Hello everyone,
My name is Sena and I will be arguing alongside my partner Cole, as to why Americans should have the right to bear arms.
It is without a doubt that there have been a ridiculous amount of shootings in the United States this year. However, I encourage you to focus your attention on those that shot the gun, as opposed to those that were shot for my argument regarding why Americans should have the right to bear arms.
I would like to start off with a statement that we have all probably heard many times, and something of which I will be coming back to many times throughout my debate; As the NRA frequently states “Guns don't shoot people, people shoot people”.
Since the right to bear arms is within the second amendment, we should not consider this to be a change. Instead we should focus on the bigger picture.
What is causing these people to shoot the gun in the first place? For the purpose of this debate I will reference two very well known mass shootings that occured in the United States this past year; the Orlando Nightclub shooting, and the Parkland, Florida school shooting. In both cases, the shooters were found to be mentally ill people who were denied health services and help prior to their shootings.
For example, Omar Mateen, the Orlando Nightclub shooter, had a profound history of mental instability which involved many disruptions at school, as well as poor parenting from this parents. Evidence shows that Mateen’s teachers would frequently write letters home to his parents, letting them know about his behaviour at school. This behaviour included things such as the inability to show self control, being verbally abusive, talking about sex and violence, and touching other children.
This evidence proves there was consistent history of neglect in Mateens life, and that he was obviously troubled from a young age. As we move further into Mateens life, we begin to see that he continued to be troubled. He was said to be abusive, rigid, sexist and racist and had been investigated by the FBI in both 2013 and 2014 for terrorist attacks in relation to his association with both Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. It was noted by all of his family as well as coworkers that Mateen was mentally unstable.
However, it should be noted that the problem here is not whether or not he had to right to bear arms, because he had access to the gun due to work purposes. The issue was that Omar Mateen was a deeply disturbed, mentally ill man who was unable and unwilling to access help. Evidence shows that Mateen would have committed the act of mass murder with or without a gun.
If we swap our attention to the Parkland Shooting, committed by Nikolas Cruz, we can find a similar scenario. On February 14th, 2018, 17 people were shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Cruz was determined to be mentally ill, according to the FBI and many other sources. He was adopted at a young age, and witnessed the heartache of his adoptive mother dying of pneumonia. Cruz’ family and school mates stated that he was never quite “normal”, and was always up to something.
According to countless studies mentally ill people are more likely to carry out acts of violence if they aren’t being treated for their mental illness. Basically, if we want to prevent mentally ill people who might be violent from being violent, we should try to get them into treatment.
Whether this comes down to the health care system in the United States, or the support network provided for people with mental issues in general, it is evident that change must occur.
It is rare for mass killers to not be mentally ill which simply proves the dire need for change in American society.
As Adam Smith wrote in The Wealth of Nations, “All the members of human society stand in need of each other’s assistance, and are likewise exposed to mutual injuries. Where the necessary assistance is reciprocally afforded from love, from gratitude, from friendship, and esteem, the society flourishes and is happy.”
However, he also states that when such assistance is compelled by force, it can have significant and negative effects, even to the point of a societal collapse.
In this scenario, the societal collapse is the countless mass shootings in America. Instead of changing the laws surrounding gun control, lets adapt to aid the mentally ill people of the country in healing and being less dangerous.