Dear readers,
Do you feel that the gun laws in the United States need to be changed? There have been lots of recent shootings that have been very violent and deadly such as the Newtown, Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting, and the Clackamas Town Center Mall shooting in Oregon. In each of these cases, the serial killers were obviously not right in the head. Do you think we should have improved laws that regulate who is able to own a gun? I sure do. I personally do not own a gun nor do I ever plan on owning a gun, but I believe that every sane, responsible citizen should have the right to bear arms if they so choose. The second amendment clearly states "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." (Courtesy of http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/second_amendment and the U.S Constitution itself.), and I believe in this. In addition, we can't forget that the amendment also states that there are no limitations as to how far we can prohibit felons and the mentally-ill from partaking in this "right"- meaning we can be very thorough in our background checks and mental health evaluations of persons interested in owning a gun or other weapon, even if it may seem invasive to a person's privacy to do such checks.
Think of how the Department of Homeland Security legally enforces strict, thorough checks on people and their luggage in all the airports in the U.S.A, and how that has proven to be highly effective in preventing terrorist attacks in the post-9/11 world. While some may point out that it feels awkward for most people to stand with their hands up in an x-ray photo booth, knowing that the person manning the machine can see their bones and storage compartments in their clothes, others (like myself) feel that it's very necessary in order to be safe from terrorism. I don't enjoy that part of my travel either, but I respect the TSA officers who run these checks and the Department of Homeland Security for enforcing these checks to keep us all safe. Safety first!
If these checks at the airport are okay, then I don't see why checking a person's background and mental health conditions before giving them a gun is so bad. To me, this actually sounds less invasive to privacy than the airport security checks! I really believe that we should avoid invading privacy as a general rule, but when it comes to preventing psychotic people and felons from being able to legally obtain a gun, to bomb a plane, etc. ... it's much better to be safe than sorry. This is common sense!
Comment below if you agree or if you'd like to add something!
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