JESSICA’S JOURNAL: Troubleshooter

The Clarkston community was shaken last week by the actions of a resident who shot two people in Ortonville.
Luckily the two victims are in stable condition and no one else was injured during the ensuing manhunt, but area schools, including Clarkston, were shut down as a precaution.
I think the schools made the right decision, especially given all the recent shootings, including the one in California, which happened the morning of the Ortonville shooting, and targeted an elementary school.
All lives lost to mass shootings are tragedies and the impact they have on families and our nation should never be downplayed, but it’s foolish to think there’s absolutely nothing this country can be doing to make these events less frequent.
America remains one of the only western countries where mass shootings happen on a regular basis, and this countries lack of proper gun control needs to be addressed if we want to stop these shootings.
This isn’t a political issue, it’s about saving lives, protecting our citizens, and avoiding tragedies. Of course, making it harder to purchase a gun won’t stop every shooting, but if it even stops one, then the lives saved will be worth it.
Gun control legislation isn’t about taking away anyone’s guns or making them less available, it’s just trying to keep guns out of the wrong hands: those with mental illness, violent criminal records or perpetrators of domestic abuse.
If you’re an upstanding, law-abiding citizen, this legislation shouldn’t even affect you, except it might take longer to purchase a gun. But if that wait is put in place to save lives, isn’t it worth it?
I’m not against owning guns, I learned to shoot at a very young age, before I even reached double digits. I go deer hunting with my father almost every year and practice shooting. I plan to buy a pistol and get a concealed carry license.
Maybe I would be capable of stopping an active shooter if I were at the scene and had a gun on me, but I doubt it. Even if I could, there’s a good chance they would have already killed one or more people before I could do anything.
I think gun control needs to be discussed more and at length, regardless of your opinion, and the forefront of the discussion should be whether it will help save lives.

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