IN THE run-up to Christmas, the main story in the news was the tragic shooting of school children in an elementary school in Connecticut. This amongst other shootings in the USA has caused discussion about their gun laws.
As a British teenager, I have very black and white views about most subjects. Having heard about these recent shootings, as well as the previous shootings in the Cinema in Colorado, it begs the question why do so many Americans have guns?
Americans believe that it is their "right" to own a gun. That it is part of the American constitution. The right to possess arms as part of self-defence. Statistically more people are killed in America each year by hand guns than Britain, and due to the recent debate about gun laws, the sales of hand guns has increased due to people believing that they will be less accessible. Surely this leads to the question why do so many Americans want guns? Is it the way they have been brought up? Is it an integral part of their culture?
Whilst studying for my EPQ (Extended Project Qualification), I have been looking closely at the law surrounding the death penalty in the UK and America. One of the questions that I have found most puzzling is why the US still uses the death penalty. Some statistics show that it doesn't act as a deterrent to crime; and in fact has little impact on why people commit crime. It is part of the American psyche, something many of them have been brought up with since they were kids. In Britain, the death penalty was abolished for all circumstances in 1998 (although no executions have taken place since 1964) and it is not part of my culture to believe that it is correct for people to be killed for any crime that they have committed.
I feel as though the same controversy surrounding the death penalty in the USA, surrounds their gun laws. It is very easy to say as a 17-year-old "get rid of all the guns, destroy them, ban them, it's just not right," just as it is as easy to say "capital punishment is unjustifiable," yet in practice this is very difficult to deliver. For people to believe that it is their right to bear arms, in practice you can't just remove this from them. It is all very good to talk about theory, and ideology, but we need to be realistic and understand exactly what it is that makes people want to possess guns.
Now we are in the new year, maybe this will be a turning point where people will be able to understand the devastating effect that owning a gun can cause. Now I'm not saying that every person who owns a gun is going to shoot tons of people, in fact, most people who own a gun will never do this. But it is the few people in the world who do, who destroy life and cause grief for many people.
As topics go this is hardly a joyful or happy subject, and yet it is food for thought.
Is 2013 going to be any different to 2012? Or are we to expect the same almost regular shootings and mass murders across the globe? This is a very black and white or simplistic view eliminating a lot of variables but I'd love to know what you think and your opinions on the subject of both gun laws and capital punishment in the UK and America.
On a nicer note, hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope it brings lots of interesting and new things to the world.