Mass shootings are all too common these days, unfortunately. Every time there’s a mass shooting, innocent lives are lost and those in position of power vow to do something to prevent further atrocities from taking place again. However, these appalling incidents keep occurring despite increased regulation and background checks and whatnot. It seems that no matter how much governments try, there’s always going to be the risk of a mass shooting happening somewhere. Even if governments do everything in their power, all it takes is for a gun to fall into the wrong hands. Most people who own guns are sensible. They only have their guns for defence and self-protection. Most gun owners never shoot another human being. Guns are generally safe, so long as they’re owned and operated by sensible people. It’s when guns are used by the wrong kind of people that problems arise.
Guns are always going to be around: that’s a given. Even if guns were deemed illegal everywhere, there’s no way, realistically speaking, that every gun owner would willingly give up their guns. Some might, but many others wouldn’t. Guns, whether you like them or not, are here to stay. But let’s say there was a way to destroy every single gun on the planet for good. Would this be the right thing to do?
Getting rid of all guns would have its advantages, but also its disadvantages. A major advantage is that there wouldn’t be any more mass shootings or single-person shootings. Lives would be saved and injuries would be prevented. However, the major disadvantage is that people would be less protected. Guns do offer protection and defence, which is why security and police carry them around. They seldom have to use them, but they’re there to dissuade people from acts of violence and killing; someone thinking of committing a crime might think twice if they know there are people armed with guns. In a gun-free world, there may be an upturn in the number of crimes committed. Another disadvantage is that getting rid of guns doesn’t solve the core problem. Guns are a means to an end. They’re an implement certain people use to carry out awful acts. If these people can’t access guns, they’ll try to find some other implement of some kind with which to carry out whatever atrocity it is they’re planning. In other words, killings and other crimes will still take place, they’ll just be done differently.
Whenever there’s a shooting of any kind, many of us hope for a world without guns. However, removing guns doesn’t fully solve the problem of prevent people from wanting to commit atrocious acts in the first place. There’s no easy solution to preventing mass killings or even single-person killings. Removing guns would go some way to prevent losses of life, but so long as people want to kill, they will.
