259 of these were children younger than 11 years old. 1 309 of these were teenagers, never making it to their 18th birthday. (Data from: http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/) I do not have enough hours in a year to tell you the name of each of these people. I do not have enough time in a decade to tell you how many lives these shootings have ruined.
All I have heard from America in these last few days after the shooting is people defending their right to bear arms. Arguing against the tighter gun controls your country is screaming for, defending your second amendment, your right as an individual to bear arms.
Your right to bear arms makes your country unsafe. You’ve had more shootings than there are days of the year, - and we’re not even halfway through. How long do you expect people to feel sorry for you? How long is this going to be normalised? Because your right to bear arms is more important than my right to feel safe.
As an article from the satire paper, the Onion put it in 2015. [There is] ‘"No way to prevent this." Says the only country in the world where this happens regularly.’ You are the only first world country to have this problem. The only country. Mass shootings, Casual Shootings, accidental shootings. You carry guns like they are water and you’re lost in the middle of a desert. You are not. What you are, quite frankly, is stupid.
Your right to bear arms is not more important than someone else’s safety. It’s not more important than the thousands of young lives lost every year in school shootings. It’s not more important than the thousands of lives lost every year to people with guns.
Your right to bear arms should not mean full assault rifles are easier to buy than a chocolate toy. You ban Kinder Surprise yet allow a man on a terrorist watch list to buy a full assault rifle? Your right to bare arms does not mean that anyone should be able to walk into a store and walk out with a gun and enough ammunition to murder that many people in one go. Your right to bear arms should not be more important than the six thousand lives lost this year alone.
Imagine raising your child with the knowledge that they killed your significant other with the gun that was just lying around. Accidental fire from within a bag. Then blame your child, because your right to bear arms is more important. Because it can’t be the guns fault, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. - Realise how stupid this all sounds yet?
Your right to bear arms makes it easier for radical people to force their ideals down the throats of everyone else. Your right to bear arms makes it dangerous to be anything other than what you want to see. Your right to bear arms is quelling diversity and making those who long to be themselves stay quiet, hidden in plain sight. Your right to bear arms has become more important than their right to be themselves. Your right to bear arms has become more important than their right to freedom. What’s your favourite saying again? America, land of the free?
Your right to bear arms make it harder for those LGBTQA people to feel safe in their own country. Makes it easier for the minority that disagrees to have the loudest voice. A single gunshot screaming over thousands of peaceful voices. Your right to bear arms is defining your country. Your right to bear arms is killing your youth. Your right to bear arms is more important than people's right to feel safe. Does anyone else see something wrong with this?
Your right to bear arms makes it way too easy for anyone to get a gun and go on a rampage. Your right to bare arms means there's an average of 93 guns to every 100 people in America. Your right to bear arms is the reason these tragedies keep hitting you again and again and again. Why your youth are crying in pain and your families are being torn apart. You continually blame people, religion, race, yet do nothing to try stop these people getting their hands on such dangerous weapons. You do nothing to prevent the next tragedy. You quote your right to bear arms as if it will solve all your problems. Get your head out of your arse, because it won’t. Your right to bear arms makes your country dangerous.
Your right to bear arms means someone like me, thousands of miles away in a country you probably haven't even heard of, is in tears. Your right to bear arms is the reason why I am horrified by the thought moving to your country. One of the best places to be for the career I want. Your right to bear arms is the reason I am terrified for my little sister. The winner of a scholarship to study within your borders. The reason I will put aside my fear and move, because she will need the support system when this happens near her, to someone she knows, someone she loves. Your right to bear arms has me terrified that I will lose her. The reason why I will argue this case from thousands of miles away. I will not lose my sister because your right to bear arms is more important than her right to live.
Honestly, do you really believe that your right to bear arms worth all these lives? What if it was your child, your lover or your best friend that's the next victim. Is your right to bare arms worth losing them forever? Is your right to bare arms worth the pain that will never ever go away?
Is your right to bear arms really worth it?
Dearest America, I implore you to think about it. Consider those victims are those you hold closest to your heart, and tell me once more. Your right to bear arms is more important than their safety.
#AmericaLandOfTheFreeGuns
My thoughts and sympathies are with everyone that's been affected by gun violence. Not just in America but all over the globe. I want to assure you that you are more important and that you mean the world to someone. That gun violence isn't something we're willing to take sitting down.
Kia Kaha, Rest in Peace, #LoveIsLove,
Rose
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