By Amity Hsieh,
YAIC Weekly
January 27,
2013
“Don’t Shoot!”
He walked down the hall ;face
twisted with anger.
The black ghost came out from nowhere.
He was panting, as if
spellbound upon hearing others yelling,
“Don’t shoot!”
BOOM BOOM BOOM…The rifle seemed
to be out of control. Numerous
bullets took 26 lives away
within a couple of minutes, but left more to suffer, to mourn, and to doubt the
security system after the mass shooting took place
in Sandy Hook Elementary School.
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| www.olivecocomag.com |
On December 14,
2012, aside the lush meadow and giggles from the
classrooms, Adam Lanza massacred
20 innocent angels in their first grade and 6
members of the staff who attempted to protect kids but to no avail. People could not help thinking,
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| news.nationalpost.com |
“Who is Adam Lanza?”,
“Is he really rotten to the
core?” or
“How am I supposed to do when
dropping my kid off at the school every
morning just to picture a guy
with 23-caliber Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle
harming my baby in any possible
minute?”
In fact, the President of the
United States of America called for a change and
immediate actions taken by
Congress on January 16, 2013. He laid three
claims to Congress, referring
them to common sense measures.
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| news.nationalpost.com |
First, Congress
should demand a general background check for anyone who tries to buy a weapon. To prevent wrong people from getting hands on their
guns, the check is fairly compulsory for protecting all the citizens and
the rights of responsible buyers and sellers.
Second, Congress should
reinstate a ban on weapons mainly
used in military style, and a 10-round limit for magazines with the aim of preventing the perpetrator from wreaking such
great damage.
In the final, President Obama
appealed to Congress for help, rather than
hindrance for the sake of its
job. The speech was moderately persuasive and
moving when President Obama
revealed his sorrow and tribute to the
victims.
Here
I would like to expand a little more on Rep. Steve Stockman’s view toward President Obama’s statement on the 16th last week as well as my own perspective.
Republican Steve Stockman
claimed, following the president’s press
conference that “Gun bands and
anti-gun laws have always led to one thing – more
gun violence.”
He stated that banning allows
more people to increase
their intent to purchase
weapons. Unfortunately, no evidence or research can
justify the causation yet.
My opinion is rather simple –
More
gun laws are not equivalent to more gun violence.
Here
are my reasons.
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| “Guess a rifle suits me better.”www.thetruthaboutguns.com |
First, based on a
criminological theory“The Broken Windows Theory” which illustrates crime
and anti-social behavior are affected by the environment, I believe widespread guns give rise to possibility of gun violence.
The theory took from an example as follow.
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| flickr.com/photos/nandanj |
Consider
a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the
tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows.
Derived the concept from the
theory, to keep the environment in a well-established condition may
diminish serious crime.With fewer guns in the market
and more gun laws prohibiting wrong people from owning weapons, I believe a safer environment can be constructed.
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| mashable.com |
If one walks into Wall Mart in the United States, one would likely to see gun placed on the
shelves along with other products. For most of the Americans, they are certainly
used to this scene; however, some Asians like me, still kept my mouth open
upon seeing it. Of course the cultural difference matters. But what matters
the most is the gun law in Taiwan makes me more aware of the existence
of guns.If guns are easily bought by anyone, anywhere without any stricter check,
the violence might just be inevitable since the alarming environment
already brims with a variety of weapons.
Second, in International
Relations, the security dilemma happens when one
and its neighbor or other
countries arm themselves one by one for the sake of self-protection.
The same dilemma is faced in
the United States. The gun flood occurs
when one tries to buy the weapon to safeguard oneself while the
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| www.washingtonpost.com |
others buy too upon seeing one
purchase. Therefore, the society packed with guns
where people live in might as well begin to lose trust, and become more unstable and unsafe; same as the reason shown above.
The dilemma is the fear seen as a whole.
Last but not least, let us talk
about what have gone wrong with our society
when shootings take place
commonly. Below is the history of deadly US mass shootings
(BBC, 2012) in the last 30 years.
1984:
James Oliver Huberty shoots dead 21 people at a McDonald's in California
1986: Postal worker Pat Sherrill kills 14 people at post office in
Oklahoma
1991:
George Hennard kills 23 people at a cafeteria in Texas
1999: Two
students at Columbine high school kill 13 and injure 20, before
killing themselves
2007: A
student kills 32 and injures dozens more at Virginia Tech university
2009:
13 people are killed in a mass shooting at Fort Hood military base in
Texas
2012: James
Holmes kills 12 people and injures 58 at a cinema in Aurora,
Colorado
And you bet, 2012: Adam Lenza
kills 28 people (himself included) and injures 2 in Sandy
Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
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| www.firstpost.com |
What is wrong with the
education that we keep teaching that harm is
forbidden, that killing is
irreversible and unforgivable? What is the problem
with the law……?
There are so many whys and
whats going on and on every single time after
such tragedy occurs. The
problem is that the new pain arrives often earlier
when we are still struggling
with our former pain. The new does
not necessarily clear away the
old. And the same stories hurt as many hearts
as always. Perhaps as we seek
for the external needs and promises, we need
to reflect back on ourselves
internally at the same time –
“What can we do besides the law
enforcement, the regulations, and all the
external resolutions?”
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| www.nydailynews.com |
We need to raise
our moral standard by teaching and promoting.
We need to care more about the
society, and let the anguish vanish with compassion and more understandings.
And finally, we need to cherish. As Robert Brault put, “Enjoy the little things
in life, for one day you'll look back and realize they were big things.”
I shall also quote from him,
“Let us cherish, for one day as
we look back, we would realize
they were somehow big.”
Do
not lose before you start to cherish.
This article is dedicated to
the kids, members of the staff and the rest of the broken hearts.
I am Amity Hsieh. This is YAIC
Weekly.
For more
information
Unknown author ( 2012, December 14) OC Headlines/Breaking News: Mass shooting at Newton, CT Elemnetary School, 27 dead. Retrieved from http://www.olivecocomag.com/oc-headlines-breaking-news-prayers-go-out-to-newton-ct-where-gunman-has-killed-18-children/
Unknown author (2012, December 15) Heroes of Newtown: Sandy Hook principal died lunging at gunman, others shielded students with their bodies. Retrieved from http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/15/the-heroes-of-newtown-sandy-hook-elementary-staff-died-protecting-students/
Kozak, B. (2011, September 8) Gun Training and the Story of Monkey No.3. Retrieved from http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2011/09/brad-kozak/gun-training-and-the-story-of-monkey-no-3/
Unknown author (2011, October 3) Broken Windows/ Swift and Certain. Retrieved from http://laguardianangels.org/broken-windows-swift-and-certain/
Larson, E. (2012, December 20) 'Demand a Plan' Campaign Calls for Gun Reform in Wake of Newtown.
Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2012/12/19/demand-a-plan/
Dixon, V. E. (2012, December 21) The idolatry of the gun. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/the-idolatry-of-the-gun/2012/12/21/c9a3a340-4bc5-11e2-a6a6-aabac85e8036_blog.html
Malone, S. & Cooney, P. (2012, December 15) Quiet Connecticut town rocked by mass school shooting. Retrieved from http://www.firstpost.com/world/quiet-connecticut-town-rocked-by-mass-school-shooting-558253.html
Lvsiak, M., Morales, M., Thompson, T., Chapman, B., Parascandola, R., Straw, J., Cavaliere, V. & Mcshane, L. (2012, December 14/15) Updated: 26 dead, including 20 kids. in Newtown. Conn., elementary school shooting: Gunman Adam Lanza, 20, kills teacher mom in her Newtown home, drives her car to her school and opened fire before killing self. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/deadly-shooting-reported-conn-elementary-school-article-1.1220164
