Guns in America, the 2nd Ammendment, and the desire to keep people safe

Good morning friends, and fellow steemians alike. Today i want to attempt to tackle a very important, yet very difficult subject for most Americans to discuss without the discussion turning into a heated arguement. As the heading describes we will be looking at guns in America, our 2nd Ammendment rights, and equally important.... Keeping people safe.

After having watched yet another active shooter scenario unfold last week, I was deeply saddened by the news of a young man having bought a semi-automatic sporting rifle proceeded to his school and shot and killed many of his classmates. As the days continued to bring more information to light it raised many questions in me. As time continued i kept thinking about it and decided i would attempt to address those questions, while also attempt to explain this for those who are not familliar with our "bill of rights" as a U.S. citizen. So i think perhaps that is where i should begin, with a summary of our bill of rights.

For anyone who is unaware, we here in the U.S. have a constitution. Within that constitution is included a "bill of rights". These rights were created to protect the citizens from our government, should our government ever try and rule against the will of the citizens. when created the "bill of rights" consisted of ten original rights to protect the citizens. Since it's creation there have been several more rights ammended to that bill of rights. Today i believe we have 27 ammendments granting our citizens protection. the most well known of these rights are most likely: article 1 : the right to free speech, Article 2(the one i am going to talk about today) the right to keep and bear arms, and Article 13 the abolisment of slavery or involuntary indentured servitude, except as punnishment for crimes. Most Americans hold these rights as an important part of our lives, even in the event they do not realize it. Especially those three rights i mentioned. So now that you have a little understanding of our citizens rights, lets try and tackle these issues i mentioned earlier.

Our founding fathers who wrote the constitution and bill of rights knew how important it was that the citizens were able to not only have the right to free speech, but that we had the right to defend our rights with weapons in the event we ever needed to take control of our government were it to go astray of representing our citizens. We, the United states citizens have always been a nation of guns. To be honest there are about 10 firearms to each citizen. At first hearing that you might think that is insane... like whay does everybody in america own 10 guns? Well, we don't.. not every American owns firearms. Many choose not to own them for a variety of reasons, and that is ok. Then there are gun enthusiasts, and collectors. Many of these people may own a small armory of guns and ammunition, also for a variety of reasons, and that too is ok. Too be honest, there isn't an issue with guns, or gun ownership for anyone in America about 98% of the time. Honestly 98% of the time gun owners and non gun owners work side by side, are neighbors with one another, go to church, the movies, vacation in the same places, dine out at the same restaurants, etc.. with no issues. To be honest, most non gun owners might be suprised at how many guns they come in contact with each day and don't even know it. We have what is called "concealed carry permits" in our country. if i am not mistaken all 50 states have some form of concealed carry permit. Which brings me to my next point...

The problem isn't with guns. It isn't with the overall number of guns. The problem isn't with the type of gun, or even with how many rounds it can carry. No the problem isn't even with the lawful gun owners who have the majority of these guns. Remember, the ones rsponsible for perpetrating these violent acts of gun violence against innocent people is less than .001% of the overall population, maybe less. Not to mention that the gross majority of these individuals had some sort of mental illness which led them to do what they did. So can we please stop with the gun control talk...as we have already shown that the problem isn't with lawful gun owners, or the guns themselves, but rather mentally unstable individuals. which brings us to the next issue...

The problem is a multi-faceted one from my perspective, so i'll start with the one i think is the biggest problem, and one of the easiest to fix. The screening process needs to be streamlined, and all agencies need to have equal access. We also need to change the HIPPA laws to allow Dr.'s to be forced to report a patient's mental state to the database so they cannot access a firearm. We also need to make the denial reviewable, so that in the event a person who was denied previously due to mental issues can be cleared for gun ownership in the future once their Dr. agrees they are mentally stable and are safe to own a firearm. The same would be true of anyone who is comitted of a violent crime not involving a firearm. Those who kill a person while comitting a crime involving a firearm should receive a permanent ban from owning a firearm, but could be argued on a case by case basis if the individual wanted to prove their case and were able to show why they needed one. The next problem is also important. Lawful firearms owners MUST keep their weapons secured ALWAYS. if you aren't using it you need to secure it in a safe. I know far too many who think it ok to leave their weapons sitting out on the table, or on their night stand, or in their vehicle, etc... That isn't secure, it isn't being a responsible gun owner. If it isn't secured it can be stolen, if it is stolen it can be used in a crime. We as gun owners cannot complain about the gun laws if we are not responsible and secure our weapons. This next problem applies to everyone. If you see, hear, or encounter a scenario in which someone says something like they want to shoot someone, or they are going to kill everybody one day, or you see them killing animals in a manner other than sporting or for food you need to speak up. the authorities cannot investigate if a person should have their rights to gun ownership taken away or not if you don't speak up and tell them what you know. This last issue is one that kind of shocked me actually... in this latest incident the F.B.I. dropped the ball on this kid. this tragedy could possibly have been prevented had the F.B.I desk jockey had passed the info on to the Miami field office. Law enforcement must treat these reportings seriously no matter if 90% of them turn out to be mistaken. They must actively investigate these reports as soon as they come in, because we never know what the window of time is between the reporting of the incident, and the actual event of the person becoming an active shooter..

Sorry if i ran long, but i feel that this issue needs to be addressed in a sensible way. If you have any thoughts or constructive ideas please feel free to comment. Thank-You for reading.