Tech which left 33 dead, more than 25 injured and scores traumatized leaves most of us speechless that someone could even think of doing such a thing.
Virginia Tech campus
(Source: NPR.org)
The whole event had a video game surrealness to it. That someone would get their kicks killing defenseless people, like in so many violent video games, underscores the point that role playing in the real world isn’t a game.
Whether or not video gaming will ever be attributed to this tragedy, only time will tell, but this event underscores a much deeper problem in this country – the easy availability of guns.
Whether it’s a campus shooter or a cruising gang member, the fact is that too many young people have too easy access to guns.
According to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, The recent upsurge in criminal gun violence places renewed importance on the question: Where do criminals get their guns? Licensed gun dealers continue to be the prime source for illegal guns through sales to gun traffickers and straw purchasers. Shady Dealings documents more than two-dozen cases of illegal gun trafficking from dealers across the country, revealing how licensed gun dealers who are complicit in aiding gun traffickers remain untouched by the law.
The most popular argument used by people in favor of having guns is that it is our Constitutional Right to “bear arms.”
At one time in our history, it made sense to carry a gun. But haven’t those times passed?
Guns haven’t made this country any safer. Even with the United States imprisoning more than 2.3 million people, crime and death by gunfire happen on a daily basis.
As it stands now, inner-city neighborhoods are overrun with guns and young shooters.
People in these neighborhoods are torn between having a gun for self-defense or not. Yet, statistics show that most people who do have a weapon find it turned on themselves whenever confronted by an attacker.
Also, in these same neighborhoods where families keep a gun for safety, stories of toddlers and young children finding the guns, playing with them and fatally wounding themselves are becoming too common.
What more will it take for us to realize the right to bear arms is small consolation compared to losing a loved one because someone was able to get a gun too easily and acted without a conscience?
