Massacre At A Synagogue, 11 Dead
Robert Bowers, age 46, fired shots at the Tree Of Life Synagogue in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had a history of slandering the Jewish race on social media and during the attack, he yelled out abhorrent statements targeting the Jewish customs and community. Shots were fired at 10 AM and screams were heard and the cops were instantly called. 11 were dead and 6 were injured also, two police officers were injured and two SWAT team members were injured as well during their confrontation. At 9:49 Bowers posted one last ominous post claiming that he was going in and he couldn’t stand any longer to watch his people get slaughtered which is still unclear who his people are. He was armed with an AR- 15 and at least three handguns during is attacks. Bowers was charged with 29 criminal accounts after his attacks and many sources say he is to suffer the death penalty.
This connects to the government's inability to pass laws to better the security of our nation. The president and Congress refuse to pass laws because of interest groups such as the NRA which are a pro-gun organization that claim implementing a new law restricting gun use would violate the 2nd amendment. Also, this points to the flaw in the government to be able to address issues such as shooting effectively and ignoring the current situation in which we live in. Overall, nothing has been done the past couple of years where there has not been a major change to the country and more should be done because there has not been any change to the status quo of our country.
In my opinion, if people claim that more laws for gun control would change something I feel like it will cause no change because thanks to the black market, people will be able to get these guns with no restrictions. So I feel that in order to make our nation safer the security should be increased at a greater amount in all places with federal aid or maybe to ban guns from the people once in for all. With all the recent events it looks like no one can be trusted with a firearm and therefore they should be taken away even if it spurs a lot of debate.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/11/03/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-shabat-service-vigils-tree-life/1871835002/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/27/us/active-shooter-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c28q43x9qmzt/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting
2 comments:
Gun control is quite a controversial issue and after every mass shooting which we are seeing so often time and time again in the present day, it gets brought to the table once again. This shooting I found disturbing as it was a hate crime against Jews and brings to surface the extremist sentiment that continues to lurk throughout our country. Hate speech and the negativity I do not find banning guns practical with the amount that are already out there and think that a ban would just lead to a growth in black market sales like Carlos mentioned. I think that getting guns should be more difficult with better screenings but even that is not a fullproof way to stop these mass shootings. The fact that it was out of hate points to Trump as he has been accused of spreading hate throughout the country.
Another massacre and still nothing is being done. But then again, what can we expect from the Trump administration. Gun control is still a controversial issue. While I do support individual liberties, including the right to own a firearm, there is no doubt that stronger limitations and restrictions should be put in place. If we know how the attacker got his weapon, we can use that information to make it more difficult for likeminded individuals to get their hands on these lethal weapons in the future.
You suggested a permanent ban on guns across the country. While in theory, this may be the be-all-end-all solution, I do not think this will be possible to implement. There would be way too much opposition from people in every state, and this display of government force would only rile up more protestors and dissidence.
You also mentioned combatting this by installing greater security in public areas, such as more surveillance cameras and security screenings. Once again, I do not see this as feasible. Imagine being constantly watched over by with your every move monitored and documented by video footage. Imagine needing to go through a security checkup everytime you enter a new public space. This would simply be too much, too big of a sacrifice to personal liberty to combat security issues.
I believe the only correct approach to the problem of gun controls would be limiting access to firearms. Spending more money on carefully regulating the firearm industry and combatting black markets, will be much more worthwhile and economically efficient than spending millions of dollars amplifying security or trying to forcefully remove guns from all households.
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