Reflecting on the Connecticut school shooting, The Root DC's Clinton Yates argues that unraveling the culture of violence in the United States begins with making people understand that guns kill people.
The Second Amendment is outdated, perversely interpreted and fashioned after an antiquated mind-set. The scariest part is that the alarmist bunker mentality that organizations like the National Rifle Association advocate have absolutely nothing to do with freedom or American values.
The people who are responsible for the disturbing amount of hand cannons in this country do not care about your family. They do not care about your rights. And they certainly do not care about the value of life. They care about money. The only rights this nation's powerful gun lobby are supporting are those that allow companies to freely exploit the reasonable fears and concerns of law-abiding citizens for the sake of violent profits …
I am not advocating that banning assault rifles is a quick fix. It's step one in a multi-step process that will require lifetimes of work to get Americans to move away from this notion that guns would need to be pried away from their cold, dead hands. Unraveling the culture of violence in the United States begins with letting people and children understand that guns kill people, are dangerous and are to be avoided by nonprofessionals. It's not a perfect solution. It's a process toward educating a more peaceful nation.
Read Clinton Yates' entire piece at The Root DC.
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