Please note: The opinions that appear in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Liberal America.
The advent of numerous mass shootings and devastating homicide rates show a statistical reality. Lax firearm regulations directly correlate high gun violence deaths. When compared to similar first-world countries, the U.S. suffers higher rates of gun-related suicides and homicides. Due to culture, the State’s comparatively lax regulatory law regarding firearms allow for high rates of gun ownership.
Often, these reasons for wide availability are among protection, freedom, constitutional right, religious right, and self-empowerment. All of these reveal the American people’s willingness to ignore the health of the nation, in favor of protecting their kin from statistically empty threats, a perverted sense of freedom, and a culture that prioritizes the needs of the self over the needs of the community.
The U.S. experiences more mass shootings, a higher rate of mass shootings, and a higher rate of gun-related suicides than every single other developed nation. These high rates are not isolated statistics. Gun ownership rates greatly exceed that of other comparable nations.
A difference in regulations directly causes these statistical certainties. Most other nations require some combination of licensing, registration, a reason for purchase, safety training, and safe storage. The U.S. does not.
The United States is one of only three nations with a constitutional right to bear arms. The others are Guatemala and Mexico. According to the U.S. State Department, travelers should be cautious of traveling to either because of high rates of violent crime and narco-terrorism. Ironically, other countries such as Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Bahamas, and the U.A.E have issued travel related warnings to their citizens concerning gun violence within the United States.
For many Americans, fear of the criminal drives them to possess a gun. They want to protect themselves and their kin. However, statistics show that suicide deaths outweigh homicides and mass shootings. Many Americans hold a stereotypical view of who the criminal is. Yet, CDC data shows the true unconscionable result.
White people mostly shoot themselves; Black people mostly get shot.
The constitutional right to bear arms is revered by many throughout the States. Some see it as a patriotic duty and responsibility. Others intertwine it with religious belief. Pastors and politicians have shown a willingness to highlight their support for gun ownership within their practiced craft. It is apart of American identity and culture.
Unfortunately, the social culture is self-destructive. The widespread willingness to abide the detrimental effects of gun violence ignores the inalienable right to life held by every member of American society, in the name of freedom for oneself and one’s own.
The right to pretend to be a police officer or military service member comes at the cost of widespread social destruction.
That is not freedom. It is bondage to death.
Worse, some Americans express a profound sense of self-empowerment through the possession of firearms. Some people call it the great equalizer. Others attribute a sense of beauty and wonder towards them. Facts show social confrontations involving gun make the outcome far more likely to end in death. That is not beauty. Death occurs less in confrontations absent the use of firearms.
For example, Sen. Rand Paul survived his recent assault. Had a gun been involved, his survival would have been far less likely.
Americans must reach into their hearts and address the unhealthy forms of pride and attachment that led the culture into a nationwide pattern of violence. The need to secure the self at the expense of the nation’s health will doom it to endless violence.
The cycle of death will not end, until a plurality forms and heals the violence lurking within its own heart.
Featured Image Via YouTube Video.
