America has a Unique Epidemic of Violence fueled by the Love of Guns

I am sitting 8000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, there is some report of a school mass shooting in my local news that didn’t happen in my country. Give it to America to give us this kind of breaking news and American politicians to duck responsibility. It quickly dawns on me that this is a problem only unique to America. For the love of guns, now keeping a cache of guns is more sacred than life. Pro-life has turned on its head, and these gun advocates would choose give a gun to an 18 year old than spare the lives of 19 children. Americans are keeping their guns, no matter what. I quickly switch to the BBC, and there is a right wing pundit blaming it all on Black Lives Matter-as the reason many people purchased more guns, yet he marvels at how his party keep believing more guns gives you more safety.

Kyle Rittenhouse who barely of gun-carrying age kills two in a Kenosha protest and goes scot-free thanks to ‘he’s just a child’ and a free-flow of tears that convinced the jury he was innocent. I said to myself, “Kyle might just given license to 18 year old men to do the same”. I was silent in my thoughts, probably not, I might have a medium story on Kyle Rittenhouse. Soon after a 15 year old boy kills fellow students at a Michigan High School thanks to sloppy parents who think their son can handle a gun, he must have been firing since being a toddler, a gun-obsessed parent might be proud, only that it ended in death, and a family of three in prison. So this problem is not isolated to 18 year old but teenagers in general who have live ammunition for toys. Then came the Buffalo 18 year old shooter, who acquired a gun as quick as having a new pet, and heads straight to black majority community, his ancestors must have been slave owners. His weapon of choice that turns his anger and hate into a deadly massacre-a gun. Barely 10 days later, we have this again, 18 year old who kills little children who look like him after shooting his grandmother and planning to Germany where he would never raise any red flags that he could harm anyone. He could still kill outside of America, but the rest of the world makes it harder for a teenager to acquire a gun, hence minimal incidences of gun violence.

Mental health is not unique to America, the rest of us still have heads on our shoulders, because guns never come into play every time one has a mental health episode. May be knifing here and there, but not a deadly rampage. 18 year old men too are not also unique to America, ours too have bad days, again knifing or a stolen gun, but always a rare event where an 18 year kills someone. Here is the difference, an American 18 year old will get a unique birthday gift that the rest of the world don’t get from their parents. GUNS. Knives, machetes, or a bow of arrows are readily available where I live. I do not think I would give a knife or a bow of arrows or machete to my 18 year old as a birthday present, why would I think this is a good gift, its not a culture thing, its a common sense thing. And even if it was a cultural thing to identify with a certain weapon, its not every Tom, Dick ,and Harry who would qualify, they have to be mentally fit and disciplined to carry a weapon.

Guns and drugs have been the twin problems that have caused America the most death and suffering enough to shake the psyche of the country. Terrorism now seem like a problem of a by-gone era, and even so drug because gun violence has managed to take position one on the horror list. The pro-life leaning groups who are anti-abortion activists, needs to look themselves in the mirror, and decide if kids saved from abortion need to be killed by guns. It cannot be, otherwise its not too late to retire the pro-life tag. I wrote in the previous article before Uvalde’s mass shooting happened, that never will you find pro-lifers protest in front of gun shops with the same enthusiasm they do near the abortion clinics. Someone got to be mad at the infiltration of guns to teenagers who should actually be drafted in the army than roam like young undisciplined lions waiting to devour a vulnerable population of school kids. There are no excuse why you should carry a gun, yet cannot show the same courage to defend your country. All because half of the politicians will have your back no matter what-they live off gun lobby money, and kids keep getting slaughtered.

There’s no time anyone suggested that dealing with the drug problem requires more drugs. Why then should dealing with gun violence need more guns. We all know where an intersection of drugs and guns can lead, see how much success the Mexican gangs have had with that. And how much ‘success’ mentally unstable, or be it evil teenagers whose access to guns go unchecked have had in ending countless innocent lives. A teenager who is in a bad place mentally, or doesn’t understand the world around him, should not have the right to bear arms, because even though a right, certain checks and balances should be applied to prevent him from reaching for one. But ‘THIS IS AMERICA’, where white supremacists are cuddled, and a teenager who just killed two protesters did it for the team and gains national notoriety, hence inspiring others to do the same for the same glory. It takes little common sense to know guns kill, and many more guns lead to more violence and mass deaths. Guns are weapons of war, and should be restricted to those who can soundly handle them which means laws need to be applied to restrict guns rather than have a free for all ammunition. Its not a good time to have more guns, rather its a good time to have lesser guns, have them in the hands of those who absolutely need them to protect lives, and still uphold the Second Amendment.

Here is a teaser, or a food for thought. The rest of the world has lived through the COVID pandemic, just as America. How then did the US end having more COVID deaths, causing Africans like me to second guess themselves at how effective our response was. Because Americans choose freedom than a piece of cloth over their mouths. The same piece of cloth that would prevent the spread of disease became the symbol of nation hate and division by some. The rest of the world faithfully put on the mask to the young and old, until the coast was clear. Americans can run with freedom, but abuse of freedom to carry guns a deadly choice, just as freedom not wear a mask was a deadlier choice. Freedom doesn’t have to be insane, freedom and guns should work for the common good.