I am from the most conservative state in the USA. For those of you who do not know, That is Oklahoma.
Our governor is a fool. Our state House of Representatives and Senate is full of fools. Oklahoma has been ranked (How accurate the rankings are, I don't know) the worst economical and educational state in USA for a few years running. Our state budget has reached an all time low. To further cement how bad our governor is, she was actually thought to possibly be Trumps VP candidate. That should tell you everything right there.
As for our state Congress, they are idiots. One of our senators wrote a letter on social media about how Muslims should not have their rights protected by the first amendment of the constitution. Yes, you read that right. A bill just got passed in the House of Representatives that removes all licensing, training and fees for carrying a firearm. Yes, you also read that right. If it passes the senate and gets signed by Gov. Fallin, people in Oklahoma will be able to carry a firearm as soon as they turn 21. They will not have to take a safety course. They will not have to have a supervised training session on a gun range where they fire a weapon. They will not have to carry a license, so they will not have to do any paperwork in the state. The only time a background check will be done, is when someone purchases a firearm. No background checks will be done on anyone who carries, because they will not have had to submit any paperwork to the state. Here is the kicker: The Orlando shooter would have been able to legally carry a firearm in our state with no questions asked. He did not have a record, but even if he did, he would not have to submit any paperwork so no one would know. Some states would not issue him a license due to him being investigated by the FBI. It would have appeared as a red flag. Not here. Now with the stupidity of my state on full display now, I'll respond to the actual topic.
I have 3 firearms. I'll have 7 when my father passes away. I sometimes carry a Berreta 92FS. It stays in my car at all times, if it is not on me. The magazine is always loaded, but I keep it unchambered. For those that don't understand, for it to shoot, I would have to pull the slide all the way back and load a round into the chamber. I do this so their is no possible change of any accidental discharge from the weapon. In my apartment, before I moved back home, I kept a 12 gauge shotgun in my closet. It was always loaded, but not chambered.
The reason being, I lived in an area that was not the best. There was a shooting less than half a mile from my apartment one afternoon. It was at 3 in the afternoon. Not even at night. That is how sketchy the surrounding area was. So I absolutely used it for protection. The other reason, was that I attended a small Christian university. We had 1 security guard on campus, and he wasn't even allowed to carry a weapon. So there was no one on campus to respond to an active shooter incident. This unnerved me. Even though it was legally in my vehicle, if something was to happen, it was closer than the nearest police officer. This was at the time that terrorist shooting, and even domestic terrorist school shootings were happening almost monthly. If someone was going to do that, a small school with no real security, Christian, and had been in the news for stupid homophobic beliefs would be a prime target for someone's rage. Once again, I felt I needed to protect myself.
The idea of gun control, in the fairy tale world where it actually would be fully enforced to where NO ONE, good or bad, could get a firearm; where the government would never become tyrannical and oppress the population, would work and it would be alright. However, that is far from the world we live in. Gun control laws work in European countries like England and France, because they have been around for a long long time. It is extremely difficult to get a firearm in those countries. The amount of mass shootings is way lower than here in the United States. The reason that would not work here, is because tons of people already have firearms. The black market is alive and well. To many have weapons. There would need to be a mass policing, where Feds went door to door and confiscated firearms. If you think the death toll from shootings is bad now, just wait till this happens. The amount of police and citizens that will be killed will be astronomical. If the military did it, and I highly doubt they would, because most soldiers know and own firearms themselves, it would probably cause a civil war. As that would be grounds for governmental tyranny.
Also, when has the U.S. Government EVER set out to eliminate something and actually done it. Never as far as I can remember. Illegal immigrants still enter our country is massive numbers. U.S. Fails at that. We made alcohol illegal, and that went so shitty, we made it legal again. Failed at that. The "war on drugs" has gone so poorly, that our prisons are overstocked with people on drug offenses that we spend a shot ton of money on. The "war on drugs" has gone so badly, that some drugs are beginning to become legal now. We failed at that. History shows is, that even if firearms are made illegal, there is no historical evidence to even suggest that the U.S. Government will be able to actually control guns.
If by some miracle, they could, the amount of violent crime in probably the first year would shoot up as the criminals who do still have forearms would take full advantage. It would be awhile before we actually reached the level of public safety, in regards to firearms, that other countries who successfully employ gun control are at.
I'm a pacifist. I don't like needless war and killing. I hope I genuinely never even have to draw my weapon on anyone. I do not want to hurt someone or end their life, but if I must to protect myself, loved ones, and property then I will.
The idea of gun control is noble, but never conceivably attainable in a way that won't result in more bloodshed. At least in the U.S.
In my opinion, we need to stop trying to take away the tools that are used, and focus on the people doing these awful things. We need to stop blaming the tools, religion, and political beliefs. Historically, we are making no difference. It is a problem to complex for the U.S. Government to solve. So instead of spending an ungodly amount of money that we absolutely don't even have, on gun control. We need to spend the ungodly amount of money that we don't even have, on finding the mental anomalies in these people and trying to correct it.
If someone is trying to kill you, and you take away the gun from their hands, the will get a knife, rock, bat, even use their fists. It is more logical to try and stop them from killing you in the first place, than just continually taking away the tools they would use.
I don't look down on people that are anti gun. Guns be frightening, scary, and cause fear. I understand that. But I do look at people who advocate to make firearms illegal in this country, and think to myself -In what fairytale world, do they actually think this would work? Do they really think that it would all just magically stop if someone signed a piece of paper saying owning a gun is illegal? -
I don't really care if you quote this and try to grasp at straws and nit pick it apart. *cough* GWAZI *cough* I've said my opinion and probably won't respond to this thread anymore. Maybe not even click in again, unless I get a ton of rating notifications.
EDIT: My autocorrect went crazy, and I'm to lazy to go correct it. I'll let y'all play the game of "what word is that supposed to be?"
