The rash of gun violence which has infested the Queen City over a two day period last month at two of Cincinnati’s most attractive tourist spots – leaving one teenager dead and one young adult critically wounded – has once again brought resident’s attention back to the controversial topic of gun control.
Though Ohio is ranked 39 th in gun violence; according to the National Center for Injury Prevention & Control, one of the centers of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention , 2007 saw the taken lives of 31,224 Americans to gun violence.
These acts of gun violence here in Cincinnati bring a number of concerned residents to wonder “Is anywhere in Cincinnati safe from gun violence?” The answer is a definite yes, but some wonder if there is anything which can be done to curb the increase of incidences where guns are used.
Opponents to gun control have longed lobbied the fact that increased gun control will never stop the people who are creating the crimes, mostly due to the fact that they obtained the weapons illegally in the first place. Never the less, it is my opinion that a little more gun control can go a long way.
1. People should not be able to carry a weapon, just because you have a permit. There is no fathomable reason why you should be able to carry a gun on a city street unless you are going to be using it to shoot and kill you dinner for that evening or in at arms with everyone in the city. In either case, you probably should not be living in a large city if either of those things is true for you. All you do is induce fear. I know that if I saw a person walk down the street with a holstered weapon, I would be a bit weary and I would definitely go up and ask if he had a permit to carry.
2. The 2 nd Amendment, as it was ratified by individual States dictate: ” 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.” I am no Constitution historian, but the way that I read it is that the only time that we have the right to carry a weapon would be in a time in which we were trying to defend the State in which we live. So unless we are being attacked by insurgents from another State, there is little reason to carry a weapon.
3. There is no reason why everyone who purchases a gun should not have a background check. Background checks are conducted when you buy a car or when you are applying for a new job, what the harm in doing away with “private sale” loop hole and register everyone who is packing.
If you are in the same mind as I am, this list could be exhaustive, but I will spare most of you the rest of my lengthy rhetoric. Just know that gun control is not the only answer to solving the aforementioned gun violence problem, but it definitely is a measurable way to tract cause and effect and may be the first place in which we should begin.