QUEZON City, Philippines (December 4) – It seems like tragedy is a normal thing now a days, there is trouble everywhere. The San Bernardino shooting was totally grueling, but this is not the first time we hear about a mass shooting or gun incident in the United States. Something must be done. Imagine shooting people who has mental and developmental illness, killing at least 14 of them and injuring 17 others. According to the San Bernardino Police, the victims maybe new born or elderly, people who are incapable of hurting anyone, they need extra ordinary care because of their condition. Which is why one questions the intentions of the shooters opening fire on these vulnerable individuals.
We actually don’t know what was his reason in killing those people, he maybe under the effect of illegal drugs, because if you are sensible enough you won’t do that thing. He maybe encountering mental problems because of stress and any other thing that might confuse his mind, or maybe he was angry because of a certain person and he wants to get even. But whatever is his reason, it is still not right to do such actions, his reasons won’t help him escape the reality that he ended innocent people’s lives.
Maybe it won’t happen if there are policies or laws to be followed, yes its quite cool to have your own licensed firearm, because it is for your own good and security, of course. But maybe, the United States government should give weighty considerations before allowing people to have firearms. The United States has a very high levels of gun violence, America has six times as many fire arm homicide as Canada and 15 times as many as Germany according to the UN data compiled by Simon Rogers of “The Guardian”.
With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States is home to roughly 35–50 per cent of the world’s civilian-owned guns, heavily skewing the global geography of firearms and any relative comparisonm, added Rogers. David Hemenway, on the other hand, also stated that “more guns in a community lead to more homicide”. Meaning the government has a responsibility to do an action, they can prevent this kind of situation only if they can impose some regulations and requirements before having a gun.
Having freedom in a liberated country will somehow make you feel that you are powerful and independent enough to do all the things you want without thinking the consequences that it may bring to yourself and to other people. You must know the outcome of your actions before you start doing it, because it may be good for you, you may feel good about it but how about your fellowmen? Will they feel the same way as you feel? Will they be happy too? If not, you have to think again, because in everything that we do, it will somehow affect the people around us.
We have our freedom, and in exchange of the freedom the we possess, we should know our limitations and we should be responsible for our own actions. Our actions will reflect us, it will reflect everything about us.
(written by Amabelle Lopez, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)
