Jared Lee Loughner was allegedly armed with a Glock 19 and known to have loaded it with a magazine holding 30 bullets. He then proceeded to shoot up a supermarket, killing six people and injuring 20. A Glock 19, according to the official Glock website, is advertised as “the All-Around Talent” and can fire 9-millimeter bullets anywhere from 985 feet per second to 1500 feet per second. Throwing this equation into the reality of Tucson, Loughner sprayed a crowd of people with 31 bullets that could potentially break the sound barrier. Thirty-one bullets can equate to 31 lives. Now ammunition magazines are yet again under the scrutiny of the U.S. Legislature, and yet again will be shafted and passed over.
And here is where I ask: What else needs to happen for Americans to change their minds?
Not only did six people — including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge — die, but Representative Gabrielle Giffords was also shot point blank in the head! Not even four years prior, Cho Seung-Hui loaded the same type of gun and shot up Virginia Tech, taking 32 lives before committing suicide. We can continue to go back even further to the Columbine shooting in 1999. The point is: gun control needs to be acted upon and acted upon now.
I understand that much of America frowns on the idea of gun control. “It’s my second amendment right!” supporters flaunt. To that end, I’ll point out that the 2nd Amendment was created when the U.S. was barely a country and had muskets as weapons that took minutes to load. Unfortunately, Democrats have even given up on the cause because they understand the insane uphill battle. It’s not good for their political conquests.
But here is an issue that America should get on top of: ammunition control.
Yes, you as a citizen have the right to own a firearm. Good for you. Self-defense is important. But why on earth is it necessary to have a clip holding 33 rounds? Is there a need to prepare for an all out war? I’m sorry, but whether you’re in some middle-of-nowhere town, the suburbs, or the city, there is no reason to have clips that large. Besides the crazy off chance of a zombie apocalypse, I can’t fathom a solid reason. They just enable the Loughners of the world to shoot up whomever they please.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, stated in a CNN article that “Bad guys are going to get guns, they’re going to get clips and they’re going to do bad things because that’s what their intention is. We should not divert our attention from what the real problem was here. We had an individual who has expressed violent intent who clearly had some mental instability along the way.”
But, Mr. Rogers, you have yet to address the inquiry of why anyone in their right mind would need that much ammo in an automatic clip in the first place? Deranged people are always going to ravage society and people will always find a way to get illegal firearms and accessories, but the point is that these clips aren’t illegal, which made getting them that much easier. Accessibility, Mr. Rogers, is the primary concern. Illegal traders and sellers can always be stopped. Closing down a legal, local gun store or regulating purchases at gun shows might actually be the harder feats to accomplish.
To be honest, life would be a lot cleaner without guns entirely. We live in a world of evolved combat, where a person can sit behind a computer and fire a missile from 10,000 miles away and hit a specific house across the map. Humanity has already spun out of control regarding guns and other weapons. The power and technology has gotten so strong that we live in a constant “Cold War” status — we’ve just become immune. Countries other than the U.S. have nuclear weapons and could easily launch them whenever they want. We have just become so used to that idea that we can live comfortably anyway, which says a lot in itself.
The shooting in Arizona is another chance to move in the right direction toward some sliver of order. It’s a wake up call to America. If we can’t mandate gun sales, we should at least mandate magazine sales. A 12-bullet clip is less dangerous than a 33-bullet clip. Although it’s not an outstanding solution, it’s the lesser of two evils.
As Eddie Izzard said, “They all say, ‘Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.’ No, bullets kill people, actually. Let people keep the guns and take the bullets. Problem solved.”