With Obama talking about gun violence and introducing the idea of controlling gun ownership in America comes a great deal of controversial discussions between those who believe he is right and others who believe they have a right to own a gun for their own protection.
After a deadly shooting rampage that left 10 people dead at an Oregon Community College, Obama pledges that he will keep talking about gun control until something is done.
In the interview video above, he makes a valid point that gunmen like this are not necessarily mentally ill people. Gun crime consists mostly of young men with anger issues who end up snapping and using their ability to freely own a gun to their advantage; and usually to the dismay of many innocent people. This is leaving America with six times as many homicides as Canada, and 15 times as many than Germany:
In All states of the United States of America everyone is entitled to carry some sort of concealed firearm in public, while many of theses states actually allow the gun to be carried un-concealed in public. State level laws vary significantly in their form, content and level of restriction, but in general almost anyone is able to buy and own a gun for self defense.
As a British man, I personally dont understand why anyone needs to carry a gun, in Britain we have never been allowed to carry a gun in public unless its licensed and being transported in a concealed case for recreational or hunting reasons in private areas. It seems that our country manages to maintain an extremely low level of homicide (as seen by the missing United Kingdom from the stats image above) law and safety without the use of such weapons, so why is this so different in the USA?
Dont get me wrong though, I understand why people would want to protect themselves and their family, but maybe not being allowed to own a gun so easily is a better way to control homicide in the country.
After all most of the time using the gun would be totally unjustified! I have NEVER had to hold, own or use a gun to protect myself or my family, so it just sounds like an excuse to be power crazy and threatening to me.
Jim Jefferies, an Australian comedian, very comically makes some very good points with regards to owning a gun
There are two main reasons to own a gun in my opinion, the first because you LIKE guns and use them for sporting activities, or because you like to kill people!
I mean who gives anyone the right to take another persons life? Ok so there are situations where extreme force is necessary, such as someone attacking your children, but as we have proved in Britain time and time again, and for many years, there are other ways to defend yourself and family without falling into the realms of using a gun and probably ending up in prison for murder; who will protect your family then? I think there is a fine line between self defense and murder in the case of using a gun.
The main reason someone own a gun in America is the belief they need it for protection, but protection from what? If another guy was pointing a gun at you, how do you find that your gun is protecting you? Can you physically move faster than a bullet? I think notso the idea of either one of you having a gun is just beyond me. What happened to good old, honest fist fights to defend yourself?
Take a burglar for example, they are coming into your home to steal your TV, your iPad, maybe even your car keys, but what is the likeliness of them coming in with a gun to murder your family? If they are intending on murder, you must have made some serious enemies! In the case of a burglar, what use would your gun be when its locked in a cabinet? Do you think the burglar going to stand there and wait for you to open the cabinet, pull the gun out, and then continue with the episode until he is shot dead? In the time it took you to get to the gun, unlock it, load it, and point it at the guy he will have already bashed you on the head or simply ran away.so what is the point in the gun?
This is why I support Obama through and through with his comments on owning guns in a more controlled manner.
Last Friday he expressed his frustrations that politics has gotten in the way of meaningful gun control, saying: As I said last night, this will not change until the politics change and the behavior of elected officials changes, I will talk about this on a regular basis and I will politicize this.
He also stated that they live in an American culture that makes it easy for a person who wants to commit harm on someone else to get their hands on a gun.. Which is totally true! If anyone and everyone is able to own a gun, no wonder there is so much violent crime involving murder in America, including the recent gunning in Umpqua Community College in the small community of Roseburg.