Today as I drove with my family to buy pumpkins we were alarmed by the breaking news spread throughout the radio, and as we listened we were alarmed to hear that there had been a shooting at a salon across from Brookfeild Square. Three women were found dead and four were injured. There was also the threat of a bomb when the police entered the building and found and propane canister in the middle of the hall. Luckily the bomb threat was called off. You may not think it is but this situation has much to do with the way our country is run.
The choice to have a concealed carry license is open to anyone who is eligible to receive it. My dad has his license yet rarely ever uses or has the need to, but there is always that chance where it can come in handy to defend yourself and the lives of others in a life or death situation. Think about if there had been someone in that building with a concealed weapon that was able to save three lives and everyone else from harm!? The final decision of most laws to me seems to come from the question, what if?
Along side with concealed carry is the right to bear arms, which in my case should be allowed, is highly controversial in this situation. This was a topic in class that is very important to me. I like to hunt and so do a large portion of our population, we use weapons that are legally bought. What I think is that only hunting weapons should be legal to purchase, while handguns and high powered machine guns are not available except for the army. The shooting at the salon is a perfect example of gun sales in an improper function.
If you take away the rights to purchase such weapons other problems will arise. The black market is huge into the sale of illegal weapons and by us taking away more weapons gives them the opportunity to make a meal of it.
The biggest parts of the campaign this is year have to do with budgets and taxes. Taxes are what fuel the prosperity of a nation and how proficiently it runs. If we cut taxes the people benefit in a gain of money but lose the well being of their surroundings. I believe that taxes are important despite the terrible feeling of when you have to pay them. Police and swat benefit majorly from our tax money and the police in the shooting handled the situation the best they could and it was all due to the funding they receive. If they didn’t have funding the chance of any minor mistakes could have caused more death or injury.
After a such a tragic incident like this it really makes you think about the world you live in, your life can change drastically at any given point in time whether you expect it or not. Small things can make a difference and can even save lives.
The news report video is on this link.
Almost no businesses allow guns on the premises in the first place, so no one could have legally brought in a gun. On top of that, saying that someone armed with a gun could have saved the day is optimistic to say the least. It's actually pretty unrealistic. The problem in this situation isn't that there weren't enough guns involved, the problem is that the woman was being stalked by someone she had a restraining order against who also legally owned a gun without going through psychological screening to keep him from getting it to kill his domestic partner. I know it's easy to say that someone could have just drawn and shot him and came out the hero, but that's almost never what really happens in situations like that. When a guy like that comes in wanting to kill and not caring about his own life (clearly, because he killed himself), he won't be stopped by a vigilante citizen. He'll be encouraged. If he would have been cornered, he could have grabbed the nearest person and said "put the gun on the floor and kick it to me." Or, maybe worse, he could have realized he was going to be shot, panicked and shoot at the person with the gun and anyone around or behind him/her to try to prevent himself from being shot. The fact of the matter is that three women are murdered every day by a domestic partner. Giving more guns to more people won't help that. It will only increase the body count. If we're serious about stopping this type of thing, guns need to be harder to get for everyone. If that's a bummer, so be it. There is no excuse for allowing people to be massacred. Gun aren't the solution, they're the problem.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to put my 2 cents in on this topic, because it's an important one. I agree with what Max said about the cops doing the best they could in such a frightening situation, and though I hate to say it, I know that some of our tax money does go towards our police system, so kudos to them. I have to disagree with Maggie though, in my own opinion, guns are only part of the problem. The truth of the matter is there are some pretty messed up people who are going to get a hold of guns no matter what kind of boundaries or laws we set against it due to the black market, so why not at least give others the feeling of safety and chance to defend themselves by the right to conceal and carry?
ReplyDeleteJust my own opinion!
It's scary to think about how the world may become in the near future. Now-a-days you're reading about more shootings and more deaths than ever before. Nothing in life is guaranteed to anyone, and some big changes could benefit our country. I agree Max because taxes and the budget are probably at the top of the list in things to juggle. While taxes seem like a bad thing because it is taking away from our money, it's not even a bad thing considering that money is either coming back to us when we are older or is going to people that help keep us safe. The policemen handled the situation very professionally and it helped save lives. The government spending budget too helped this very situation by sending necessary supplies with the professionals on sight. Finally, the issue of bearing arms comes across again and it really is scary knowing that anyone can own a gun. This man was not right in the head, and because he was able to own a gun, three innocent people died. These are serious issues that our country and state must deal with, but if they have to be dealt with eventually at some time, why not deal with them now?
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing about the shooting in Brookfield, all I thought about was how crazy and scary it was that someone would go out and shoot 7 people. I later found out that three of those people died. I never put two and two together about how maybe those lives could have been saved if someone else in the salon had a concealed gun. I definitely agree with Abby, in that there are messed up people out there who won’t care about the laws against guns and then get them anyways. I strongly believe that people should be allowed to buy hand guns if that’s what makes them feel secured or safe. I don’t think that any type of gun should be banned.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, this arguement could easily go both ways. This is because first off think of why we have firearms available to mentally stable (on paper) adults. Its because this country was partly thrived on these weapons, the money it brings in, the jobs it creates, the recreational side of it (like duck hunting, but most of all the main reason why our founding fathers intended it to be in the constitution, "The safety that one can give to his or her family especially in dangerous situations when needed!" Inevitably violence like this will happen just like it has in history, alot! Yes, I do think that alot could easily have been avoided in this situation, but shit happens in this world that no one can just plan for. Therefore, the smartest thing i believe that can be done is just to have stricter gun laws and requirements especially in the mental aspect of it, but as americans one of our rights is to bear arms and that should never be taken away, ever.
ReplyDeleteEvan Birkes
Every day we hear about shootings in big cities, but after hearing about the shooting near Brookfield Square you'd never expect something so tragic to happen so close to home. I'd have to agree with both Abby and Maggie. Sure, having a gun by your side would be such an amazing thing to have but let's be realistic here. The new law about guns prohibits anyone even the owner of the building to be armed. Abby also has a valid point. There are many unstable people out there and they will break the law to get their revenge on anyone. I don't think we should ban having guns because it is part of one of our laws that we have the right to bear arms, but we should be more strict about that law.
ReplyDeleteWhile I wholeheartedly agree with Maggie that this man should have undergone some sort of psychological examination that proved him unfit to own weapons, or a weapon for that matter, I do not see how taking away rights for other mentally sane persons is going to help this issue. In the scenario of the Brookfield spa shooting, I truly believe Haughton would have found some way to obtain a weapon to carry out his mission. Taking away the right to carry and conceal would only increase the black market for weapons, not dissuade potential users of these weapons or decrease tragedies. For someone to hate a particular person or group that much, I don’t think having to be sneaky about obtaining a gun would stop them from still doing so in order to harm others. The problem with the shooting in Brookfield was that the man was known to be dangerous by his wife, family, and the court systems. He was ordered to turn over his guns and weapons to the courts after the restraining order to protect his wife was put against him, and he did not. While yes, the scenario that some random, armed stranger would come in to save the day is highly unlikely, it’s a better vision than being trapped without any protection at all. I know I would feel a lot better, and safer, if I knew that I had the rights the carry and conceal and protect myself, just as much as the guy walking next to me could be illegally carrying and concealing a weapon he still has, simply from the black market.
ReplyDeleteI’m not exactly sure how this man had gotten a gun but i know that he was an ex-marine so maybe he could of bought it with them thinking that "oh he’s an ex-marine, he’s okay and helped our country and what not" and he might of even had a clean record. The fact of the matter is that even through war people can snap. This man was having problems mentally with him and carried it to his family. Like Abby said even though in most businesses they say that the concealed carry isn’t allowed, doesn’t mean that anyone is going to follow it, especially this guy. But yes, if someone else in that salon had a gun on them I think a lot of people would have hopefully been saved. On top of this, the economy and the way a lot of things are going isn’t pleasing too many people right now.
ReplyDeleteI actually strongly agree with Maggie when it comes to this topic. There is almost little to no need for citizens to have to own a gun besides safety, and there are other ways they can seek that. Like Austin said, it is really scary knowing that anyone can really own a gun. I do agree with a lot of you when you say that making a law that people should not be allowed to own a gun would not stop some people, but it would definitely take a large amount of people out of the equation. People are allowed to have guns in their own homes, cars and a lot of people even carry them on them at all times, but it should not be legal to do so. What's really the big deal that one would need a gun that badly? If they are seriously in danger because someone is chasing them or what not, then they have a lot of bigger problems. If the law was made that citizens could not own guns, the number would go down a lot because a lot of people would get ticketed and arrested when the police saw that they owned one. Now I know that setting this law would not ensure that every home in America was gun-free, but it would definitely be reassuring to know that if someone did get caught with a gun, they would be penalized for it. And who knows, that person getting penalized could have been this man in the Brookfield shooting, and maybe it would have never happened.
ReplyDeleteAfter hearing about this terrible spa shooting it reminds me about a project I did a year ago about abuse in relationships. But what stood out to me was how witnesses said that the main victim the ex-wife of the shooter truly was a hero because if she hadn't talked him down more people would have been dead.
ReplyDeleteAll of these shootings are becoming ridiculous. They occur in such normal places, schools, movie theatres, spas. Places where everyone who attends believe that they are safe, that there is nothing that is going to come out and hurt them. Especially in schools, teachers tell students that there is nothing that they have to be afraid of, that things are going to be safe and fine. But that is not the case in today's society, people are just not as nice as they used to be. And no one is really safe anymore. Things are so much more scary than they should be and it is terrifying that things like this could be happening more and more and could become more occurring in places near our own homes.
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