The United States has millions of guns dispersed across the nation, thousands of gun stores across the states and most people know at least one gun term. Unfortunately, there have been pushes for more controlling bills or even the permanent removal of certain types of firearms. Schools and our government have been getting more hostile towards our constitutional rights, when they should instead push for more gun safety and knowledge.
Some schools have been getting very strict about even talking about firearms, as well as many schools having a zero tolerance for anything that include guns, even pretend activities such as playing soldier or cops and robbers. Some teachers are unable to tell the difference between a threat or pretend play, and struggle with maintaining a socially comfortable space.
It is beneficial to a child to pretend with their friends because it builds complex emotional development, explores the idea of right and wrong, social coordination and other social and cognitive skills. Besides the pretend play, it's also important for kids to talk about their hobbies and interests.
I have experienced this, having been unable to have an airsoft club at Bear River, which can be beneficial for teen development.
According to ABC7 San Francisco, a seventh grader in North Carolina at Roseboro-Salemburg Middle School was suspended from school because of a firearm drawn on a stick figure. Both the boy and father were deer hunters and argued it was only the idea of expressing the things he liked. Our schools shouldn’t be pushing this hostility towards firearm culture if our nation is built on the beliefs of “the right to bear arms.”
Some critics say the overall idea of gun culture is violent, and that kids shouldn’t be playing out violent scenarios. Instead, they should have scenarios that don’t involve violence.
Many kids (specifically boys) engage in this type of play because they believe it to be cool. When they reenact things they see on TV, for example Star Wars, kids want to be like Darth Vader because he looks cool. Or maybe kids want to play soldiers because of Call of Duty, and want to act like the cool soldiers from the game, not because they want to commit actual violence.
Of course there are kids who aren’t interested in those types of play and that's okay. But to limit kids' imagination because of a touchy subject will limit their creativity and important cognitive skills needed for development.
As such, I believe there should be available gun safety lessons or classes for each school, from middle to high school. Basic gun safety information can be lacking, so kids might be exposed to incorrect information from other sources..
I know many of my friends think the AR in AR-15, means assault rifle (It actually means Armalite for AR and 15 for the 15th model.) And it's very worrying.
If our society allows guns for most anyone, then we should teach kids how to safely operate them. If we can teach kids that guns aren’t just used by bad guys, but instead portray them as a tool for protection and hunting, they would know that being around a gun isn’t always dangerous or automatically associate it with criminality.
Firearms are a serious thing, don't get me wrong, but if you teach kids on how to safely use one, then public opinion would be more positive.
Of course, some could say that would only teach actual violent kids how to actually use their gun professionally. Not to mention, what if the kid takes the gun from the class to hurt someone or is horsing around in class?
This could be said for drivers ed, but drivers ed doesn't teach one how to drive into people, it teaches proper driving rules and safety. And kids prone to violence have already shown this information is available outside of schools.
There are always stupid people who do stupid things — and that could include taking a gun from the classroom. But you don’t have to use actual firearms to teach the class. Airsoft replicas are a safe alternative since they have realistic modeling and can be a great start to operating common firearms. Once more people learn how to safely operate a gun, it's likely less people will do stupid things, which can prevent injuries and deaths.
Further, the government should have no ability to ban any firearm or gun part, especially if it's very common.
In California, AB-1127 is a bill that is trying to push the elimination of Glock models and Glock-style models because they can be easily modified to “machine gun pistols.” and easier to transfer.
This is horrible for gun owners and dealers because the government could imprison and take away guns from actual owners who did their paperwork. I believe it is unconstitutional how the Californian government would be allowed to punish citizens for owning certain models of firearms because the firearm ‘could’ be modified.
No matter your political party, we should see this as a sign of trying to disarm the public, which is a way for corrupt governments to control their people.
If they wanted to lower gun violence, they would increase security in schools, actually convict criminals and not let them roam after a week in prison and search for genuine criminals.
I've seen videos from California of people openly firing their banned, modified firearms — so tell me why everybody should pay for that?
Modifying a firearm to make it ‘machine-gun style’ does not change the stopping power since it's still the same caliber. One common 5.56 or .223 rifle is the AR-15, which many people want banned, but the Mini-14 has the exact caliber and I’ve yet to hear anything about banning that gun. The overall idea of the ability to outlaw common firearms would have the Founding Fathers outraged.
Another common argument is the most common firearms are used in the most homicides, so they should be the most restricted.
I disagree.
A gun that was used the most doesn’t mean it's the most powerful or even dangerous gun. World War II- era firearms had bigger calibers and more stopping power, not to mention most hunting rifles are more lethal than an AR-15 or a Glock.
Besides that, I’m pretty sure being a criminal means breaking the law, so even restricting or outright banning a gun won’t necessarily do anything, it only takes away civilian protection and puts criminals in an advantage.
My fourth point for why the government, specifically the Californian government, is hostile towards gun culture, is that the restrictions placed on citizens are unnecessary.
A common part on many AR-15s in California is the shark fin, which makes it so you don’t use the “pistol grip” on the firearm. When operating the gun with a fin, it is uncomfortable and you have less control which can result in accidents.
Another mandatory part is an AR-15 mag lock. This part requires you to separate or crack the upper and lower receiver in order to take the magazine out. It’s considered harmful for owners mainly because in a self-defense situation, time to defend yourself is used for removing the pin to reload.
Gun culture and the debate and laws on gun control are always shifting. But for now, it only shows that the American school system has been hostile towards our fundamental rights and how our own government is against a right that is set in stone.
