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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Gun control, one bullet at a time

Gun violence and gun control issues aren’t going to fix themselves.

An estimated 82 people were shot and 14 were killed in Chicago this Fourth of July weekend.

One unidentified victim was a woman attending a family barbecue who was killed in a parking lot as she leaned into a car.

“I think it is representative of the gang, drug, gun violence problem that still persists in ?Chicago,” security consultant Ross Rice said.

I found one quote ?extremely compelling.

“There’s not going to be a law enforcement solution to this,” Rice said. “You can’t arrest your way out of gang violence.”

When we think of gun control, we think generally of white guys toting AK-47s to shoot some deer or the National Rifle Association lobbying to protect their Constitutional rights.

When we think of gun violence, we think of mass shootings enacted by a ?frustrated young man, violence that causes ?short-lived but widespread tragedy.

The stereotype does not encompass all of what guns are, what gun control means or what gun violence can really do.

I understand we cannot get rid of guns altogether, nor do I really want that to happen.

After all, it is in the ?Constitution, and citizens need to protect themselves.

But I do believe, as this past weekend has ?demonstrated, we need to enact some sort of change, and we need to start ?regulating weapons.

Even closer to home, an Indianapolis police officer was fatally shot on ?Saturday, just hours after seven were shot in ?Broad Ripple.

On top of that, it seems this past year and a half has been extremely ?gun-violence prone. There have been school?shootings, mall shootings, theater shootings and more.

These events have been tragic and heart-breaking, but they have only drawn attention to the big-picture problem.

We have a tough time considering the everyday kinds of violence that ?occur between young inner-city kids who essentially need weapons to survive or ?families living in areas so dangerous you can get killed going to a barbecue.

Once we begin to look at gun control on a smaller scale, we can start finding the problems that need?attention.

We can actually solve issues, not just sit around scratching our heads, ?wondering how in the world we’re going to stop mass shootings.

If we start solving the smaller problems first, we can take baby steps in the right direction.

By regulating the sales of weapons, by creating safe areas for people in ?dangerous zones, both in cities and small towns, by creating a gun-licensing program, by doing ?background checks, we will slowly move forward.

Once we take the necessary small steps, we will help stop the ?unnecessary big problem.

It’d be a nice change.

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