Guns, the media and where we are being taken

Gun control or gun laws is a sensitive subject right now. Issues of constitutional rights and what our government can and can't control is always something that gets people fired up. What I find interesting is the main issue, which is the gun. In a post I read it made an interesting point, "If roads were collapsing all across the United States, killing dozens of drivers, we would surely see that as a moment to talk about what we could do to keep roads from collapsing. If terrorists were detonating bombs in port after port, you can be sure Congress would be working to upgrade the nation’s security measures. If a plague was ripping through communities, public-health officials would be working feverishly to contain it." 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/14/nine-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/

What this quote is saying is true though. If you are human and have any sort of compassion you don't like seeing human lives taken. Going back almost exactly six years ago I remember a mass murder shooting that happened way to close to home. The Trolley Square shooting happened fifteen minutes from where I lived and it was a place that I frequently went to eat or shop. I remember watching it on the news. There were no live twitter updates or facebook posts about it. Social media has completely changed the face of how we get our news and how often we can access it. Social media has it positives and its negatives as well. Yes the accessibility to the information at all parts of the day is nice. But some people do not know how to filter themselves and to filter what other people are saying. We are all entitled to free speech and our own opinions.  

Going to the Sandy Hook elementary shooting there was a viral facebook and twitter quote that went around supposedly from an actor but all the same I think the point was made. 

You want to know why. This may sound cynical, but here's why. It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single victim of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody. CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next. You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."

I think this comment says a lot. How the news portrays the different killers of each killing. A lot of people wonder how could someone do that or why would someone do that. If the killer is dead we will always wonder that question and everything that is said about it is for our own piece of minds in the end it all is just speculation.   

Times have changed since the second amendment was written. Guns today are not what they used to be. Why do people need an AR-15? For fun? For protection? I understand the constitutional right to bear arms. But why semi-automatic weapons? Why is giving up or putting laws and restrictions on guns a bad thing? We have laws about people who can drive cars, we have laws about people using drugs and alcohol. Theses are all things that can take the lives of other people. What is wrong with putting better restrictions on guns? On the flip side of this you see people breaking law to be an underaged drinker or to buy illegal drugs. With putting laws and restrictions on guns would it make regular everyday people go out of their way to get their hands on a gun? The era of prohibition only worked for twelve or so years and then the bans on alcohol were lifted. Yes alcohol and drugs are probably a slower way of dying or killing someone but guns are in the category of taking another persons life. 

I think we are at the turning point of gun control and something needs to change. I find myself trying to keep up with all of the different shooting sprees that are happening.