Written by Miguel Palacios
The recent mass shootings in Boulder Colorado and Atlanta Georgia have left President Biden and many liberal democrats misplacing blame for the attacks on guns and the amendment that allows the American people to purchase and own firearms. In both cases, the facts show that the policy is not the problem, it’s the people.
On Monday, March 22nd, Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa entered King Soopers in Boulder Colorado and began firing on innocent people, ten of which suffered fatal injuries. A week before that, on March 16th, Robert Aaron Long traveled between several massage parlors in the Atlanta Georgia area, killing eight innocent people and injuring others as well.
In response to the shootings, President Biden and his Administration have called for tougher gun control laws as well as the banning of assault rifles and high capacity magazines. Last week after the Atlanta shootings, they condemned racism and called for action against anti-Asian sentiment, despite the fact that the massage parlor shootings show no evidence of being racially motivated. The truth is that the president and his party have completely misplaced the blame for these attacks.
As of late, there is no reported motive for the Boulder shooting, but what we can surmise is that the perpetrator of this heinous act experienced mental illness with other possible issues that led to this crime. As for the Atlanta shootings, those were not the result of anti-Asian sentiment. The shooting was not racially motivated at all. The perpetrator of that crime was a sex-addict who wanted to rid himself of the temptation to have illicit sex at the establishments he committed these attacks at.
Although it is true that there has been a surge of racially motivated attacks against Asians since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, last week’s attack was clearly not one of them. This can be proven by the fact that in this instance, people of different races were also injured or killed. The majority were Asian, but the shooter killed indiscriminately.
The nation’s resources would be better utilized by dealing with the real issue here, mental illness and misguided personalities. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mental illness is extremely common in the United States. They approximate that about 1 in 5 US adults suffer some form of mental illness. They also state that mental illness comes in various forms and can range from mild to severe. According to John Hopkins Medicine, the statistics are worse. They approximate that 1 in 4 US adults, an average of 26%, suffer from mental illness. No doubt the issue has been exacerbated by the quarantine measure enforced on the public.
Mental health issues have risen sharply as a result of the lockdowns faced across the country.
Being that firearms have been allowed for so long, to ban the sale or use of those weapons would do little good. The accessibility to firearms is immense and easy because they are on the streets everywhere. There are more guns in the United States than there are people.
Innocent people need to be able to defend themselves and their families against people who wish to harm them with these weapons. Banning guns now would only hinder the abilities of law abiding citizens. Since there is no way to round up all the weapons in circulation, it would be best to deal with the root of the problem of gun violence.
The perpetrators and their mental illnesses can be dealt with more effectively to prevent mass shootings from reoccurring. Once these individuals are incarcerated, their access to mental health services is limited and they will not get the help they need. Needless to say, by that point, it is too late and victims have been taken away from their families already. Why not deal with the issue before, rather than after the innocent are killed?
Photo via CNN
