People Kill; Not Guns

There has been a lot of talk about guns and our right to bear arms these days. Our Constitution gave us, the people, the right to bear arms and never specified what guns we could or could not own. Yet, lately, due to the shootings at schools, churches, and in public places, the issue has come to the point that there needs to be more laws on guns and that there are certain guns that people should not be allowed to own. I am sorry, but I do not agree. I think any American should be allowed to own a gun if they have never been convicted of a crime using a gun, never been convicted of a violent crime, and if they can pass a psychological test. The reasoning behind my belief is that guns do not kill people; people not in the right mindset kill people.

Almost six months ago, I was robbed at gun point in my own home. My one year old son and his father were at home with me at the time. It was around lunch time and on a Sunday. I was watching a movie on T.V. while my son's father was playing with him when we heard a knock at the door. My son's father went to answer the door, and my son followed his father as usual. When my son's father opened the door, three men with guns entered our home. Two of them held him at gun point as they went through the house and the other one held me at gun point telling me to remain on the couch. My one year old son was standing by the man pointing the gun at me. I tried to beg him to let me get up and get my son, and he told me he would shoot me if I moved. I sat crying and praying to God that no one would get hurt. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity. All I could hear were the other two ransacking the house, and I kept praying my son's father was okay since I could not see him or hear him. Eventually, they left, and I heard my son's father tell me to call the police while he ran to our sliding glass door to see what kind of car they jumped into.

One night, I was out with my son's father and some friends. We stopped at a gas station next to a plaza where there was a tent set up. At the tent, there was a man selling CD's and DVD's. As we were getting back into our car, we heard gun shots. We looked over to the tent and saw a man hopping into a car and driving off. The man that was at the tent selling CD's and DVD's was lying in a pool of blood dead from a shot to the head over a five dollar CD.

I was robbed at gun point. Three robbers and two guns entered our home and left our home. The number of people harmed by a gun equaled zero. The number of people affected by criminals equaled three. We were lucky that these three men that invaded our home and lives did not decide to kill. But if they had decided to kill, it wouldn't have been the fault of a gun. It would have been the fault of those three men who decided to use guns to commit their crime.

The man who died while selling CD's and DVD's was killed not by a gun, but by a person who was infected with greed. He was not in the right mind when he took the life of someone's father, husband, uncle, brother, son. That man killed one person with a weapon - he chose a gun. When the whole story came out about that shooting, the man with the gun had bought a CD for five dollars earlier that day. But the CD didn't work. So he decided to return to the place he purchased the CD at with a gun and kill the man all because the CD was faulty. He could have chosen a different way to handle the issue, but he chose a gun. Was it the gun's fault that someone was killed? No. Even if there were no guns, the killer could have found another way to kill the man at the tent.

The Bible has a story (Genesis 4) about two brothers named Cain and Abel. Cain hated his brother because he felt Abel was favored by God. Cain was a farmer and Abel was a herdsman. God had instructed that in order for sins to be forgiven, you must sacrifice your best lamb. Abel did this every year. Cain did not. Because of his jealousy over God accepting Abel's offering and not accepting his, Cain killed his brother. Did he use a gun? No because guns were not invented yet. The Bible is vague on what was used, but some say a stone, a cain, or a sword. The point to this story is that even if guns are taken away or even if someone doesn't have access to one, murder can still happen. When someone has murder in his or her heart, he or she will find a way to kill.

The answer to that question is no. Murder would still happen regardless if we make more gun laws, enforce the laws that are already in place, or limit what kinds of guns are allowed to be purchased by the American people. Murder is something that comes from the heart of a person. Murder is something that comes from a person's mindset, their belief system, their viewpoint on a situation. You can take guns away or place more laws on gun ownership, but when it comes to someone having the desire to kill, whether it be spur of the moment or planned, he or she will kill regardless if he or she has a gun or not.

• Laws need to be enforced and all states need to be united with how they handle gun ownership.
• Schools and parents need to teach children and young adults about guns just as they do about sex. We have classes on health, life skills, drugs, and safe sex. So why are we not teaching about the dangers of guns and gun safety?
• Law enforcement needs to continue with the gun drop off program/no questions asked (I know they have that program in central Florida, and it has been working well to get guns off the streets and keeping them out of the wrong hands).
• In order to own a gun, you should have to go through a psychological screening during the wait period. Here in Florida, you have to wait three days before you are able to purchase a gun. During that time frame, you should also have to go through a psychological screening to insure that you are of sound mind.
• Parents need to be parents. We (I included myself here) allow our children to see violence too much - whether it be the nightly news, video games, T.V. shows, cartoons, etc. All parents should have to go though a class on child development so that they understand the effects these things have on children. Our American culture has become desensitized to violence. I believe the main reason is that we as parents are no longer being mindful of what we allow to go through the eyes of our children, especially at a young age.

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