Law is mightier

author: alexa lawlor | staff writer

credit: national review

… when it feels like there is no hope, are the times when we, as a society, need it the most.

Throughout the past seven months, the United States have been flooded with unnecessary hatred and acts of violence. Most of these attacks had a similar cause – the mistreatment of guns. The perpetrator obtained the guns used in the recent attacks for one reason – to harm people. Gun violence has been around for essentially as long as their invention, yet there is still little to no control over the use of guns in America.

We, as individual humans, already find it hard enough to be ourselves, living in such a judgmental society. To know that there are people willing to commit these horrible acts of violence simply makes it more difficult to proudly be an individual. Unfortunately, most of the recent attacks were targeted against differences within people, be it against skin colour, or in the many recent deaths of black men, sexual preference and gender identity, or in the Orlando shooting, or even one’s career path, as seen in the deaths of police officers. Each tragedy that occurs makes it even more difficult to want to express who we are and live proudly in our own skin without fear.

In a world that seems to be crumbling around us, gun control is definitely necessary. Innocent people are dying, leaving their families in shambles, wondering. Others are living in fear, every single day. Fear can be crippling, and it is certainly no way to live life. If harsher laws for gun control can help this issue, why have they not been put into place yet?

Could these attacks have been prevented by more control over gun ownership and use? It is difficult to tell; however, the past few months have seen gun violence climb at an alarming rate, often with multiple attacks happening within a week. Stricter gun control laws would hopefully lower the availability of the firearms, which would ideally slow the amount of gun violence seen in the United States.

Although gun control laws could potentially slow the rates of gun violence, it certainly will not slow the determination of people intending to cause harm. People that set out to create destruction will stop at nothing, whether that is illegally obtaining the firearms they need, or by using a different means of attack. The attack on Nice, France, for example, showed a different way to cause as much harm as possible. A man sped a truck through the crowd of people gathering to celebrate Bastille Day, injuring hundreds and killing 84 others.

It is true that gun control will not be able to stop acts of violence altogether, but if it does prove to slow the amount of attacks and the amount of unnecessary deaths, then gun control laws are what the United States needs. There should never be this many deaths, especially of innocent people, in such a short period of time. It seems that the world is on a downward slope at the moment, and it can be incredibly hard to have hope. Even though it can seem impossible, the times when it feels like there is no hope, are the times when we, as a society, need it the most.