Americans express concern over gun control
Posted on Nov 17, 2008 in Opinion
After the presidential election was over, I was hoping that things would begin to get back to normal.
I was watching the local news recently, and they began to talk about the increase in gun sales, which they said was due to Barack Obama’s election victory.
I thought it was just a local thing, until I heard it discussed on national news too. I don’t understand the increase in gun sales, even after hearing the explanations. I think this rush to purchase weapons is silly.
When a local news reporter began to interview a gun shop owner, the owner began to talk about the increase in gun sales in his store. He said that he had never seen such a large increase in gun sales.
He even said that his store had to reorder several items because so many people had come into the store and bought them all. CNN said that gun shops across America were also reporting a substantial increase in gun purchases, particularly assault weapons.
The reasons that owners/customers were giving for this increase was that they were worried that President-elect Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress would try to restrict firearm ownership. Many gun owners have stated that they don’t want the Obama administration to take away their right to defend themselves.
The National Rifle Association also raised concerns about gun issues with their anti-Obama ads during the campaign. The NRA believes that Obama would support new taxes on guns.
The Obama camp has stated that Obama supports the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which protects individual gun rights. They have also said that this issue is not considered high priority.
Apparently these statements have done little to pacify gun owners, who seem to believe that the Obama administration will be determined to restrict the purchasing and usage of firearms.
I must admit, I don’t know much about the gun laws of the past or present. However, I would like to remind these panic-stricken people of a few things. Americans are now dealing with an economic crisis, fluctuating gas prices, increasing layoffs, increasing unemployment, and a mortgage crisis, to name a few.
With all this going on, I just don’t understand why so many people have decided to make this such a high priority. I’ve heard about people spending thousands of dollars on firearms.
My suggestion would be that those people save some of that money for things like, I don’t know, food or maybe a mortgage payment or two.
Secondly, Obama won’t be inaugurated until mid-January. This means you have almost two months to load up on guns and ammunition, what is the big rush? Plus, passing gun laws, or any laws, takes a lot of time, and I don’t think Obama has plans to work on gun laws his first day in office. He might have a couple of more important things to address first.
I don’t have any great objections to people owning guns. I know that many people purchase them for protection.
However, I would think that most of the people who wanted to purchase guns for protection would already own those guns by now. So, why has there been such an increase in gun sales?
It doesn’t really make much sense to me, but if people want to go out and spend a lot of money on weapons, then that’s their right. I just thought that people might have different priorities right now.
People are more than welcome to spend their money how they’d like, but I would like to make another suggestion. Why not take the money, at least some of it, that you would spend on a gun and give it to charity?
Maybe you could help the numerous families out there who, due to the economy and rising prices, are struggling to survive. Maybe they need food or shelter.
If you’re not that selfless, why not wait until things look better on the economic front. If you’re laid off, or economic hard times really start to affect your family, an arsenal of guns won’t do much to improve things.
I really think that if people were thinking logically, they wouldn’t be so worried about gun control issues, especially not now.
Email: honey_deni@hotmail.com
More From UAB Kaleidoscope
Blazer Territory — Home Sports
- Volleyball vs. East CarolinaWhen: Sun Sep 25, 2011 1pm to 1pm CDT Where: Bartow Arena Event Status: confirmed […]
- Football vs. Mississippi StateWhen: Sat Oct 8, 2011 11am to 11am CDT Where: Legion Field Event Status: confirmed […]
GreenMail News Highlights
- February 08, 2012 Edition February 8, 2012Headlines: USGA presidential debate is Feb. 16 • UAB students take the ADDY Awards by storm • Biotech students to design apps for Hudson-Alpha • Cameron Moore named C-USA Player of the Week • B-ALERT prepared employees, students for deadly tornado • Volker Hall renovations will enhance, increase study space • If you build it, will it float? • USGA wants you […]