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Miami Student > OpEd Page

Guns getting out of control

Column: Perspective

By Katie Bunker

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Published: Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Updated: Sunday, February 14, 2010

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. True. Interestingly, of those people who kill other people, approximately 67 percent did so with a gun. This statistic reported by the FBI's Crime in the United States does not even begin to take up the issue of accidental deaths and injuries caused by guns. It does not explain the ease with which a person who has a fit of rage or insanity can pick up a gun and use it, far more easily than they could do with a knife or a heavy object. It's as easy as pulling out an AK-47 assault rifle AND, in case that's not enough, a 9 mm handgun, like Shane Griffin did at the Miami Mobile Home Court on College Corner Road on Monday. Had trained law enforcement officers not responded quickly and effectively, and had luck been dealt differently, the bullet holes in the mobile homes could have been in bystanders or police officers. Griffin's resulting death is still a tragic loss to his family as well as a horrible experience for the Oxford Police Department officers and others that responded. Could it have been avoided had he not had such easy access to a firearm? I don't presume to know what's going on in the heads of Griffin and people like him, and I don't care to find out. What I do know is that our attitude towards guns in this country cannot foster any greater degree of safety for people like him or for us. Ideally, I could demand that citizens be prohibited from owning firearms. Period. That probably won't ever happen but for heaven's sake let's not move in the complete opposite direction. This year President George W. Bush let the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban expire in September without renewing it. This makes loads of sense - we all need assault rifles. Ohioans are also allowed to carry concealed weapons per the Concealed Carry Law for Weapons passed in the spring. Sure, when driving a car they're supposed to have their handgun in the trunk and they're supposed to have the ammunition separate from the gun. But can we really rely on the citizens to abide by this law and NOT pick up their weapon in a fit of road rage? Should high school students and their families have to mourn the loss of a 17-year-old like Maurice Kennedy? The Elder senior shot in Price Hill a few weeks ago was not involved in any gang violence or even picking a fight; he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was fatally shot. National and state legislation continues to enable such acts. Being an enabler is a crime too. And I know that those who disagree, if you're still reading, would be hurling the words "Second Amendment" in my face right now. FYI: I know what the Second Amendment says. I also know that it was written during a time when local militias were counted on to "bear arms" against the British, against attacks from Native American tribes, against local violence that was not policed by today's caliber of law enforcement, if any. Today, we have police patrolling every university, city, county and state; not to mention security for buildings and individuals. When the Second Amendment was written, people had to hunt for food. Now, hunting is a sport. Is one person's right to a sport more important than another person's right to life? In fact, the people my age who I know own guns don't do so for protection and don't eat anything they kill. They just think that guns are cool. Airsoft may be a game; but real firearms are not. Guns that are intended for self-defense often become weapons used against their owner by more well-trained and violent attackers. They become tragic accidents that take the lives of young children. I shouldn't have to watch the pain on a friend's face when he says his younger brother's best friend died accidentally, playing with his father's gun. But I have. None of us wants to see another Columbine, Washington, D.C. sniper, or Columbus sniper. None of us should get shot in a school library, at a gas station, or while driving down the highway to work. The absence of guns would negate accidental deaths by gun. If Joe Schmoe goes nuts after he's fired and his wife leaves him, he will be hard up to go on a shooting spree. When I walk down the street in Price Hill, chances are the kids there won't be shooting me if they can't get their hands on a gun. It's entirely true that guns don't kill people. People kill people. And not just "those people." Not just criminals. We all share in some responsibility. People like you and me kill people when we condone such pitiful regulation of firearms. People like George W. Bush kill people when he promotes and passes legislation that protects the National Rifle Association more than the American people. We need to use our voices as well as our votes to send a message that we won't tolerate it anymore.

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