The world has witnessed yet another tragic massacre in the United States. And once again, it was carried out by a troubled young adult with a firearm..
America is awash in guns. Gun-related violence and the potential for gun-related violence has been an embedded part of the culture for decades. Gun-crimes in schools, university massacres, drive-by shootings, shopping mall killings done with rifles and a variety of other gun-related homicides have become a matter-of-fact occurrence in the United States. When Washington, DC and Chicago attempted to institute rigorous gun-control measures inside their cities, the Supreme Court overruled the decisions made by their locally elected officials as a violation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution (the right to bear arms). As slavery was embedded in the Constitution with the three-fifths clause and abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, Congress must now follow suit to protect its citizens from the ever-present threat of gun-violence by repealing the Second Amendment and outlawing gun ownership.
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Consider the following facts about the effects of virtually unlimited gun access in America:
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In 2007, 18,361 people were victims to homicide in the United States. Over two-thirds (12,632) of the homicide victims died at the hands of a firearm. If guns had been made illegal, would not many or perhaps most of the 12,632 victims have lived?
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Nine children die from gun-related violence everyday in America - along with seventy-five adults. Altogether, one person is killed every 17 minutes around the clock in what is often hailed (largely by Americans) as 'the greatest country in the world.'
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Are you looking for an assault rifle? No problem. In more than thirty states, you can purchase one at a gun show without a background check. Please listen again to those last four chilling words - without a background check. What kind of nation has the United States become - where it is far easier to get an assault weapon than a full-time job with benefits and a modicum of dignity?
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In the latest statistical compilation by the United Nations (2002), the United Kingdom and Japan, two countries where gun ownership is heavily restricted to the point of being almost unattainable, posted 14 and 47 firearm-related deaths respectively. In that same year, the number of gun-related deaths in the United States reached 9,369. At first blush, one might begin to argue that the death rate by firearms is higher in the US due to its larger population. Even if the population of Japan's approximately 110 million people and its gun-related homicide numbers are multiplied thrice to arrive at a closer statistical comparison, however, the hypothetical total of 141 firearm-related deaths in Japan would still be a tiny fraction of that of the US.
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Jared Loughner certainly did not act alone in the Arizona murders. The citizens of the United States enabled him to carry out the heinous crime.
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In another 17 minutes, a person will die needlessly from a gunshot wound, and America will again be disgraced and culpable.
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Therefore, the question Americans ought to be asking themselves every 17 minutes is quite simple - 'Is my right to bear arms more important than the loss of another human life?'
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Dear America, it is time to ban guns.
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The author is an American.
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J Roquen