Amending the 2nd amendment will not stop mass shootings.

In the wake of tragedy of December 14, 2012 there has been chatter about the 2nd amendment and the right for citizens to bear arms. The media has sensationalized the firearm issue by making it seem as if people are only losing their lives by firearms.

I served two decades in law enforcement as patrol officer and detective retiring in the violent crimes section of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. In that time frame I saw deaths caused by plastic bags, ropes, extension cords, knives, machetes, hammers, axe, baseball bats, pipes, vehicle exhaust, cars, trucks, explosive devices, chemicals, natural gas, helium, propane, Christmas tree stands etc.. So I ask you now, how is removing the firearm going to stop senseless death? And amending the 2nd amendment will not stop mass shootings or killings. It won’t it will just leaving the deranged looking for another means.

I know you are thinking well the firearm makes it easier and you are absolutely correct, but when a crazed person becomes dead set on killing they will use whatever means possible to carry out the act. WITH OR WITHOUT A FIREARM.

Now before you go off on a tangent about how a firearm can kill an abundant amount of people in a very short period of time. I want to re focus you on April 19, 1995 Oklahoma city, Oklahoma when 168 lives were lost, 19 of which were children under the age of 6 as well as 680 people who were injured by a Ryder truck filled with fertilizer and fuel that created a devastating explosive device. I would also like to you to remember, November 18, 1978, Jonestown, Guyana where 909 people died from ingesting cyanide. Both of the incidents were at the direction of unstable people Timothy McVeigh and Rev. Jim Jones. I could go on and site other events but I think you get the picture.

I have pointed out the many forms of death I have encountered in two decades and the incidents of 1978 and 1995 to include the tragedy of December 14, 2012. The only commonality in any massacre is that of unstable people not the tool used. It’s not the firearm, Ryder Truck, baseball bat, knife, etc..the fault lies with the person doing the killing. I think we can all agree it’s not the tool it’s the unstable person behind the tool.

In closing the 2nd amendment needs to be unchanged, people need to realize there is no fix for unstable people who snap and turn to violence to further their sick cause. Ask yourself this….. Could the 9/11 attacks been stopped or the Oklahoma City bombing been stopped by taking of firearms from the law abiding citizen of the United States? Could Adam Lanza have found other means to take the lives of 26 people and could this other means have killed even more innocent people?

Garth Baker