An editorial by high school freshman Alyssa VanLiere …
” When tragedy strikes, the government’s first act is to blame the incident on someone or something. After the horrific tragedy in Connecticut, the government quickly began blaming guns for the damage that was done and lives that were lost. Soon after that, our entire nation went into an uproar protesting that guns are the reason why people are dying; guns are the true killer. Hardly anyone thought to blame the sick man behind the killings, but went straight to blaming the only thing they could blame … guns.
If the argument today is that guns kill people, then it’s my job as a writer to investigate. During the weekend, I put my family’s shot gun on the front porch, and knowing it has no legs, I set it on a chair so that it may have an open view of what was happening around it. Over the course of a day, UPS dropped off a package, my neighbors walked their dog past our home, and my family and I went in and out of the house taking our dogs and garbage out. At the end of the day I had checked on our shot gun and noticed that it hadn’t been fired, and no one was hurt. It became apparent to me that guns in fact do not kill people. That leaves us with only one thesis: people kill people.
The media regularly twists gun numbers to make gun-related deaths appear predominant over every other type of death in this country. However, a rational examination of how small the percentage of gun-related deaths are when compared to the overall number of deaths in any given year helps one to see through the hype. For example, in 2011 the percent of deaths caused by guns in the U.S. was only about .34 percent. Taking away guns from the law abiding citizens of America will not end the deaths of U.S. citizens, or prevent criminals from getting their hands on them, it will only take away their ability to protect thier homes and families from dangerous situations such as break-ins, or animal attacks.”
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