“I mean, think about it. We all believe in the First Amendment, the guarantee of free speech, but we accept that you can’t yell fire in a theater. We understand there are some constrains on out freedom in order to protect innocent people.
We understand there are some constraints on our freedom in order to protect innocent people. We cherish our right to privacy, but we accept that you have to go through metal detectors before being allowed to board a plane. It’s not because people like doing that, but we understand that that’s part of the price of living in a civilized society.
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Today, background checks are required at gun stores. If a father wants to teach his daughter how to hunt, he can walk into a gun store, get a background check, purchase his weapon safely and responsibly. This is not seen as an infringement on the Second Amendment. Contrary to the claims of what some gun rights proponents have suggested, this hasn’t been the first step in some slippery slope to mass confiscation. Contrary to claims of some presidential candidates, apparently, before this meeting, this is not a plot to take away everybody’s guns. You pass a background check; you purchase a firearm.
The problem is some gun sellers have been operating under a different set of rules. A violent felon can buy the exact same weapon over the Internet with no background check, no questions asked. A recent study found that about one in 30 people looking to buy guns on one website had criminal records — one out of 30 had a criminal record. We’re talking about individuals convicted of serious crimes — aggravated assault, domestic violence, robbery, illegal gun possession. People with lengthy criminal histories buying deadly weapons all too easily. And this was just one website within the span of a few months.
So we’ve created a system in which dangerous people are allowed to play by a different set of rules than a responsible gun owner who buys his or her gun the right way and subjects themselves to a background check. That doesn’t make sense. Everybody should have to abide by the same rules. Most Americans and gun owners agree. And that’s what we tried to change three years ago, after 26 Americans -– including 20 children -– were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary.
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Each time this comes up, we are fed the excuse that common-sense reforms like background checks might not have stopped the last massacre, or the one before that, or the one before that, so why bother trying. I reject that thinking. (Applause.) We know we can’t stop every act of violence, every act of evil in the world. But maybe we could try to stop one act of evil, one act of violence.”
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both”
~ Ben Franklin
Please take a good look at these sections of President Obama’s speech from today. I know it is long, but because this is such a touchy subject, I did not want to take Obama’s statements out of context. This excerpt presents the main sections of the speech where Obama makes arguments to change gun laws. Please notice how I did not say gun reform OR call Obama a dictator or his proposals totalitarian. Here is the real, honest to goodness answer to gun violence. There is NO answer, its a quagmire of a problem if I’ve ever seen one.
Guns are good vs guns are bad. Well, people are good and people are bad, guns are just tools. A good person can do way more good with a gun than a good person without a gun. (In the right situation) On the other hand, a bad person can do way more bad with a gun than a bad person without a gun. Another funny thing to think about, President Obama is the most heavily armed American citizen in the United States. These guys are not diplomats working on a new treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They are hired guns, plain and simple. 
Here is some more food for thought: MAD- Mutually Assured Destruction. Nobody wants to cross the wrong person out of a sense of self preservation. While this is a morbid, negative and scary way to live, I think it really does work. Not saying I want to live this way though.
How can you tell who is good and who is bad? Background checks? Nope! The only constant in life is the guarantee of change. A good person can become; bad, mentally unstable, distraught, crazy, violent. Also, an ex-convict can save lives and be a force for real good in the world. The point is that a background check is really good at telling you what someone has been, documented, doing in the PAST. There is yet to be an effective way of correctly knowing what a person will, not might, do in the future. If Obama is making rules to stop even just one act of violence from occurring, well then nobody can have a gun. Why stop at guns, think how SAFE we would all be if the government could search for contraband anywhere it wanted. We could save countless lives and prevent a lot of violence. We could also add checkpoints, like they type at the airport, in all public spaces, just to be sure. The government could also check correspondences to make sure nobody is plotting criminal acts, which could also prevent a lot of violence. Also, why aren’t pointed knives illegal, can’t people cut meat with a rounded tipped knives, like the type found at restaurants.
Yes, this is a slippery slop argument, kind of. But it helps to illustrate that freedom isn’t free, I don’t mean going to war with random countries, I mean accepting a higher degree of risk. You have to trust people, or not. This a real fundamental difference in OPINION. America really could give up a ton of freedoms and might be okay at the end of it all. Exaggeration ahead: Think how safe a max security prison is, those on the inside have every aspect of their lives controlled and look, no violence. I don’t want guns in the hands of those who should not have them, but I also don’t want my government to have absolute power.
See, the 2nd Amendment, guns and gun rights are about a citizenry with the ability to defend itself against real tyranny; I’m not talking about taxes or forced universal medical or restricted cigarette adverts, I’m talking enslavement and concentration camps. Events like the deportation of US citizens to Mexico in the 1930’s and 40’s or the internment of US citizens during WW2.
Now I have to point out the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany, secret police, no civil rights and the Berlin Wall, watch The Lives of Others. The United States is not Soviet Controlled Germany circa 1984, which by the way is not that long ago, but here again, nobody can predict the future. You can look at oppression in every corner of the globe; the Balkans, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe and South America. Oppression is real and a false sense of security is not going to stop oppression from taking hold. Read a history book, any book, from just about any period or region, and you will find oppression. Small windows of 50 or 100 years of relative peace, America, are for from permanent. What is a gun? In a word, power. A gun gives people the ability to defend themselves and give those without power the tools needed to stop injustice. Trouble is, a gun easily becomes an offensive weapon and can be used as a tool to hurt and harm.
Also, I know Franklin never witnessed a fully automatic M16 or AR15 unleashing a furry of lead. These guns did not exist during the time the Bill of Rights was being prepared. Regardless, the 2nd amendment was not about hunting, it was about balancing power.
“Firearms stand next in importance to the constitution itself. They are the American people’s liberty teeth and keystone under independence … from the hour the Pilgrims landed to the present day, events, occurrences and tendencies prove that to ensure peace security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable … the very atmosphere of firearms anywhere restrains evil interference — they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.” ~ George Washington
The way I see it, guns will always be used for evil. Always, until the end of time. The instant guns were invented, gun violence became a problem. What it boils down to is you have to accept guns will always get into the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. There are countless examples of extreme gun violence in countries that have universal gun bans. Is to say another gun is never made or sold in the United States, you think you can get Russia or China to stop making and selling guns. Not to mention anyone, I mean anybody, can go to Home Depot or Fry’s, buy a 3D printer and presto, couple YouTube video later, you have yourself and homemade gun.
We have crossed the Rubicon, Alea iacta est, and there is NO right answer. Personally, I wish we could uninvent guns, be good to one another, stop killing (even animals), then find a way to all coexist and live in harmony.
~Imagine