Obama's last shot and why we should follow his lead

Our loyal readers may remember last year, when my colleague Rara Gumbel wrote an impassioned article on gun control, speaking of the absolute and fundamental necessity of making sure all citizens are at the very least responsible with the sale/distribution and owning of their deadly firearms. Given Obama’s recent passage of multiple gun safety executive orders, I thought it was about time The Samohi revisited the topic of gun control, and explained why we should keep moving in the direction of gun safety, as well as justifying the President’s decisions.Two major events recently happened regarding guns and gun control. The first was President Barack Obama’s executive order that brought about minimal -- albeit completely just and necessary -- changes to the way guns are being sold, imposing that all people wishing to buy firearms must undergo a background check, regardless of race, gender or socioeconomic standing. This simple act of legislation took the country by storm, having many individuals go up in arms both over the Internet (i.e. Twitter) and in real life. Despite the force of circumstance that provoked this executive order, it seemed that the entire country was questioning the decision, especially right-leaning presidential candidates such as Marco Rubio, who promised that these laws “infringing on our Second Amendment” would be taken down upon his first day in office.This situation dominated the news, overshadowing the next biggest news story, which was Texas’s legalization of open-carry firearms. This legalization prompted some communal backlash, as some citizens of Texas were opposed to people bringing firearms everywhere they went. So, naturally, the local police stations produced a public service announcement (PSA), telling Texans not to be alarmed and to not call the police when somebody comes into a shop with a gun, unless they’re acting strangely or violent. (I would personally recommend that everyone go watch Trevor Noah’s reaction to this on January 4th’s “The Daily Show.”) Things like Texas’s legalization and the increasing number of school shootings in the country have given rise to active shooter trainings and drills at places such as South Georgia Technical Institute, as well as other scientific developments like bulletproof backpacks. Even at Samo, we installed small green magnets doors in our buildings that lock the doors from the inside if removed, all in an effort to brace ourselves for the seemingly inevitable active shooter situation that could happen at any time.Then again, all of this shouldn’t have to happen. We at Samo shouldn’t have had to add extra safety reinforcements in case of a seemingly ineludible active shooting incident. We shouldn’t have to live in fear of being the next San Bernardino or Newtown or Aurora or any of the other hundreds of places that have been terrorized by gun violence in the past five years alone. Although, who am I kidding? We were the victims of gun violence just three years ago, when a shooter ran rampant through Santa Monica, killing six people before being taken out by police in the SMC library. I truly don’t understand how a country full of such bright individuals, and a country who is supposedly the world’s greatest superpower, can be so unwilling to see the obvious pattern of destruction that lies in the wake of gun legalization.An Australian comedian named Jim Jefferies summed it up excellently when he said that there’s really only one true argument for the continued legality of guns, which is “F*** off, I like guns!” There’s no good reason that modern Americans should own guns, and I believe Gumbel did an excellent job rebutting the majority of the gun lobby’s argument on why guns should be legal. When people like Donald Trump say ridiculous things like, “If the people in San Bernardino had guns, they would have been safe,” I lose what little hope I have left for this nation, especially when people take that as gospel. I mean, what do Americans use their guns for? Self defense? Maybe, but this just leads to more violence and incidences where “self defense” can be used as a loophole to get murderers off the hook (e.g. George Zimmerman). Hunting? Sure, but don’t get me started on my opinions of shooting defenseless (and occasionally endangered) animals. Fashion? Come on, man, just go buy yourself a wardrobe tattooed with “Make America Great Again” instead of spending money on a device that can kill somebody in a second.In summation, I believe that there are only two reasons a person would carry a gun: if they were out hunting, or if they wanted to use it as some sort of twisted fashion statement, bragging about its caliber to their friends--compensating for their emotional instability by keeping a deadly weapon at their side. It’s not like it’s uncommon for gun violence to occur; once again, 88 people die every day in this country from it. And if you’re telling yourself that it’s unlikely that our city will be the next one hit by gun terrorism, you’re lying to yourself. I’m sure that’s exactly what the people at the infamous party in San Bernardino (which is only three hours away from here) were thinking before they were slaughtered by people with guns. Regardless of what country or religion you pledge allegiance to, firearms possess an unequaled ability to kill in an instant by just pulling a trigger, and we as American citizens simply can’t sit idly by and wait for the next mass shooting.What Obama did on January 5th was a massive step in the right direction for this country, regardless of what right-wing politicians will tell you in accordance with their own agenda. What he did was quite simple, really: he made it a law that all people wishing to buy firearms have to go through background checks, to make sure that they don’t have a criminal history or a mental disease that would make it likely for them to use their firearm against people. Before this law was put into action, criminals could easily buy guns online and have them delivered as easily as ordering an iPhone off of Amazon. People with bad intentions and/or mental health problems could go to a gun show and act normal, buying several guns and ammo, and then go and commit a homicide. These laws are basic ground rules of gun sales that don’t put any barriers on the ownership or legality of guns, and don’t infringe on the Second Amendment, as some desperate politicians claim. The only thing it does is helps to prevent criminals and people with bad intentions from owning guns. And for that, we should be thanking the president, not making his job more difficult with our criticisms.