Guns don't kill people. People kill people. And in order to do THAT, they take those guns that don't kill people and kill people with them.

Gun violence is an epidemic. It is like a disease, and it's been around for decades. But I fear it is getting worst. We have allowed it to grow and to thrive. How many shootings have there been in U.S. the last couple of years?

President Obama recently said that Congress won't even allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study gun control because Congress doesn't want people to think they are trying to impede upon their 2nd Amendment Rights, which have never been taken LITERALLY.

The Second Amendment states: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Ok, I get it. You're law-abiding, gun-bearing Americans--you're the Militia. Which makes…terrorists the enemy? Ok. And apparently because the Second Amendment gives citizens the “right to bear arms”, in the event of a war, it seems that we need to make sure our MILITIA is properly equipped.

Is that what you are trying to tell me? Are you also saying it refers to the war you face on a nightly basis, handgun resting on your nightstand fully loaded, in case a robber strolls through?

It is so easy to immediately hone in on “the right to bear arms”, but there was more to the 2nd Amendment than that. Not only that, but it was written in an entirely different time.

I understand you want to hold on to your guns and you have every right to do so. But I want to protect my right to be free from the fear that my next door neighbor, whose background check came up squeaky clean, doesn’t go crazy and go on a shooting rampage killing ten of my neighbors. I want to protect my right to be free from worrying if the guy coming towards me with the malignant look in his eye isn’t packing.

I guess it is an unfair question. The government can’t protect me from being the victim of gun violence any more than it can protect me from being the victim of rape, burglary, or murder.

But the ease with which these men/women were able to purchase guns is frightening.

President Obama also stated that during his term in office, the ownership of guns had been the highest in YEARS. He attested this was due to the fact that Congress is so SCARED gun-owners will blow a lid and cling to their weapons in fear further restrictions would be placed on them. Even if Obama wanted to TRY and make this country a safer place by imposing stricter gun laws and more in-depth background checks, would you even let him? No, they cannot be touched.

Do you cling to your guns simply to defend your right to own them? Is it all about principle? Freedom? What? What is it? Please. Explain it to me. Because I don’t get it. I look at a gun and I see harm, death, destruction, a potential cause of mayhem. I don’t feel secure. I don’t feel better protected. The only reason why that guy breaking into your house right now has a gun is because gun advocates, the NRA, Congress allowed him to—directly or indirectly. Somewhere there was a loophole. Somehow the gun ended up in the wrong hand. You can’t tell me I should be less afraid of guns because the people who own them are responsible, law-abiding citizens who are here to protect those in danger. All I am thinking about is that gun sitting on my neighbor’s nightstand. The one who blew up at the summer block party last year over burnt asparagus. Yes, I am afraid of guns, and no, I don’t want to handle one. I don’t want to know what a handgun feels like. Shot gun, maybe. But only at a shooting range. Sorry. Was that hypocritical?

Anyway, my point is, people LOVE spouting the phrase, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Yes, with those guns, they kill people. Yes, a gun is an inanimate object that turns into a deadly sidekick quite easily. People use the rationale that guns don’t kill people because they wish to separate the right to own a gun from the possibility of that gun belonging to someone mentally unstable--in other words they are saying, oh i own the right to own a guy because I am perfectly sane. (I ask you, how many Americans are actually clinically diagnosed with a mental illness? Irony. We don’t know. Because we don’t know.) A perfectly sane person can turn a gun into a killing machine as easily as a person with questionable sanity. And how many children end up dead after shooting themselves because a gun was not properly stored? Dozens. It is ridiculous.

I’m not saying don’t go shoot a turkey or whatever it is you hunters like to stick bullets in. And I know so many are pissed at me for expressing my dissent for owning guns. When the war comes, we need our arms. But, we’re not in war, and if a homegrown terrorist did come and open fire wherever you may be, where the hell and how the hell did he get those guns in the first place? And if you say illegally, well, it ain’t that hard to get it LEGALLY either. Gun advocates made sure of that.

Do I sound mad? Are you offended by my tone? I am sorry if I am making you mad or irritated or if I am instigating you, but…do you really know the reason I am mad? Because so many people have died at the hands of a gunman. Little toddlers have shot themselves because the safety wasn’t on—hell, the owner of that gun didn’t even bother storing it away.

I am mad because people are dying because guns exist. No, guns are not the main cause of death, but they ARE a cause of death, and they are pretty much protected under law. I guess if the government can’t stop us from buying and dying from cigarettes, how can they stop us from buying and dying from guns? Go on. Keep your gun. Keep your principles. Your privilege as an American citizen.

All the while, the nation is suffering. Because mass shootings are on the rise in America. Make no mistake. If your immediate thought is, well, that’s why I have a gun to protect myself and my family when that happens. Are you even going to be near your weapon when something like that occurs? Are you walking around packing?

If Mike encountered one of his main enemies, Greg, on the streets of say…Compton, and Mike is filled with fury because Greg accidentally ran over his little brother eight months ago when he ran out into the street, and didn’t survive, Mike could easily reach into his jeans, bring out a gun, aim, and shoot Greg down like he’s been wanting to do for the past eight months. Once Greg sees Mike, however, reach for his gun, Greg reaches for his own and in less than a minute, both are lying on the concrete, dead, bodies riddled with bullets.

If Mike was not carrying a gun, even if Greg was, he wouldn’t have a gun to reach for. He could not aim and fire. Greg would not see the need to reach for his own gun. Or maybe Greg didn’t have a gun on him as well. Mike could perhaps give Greg a loathing look as he passed him, but at least the two men are still alive.

What we have to consider is this: how many are dead due to gun violence?

Let me rephrase that. How many deaths could have been prevented if stronger measures were taken to ensure guns were not a threat? None would have been prevented in that case because guns ARE a threat. I’m sorry, but they are. I don't need a gun. I don’t live in a movie, and not any time soon, is a war between two drug lords going to take place on my front lawn. But yes, I’ve lost family members because of guns.

Gun does not = Death. I get it. But unless our country is invaded by some other armed country, I feel safer in a world without guns. I don’t want to be pushed down some seedy alleyway, gun to my head. Other countries that ban guns have done beautifully. I know not every landscape and culture is the same and that we are the target of international agendas, so there are special precautions we must take. But it’s not like you can take a gun on a plane anyway.

The “right” to bear arms. It should not be called a “right”. If anything it is a privilege—one far too many people, namely malicious ones, take advantage of.