Mel Arndt, my friend since childhood who I met during my school years, wrote on May 31, 2022 on his Facebook about his perspective on the debate concerning the issue of gun control.
Mel has put a lot of thought in formulating his perspective. While I, myself, believe the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution should be repealed, Mel Arndt believes differently. And while, he and I have reached different conclusions about regulations on guns in the United States, I appreciate and respect the thoughts he has put forth in formulating his opinion on this extremely important issue in America today.
The following is a copy and paste of what my friend Mel posted on his Facebook.
I've listened to all the arguments about guns and gun control. The latest shooter acquired his rifles legally. I'm not sure gun control is the be all end all solution to this problem. It may help, but ultimately will fall short. I believe this is just one symptom of a much bigger problem and until it is addressed this problem will not go away.
My Dad was a hunter and owned several rifles and a shotgun. None of them was semiautomatic. No need to be.
Neither I or my friends ever considered using a gun against another person. Born in 1947 the memory of WWII still loomed large. I had cap guns. We often played war. That didn't result in shootings. We also were not inundated with films or programs where a gun is used to solve problems with seemingly no consequences.
Something has happened to cause these events. My personal belief is that since Nixon the average citizen has had opportunities snatched from their grasp. Wages have been essentially stagnate. Prices have gone through the roof! When I graduated one could reasonably expect to work a Summer job and could put by enough to cover attending a university or college. Try that today! I worked in a small off campus bar and was paid $20 per night. I could work as much or as little as I chose. I usually worked 4 or 5 nights per week. My apartment rent was $90 a month and included utilities. I covered that easily! It fell within the common wisdom of the day that housing should not exceed 25% of your income. Even if you were paid $15/hour now it would not meet that criteria!!! One could also have a job that you could work until retirement. I wouldn't want to be a young person now. I would be frustrated at every turn!!
We need to end violence in games, television and films that show individuals using guns to solve problems with no consequences!
We need to provide free medical care for everyone! Supposedly being the richest nation on the planet we are told we can't afford it. If that is the case why are we the only industrialized nation that can't?
We need to assure our representatives are working for EVERYONE not just those with deep pockets. We have no plan for where we wanted our nation to be in 10, 20 or 50 years. There should be no agreements to vote as a block before they attend the first session. Term limits will not fix this. We already have term limits.... They are disguised as elections.
We need to stop the dissemination of false information.
We need to provide education for everyone at no cost. Other countries do somehow. Others also give student a basic income while in school.
We need to assure that no one goes hungry.
No one should go to bed hungry. Ever.
We need to eliminate discrimination. No one group, race or religion should be excluded for the sole reason other than being born into the wrong sex, color or religion.
Until these issues have been addressed we will never solve the gun issue. We have some unworldly number of guns in our country. Even if we banned all of them there are enough already out there to last centuries! Until we eliminate the root causes for these shootings they will never end.
Just my opinion. Like it. Don't like. I don't really care. I see our society as having lost touch with reality. No one party will have the answers, but if we continue as we have eliminating guns will be as effective as taking an aspirin as a cure-all for any and all diseases.
