Guns or the Safety of the Nation’s People: This Will Become Your Choice

As confirmed by the FBI, domestic terrorism has become our nation’s greatest danger to the safety of all Americans. On Sunday, the front page of Google News reported three mass shootings. Although there is a great divide in the actual number of these frightening statistics, there is a tremendous amount of evidence to confirm that many of these terrorist attacks are unreported by the media and our government.

Just a few years ago, the annual number of deaths in America related to guns was over 33,000. Today, that number exceeds 40,000. This number is mostly divided between suicides and domestic violence. Most of the latter group were murdered by an individual who had intimate relationships with the victims who are mostly women and children. In addition, an unforgivable number of small children lose their lives from gunshots that are self-inflicted, or from the discharge of a weapon by a child which resulted in the death of another child and occasionally an adult. The weapons involved were obtained loaded and unsecured in the homes of relatives or friends. No law enforcement agency keeps records. The only number available comes from reports in local newspapers and television.

If American voters use their intellect, and do the right thing, ousting fake Republicans from office in large numbers, I believe that the second amendment will be challenged. This will require the vote of the people, who will be forced to make a choice between the safety of the American people and a small percentage of men and women who love their guns more than their families.

Let us forget about statistics, which are often misleading and frequently inaccurate. The truth is that there have been mass shootings in every venue of American life, and the largest occurred over the last ten years.

It is unsafe to send your children to school. You are risking your life if you attend a church, synagogue, temple, or mosque to pray to your God, you may not live another day. Attending a concert, or going to a movie theater is no longer safe. If you work in a business with more than two employees, a former, disgruntled employee might decide to take revenge on you and others in the workplace. One of the most dangerous places to go in the 21st century has become shopping malls. Restaurants, bars, and adjacent areas outside of these venues have become battlegrounds for angry gun nuts, and you could be caught in the middle.

The NRA claimed that guns were necessary to prevent home invasions. The truth is that these situations are rare, while everything else has become a danger to innocent Americans.

Until recently, I was a supporter of the Second Amendment. Today, I believe that it has become as foolish as the third. Americans no longer need a militia, we have the largest and most expensive military force in the world. There would never be a reason to require military housing in private homes. In many cities, military bases compose a very large percentage of their residents and much of the geography.

America has lost its common sense. Although human rights are our greatest asset, and the primary focus of the Constitution, the NRA, and Republicans who owe their elections to the gun lobby, use blasphemy and misdirection to support the second amendment which is no longer necessary. Today it protects the profits of gun manufacturers and gun sellers.

The safety of our nation’s people should be priority number one. Sadly, Washington considers the profits of corporations the most important issue in the 21st century. This includes gun manufacturers and gun sellers.

Tell your congressmen and senators to stop the lies and protect your wives, husbands, children, and others you love. It is time to place people before profits.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources:

Penn Medicine: Study: Media’s Reporting on Gun Violence Does Not Reflect Reality
Pew Research: What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. By JOHN GRAMLICH

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Inset Image Courtesy of K. Todd Storch’s Flickr Page Creative COmmons License