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Oct 11, 2002 A sniper shot a number of people in Washington DC. It made me remember about the right to carry a gun in the USA. I don not believe that taking that right away, will prevent crazy people like this to commit their acts, but I do believe that less people will die of gunshots when this right is canceled. In the past I had discussions about this right to carry a gun, with citizen of the USA. Many of them are very aggressive about this subject and do not want this right to be taken away. I am Dutch and in the Netherlands it is not allowed to carry a gun. We are not even allowed to own a gun unless having a special license. And a license is not easy to get. Here is the second amendment of the USA constitution: Amendment II 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. What does “the people” mean? I understand that there is a debate whether it means the state or individuals. In any way, it does not matter. I would like to look at it from another point of view: How many people die, unnecessarily, because of this right? I don not have the correct numbers, but will calculate with some numbers given to me. Accidental firing of a gun sometimes kills somebody. I would say that this is an unnecessary death. People told me: That happens so few times that it compensates the lives saved by this right. It happens maybe in 0.001 % of the guns.. How many guns are there in the USA? Probably millions. Let´s suppose every American has one. 250 million guns. 250 million times 0.001 % is 2500 people killed per year by accidental gun firing. Hmm,… That is a lot, isn’t it? Probably the numbers are not correct, but how far am I off, and is it too high or too low? How many people get saved by the right to own a gun? I have no idea, but let’s assume a burglar enters your house with a gun. He is there to steal something and feels like the gun is needed for his protection. The owners of the house are sound a sleep, but wake up anyway: “There is a BURGLAR in the house!!!!! What to do?”, “Well, I have a gun, I go downstairs!!” Bang bang bang. Gunshots fired, people died or got hurt. Now let’s assume the owners do not have a gun: “There is a BURGLAR in the house!!! What to do?”, “Well, lets lock the bedroom door, call the police and WAIT,… We are safe here!!!” Doesn’t that seem to make more sense? Who on earth will risk his life for some material things that are replaceable? And walking the streets with a gun, that’s another one,… that will make the chance of survival a lot bigger,… Not! People will go to places where they shouldn’t be in the first place, because they feel safe with the gun in their pocket. It is a fake feeling of safety. In the rare case they actually have to use the gun, the chance they get shot is pretty big too. Criminals have the same rights as normal people. So they have a gun too, and they have it legally!!!!! This is a difficult discussion and freedom is a thing that is very important to the citizens of the USA. But it seems to me that in the USA freedom means that you have to do everything yourself. Many things can be regulated by the government,… SHOULD be regulated by the government. And if the citizens feel unsafe it should be the governments job to do something about it. Carrying a gun because the government fails to do their job sometimes, doesn’t seem to be the right answer. I never saw anybody repair the streets because the government didn’t do it, or bring the garbage away them selves 3 times a week. If the government fails to do these things, everybody is together in a big demonstration. But carrying a gun, that makes you a real MAN. ------------ Peter Faber is Dutch and has recently moved to Brazil. Visit Peter's website. Email Peter: getting_there@uol.com.br Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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