Before I really go in to this I want people to know that No, I am not American. I am writing this as an opinion post and I am writing this as a Canadian. Will my opinion be invalid based on where I live? Maybe. But as a Canadian the amount of mass shootings and gun violence are typically few and far between when compared to our neighbors in the south. Why is this? I honestly have no idea.

The volume of violence and more specifically gun violence in the United States are what seem to be a weekly occurrence. Why is this? I guess you could argue the point of it being so easy to obtain a fire arm in the USA. Here in Canada I know you have to go through pretty standard permits and get proper licenses in order to even purchase a fire arm and even than I do believe you do need some type of training. At the time of writing this I am 31 years old, and I could probably count on one hand the amount of people I know who own guns and they are mainly for hunting. I don’t think I could even tell you if a friend of a friend owns a firearm for protection in their homes. Not to mention also, when you see there is gun violence in Canada more often than not it has to do with gangs or some type of feud happenings it rarely is a senseless act against random bystanders.

The fear I think when it comes to being in America is totally valid. With so many folks owning or obtaining weapons such as automatic riffles or hand guns it seems to be a “Whose is going to win” scenario. If everyone has a weapon and you are the only one on your block who doesn’t have one. Are you really adequately able to protect your family at all? Not likely because the chances of the intruder having a weapon is a lot higher. Americans have the right to bare arms especially when it comes to protecting themselves or their families. Some states even have conceal and carry and others you must be able to visibly see a weapons that you are carrying. None the less the fear that you might be shot somewhere at some point during the day seems to be insane to think about if you are near an area that regularly see’s this type of violence. Particularly in states like Colorado even where it seems every other year there is a major event happening to do with random shootings.

How does this happen? I’m not really sure that I can answer it. I think that it will be quite the odd question for me to even answer since I am not a citizen of America. I will say before anyone mentions it. Video games, entertainment, movies or television shows are not the reasons why these things happen. More often than not they are mentally ill people who think this is the only way they can put things “right with the world”.

Let’s swing by Canada for a second. Last year there was one of the most violent shootings in Canada’s history happening right in my home province of Nova Scotia. A man dressed like a police officer and painted his vehicle, a retired police car, to look real and went on a rampage across the province shooting anyone and everyone he came in contact with. And because the province did not issue a major bulletin lives were lost that may have been saved had they knew. This guy was mentally ill and might I add a white male before anyone says this was an act of terrorism or anything relating to someone who is of a different race. No country is immune to any type of violence that is for sure.

What will it take to stop gun violence particularly in the United States? I’m not entirely sure or that either. There could be a bunch of reasons like stricter laws on how to obtain firearms, stricter rules to even get a license to begin with or limiting sales in major retailers. The truth is though, If someone is mentally ill and they want to get a gun chances are they will find a way whether it be legally or illegally. I don’t think there is any way to stop them. It might be more difficult for them to obtain one but at the end of the day unless you are keeping an eye on them it will be hard to do.

Why is this normal? Maybe because as someone looking down at America or any country that has this amount of violence especially with fire arms it seems to happen so often that people seem to be de-sensitized to it. I know as a child we talked about schools being put into lock down where as this is a regular occurrence in America to learn how to handle an active shooter situation. Similar to fire drills and tornado warnings. Will it ever become not normal for people? Maybe if it drastically took a turn and wasn’t as known. Only time will tell for that.

And again, as a Canadian, does it really matter to me whether or not there is violence in another country? Not particularly. It does not effect my every day life. But it still doesn’t mean I don’t get any less sad thinking about the mindless acts of violence that is happening towards every day people like myself. Seeing any loss of human life is going to make someone sad, and I cant imagine seeing this type of stuff on the news daily either. That would be completely depressing also too.

Hope this wasn’t too much rambling for anyone, just my thoughts on what has been happening..

Do you think there is any way to stop or at least curb the gun violence in your country (if any)?

Let me know in the comments below.

– Stacey


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