Guns: Our protection?

Does the possession of a gun assure that you are going to be safer? The USA, known as the most heavily armed population on the planet*, wants us to think guns are the best tool to keep ourselves safe. However, Violence always pays with violence. Nowadays, the indiscriminate use of guns has caused that many people are not afraid of laws anymore killing each other with not punishments in some cases. According to the national center for Injury prevention & control, in 2004, firearms were the second-leading cause of death, after motor vehicles, for young people under 19 in the U.S. and a total of 2,852 young people were killed by firearms one every three hours. It is true that banning guns will keep the bad guys with the power but do you agree with the notion that anyone with a clean record can just go and buy guns?

So why Republicans oppose gun control laws and are strong supporters of the Second Amendment as well as the right to carry concealed weapons? Gun advocates argue that guns are necessary for self-protection, for instance, in 1990 more than 100,000 uses of guns were in self-defense. But do we still have that high rate of crime in US? Gun right supporters also claim that if everybody is protected (with a gun at home) delinquency rate is going to go down. However, a new study released in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (published by SAGE) showed that having a gun at home increases the rate of suicide and that more Americans kill themselves with guns than with all other methods combine. 

Guns are a serious issue. They should not be something anybody can buy or sell just as clothes. Government should be more careful about updating those laws that have to do with the life of people. Laws cannot ban but they can restrict more. In this way, we will not regret this terrible events such as the as the Columbine high school massacre in April 1999, which resulted in the deaths of 14 students (including the two gunmen) and a teacher, in support of banning assault weapons. Government should support measures envisioned to restrain gun-related violence, such as obligatory child safety locks, background checks on those desiring to purchase a gun, limits on the number of guns a person can buy and raising the age limit for gun ownership.

*Based upon surveys, the following are estimates of private firearm ownership in the U.S. as of 2010: Households With a Gun Adults Owning a Gun Adults Owning a Handgun Percentage 40-45% 30-34% 17-19% Number 47-53 million 70-80 million 40-45 million Average Number of People per Household, by Race and Hispanic Origin, Marital Status, Age, and Education of Householder: 2009." U.S. Census Bureau, January 2009 

*A 2005 nationwide Gallup poll of 1,012 adults found the following levels of firearm ownership: Category Percentage Owning a Firearm Households 42% Individuals 30% Male 47% Female 13% White 33% Nonwhite 18% Republican 41% Independent 27% Democrat 23% "Gun Ownership and Use in America." By Joseph Carroll. Gallup Poll, November 22, 2005

The Energy Crisis

The Energy Crisis Electronic devices and energy are inseparable partners. They were mainly invented in order to make our lives easier. We can shorten distances, get information, and keep in touch with our love ones and even save physical effort. But do we know where all this energy comes from?. Of course with the big numbers of industries and houses and appliances, we need different sources of energy as well since no any source is going to be enough by itself; in The U.S.A. we use 37% Petroleum (oil), 25% Natural gas, 21% Coal, 9% Nuclear Power and 8% Renewable. As we can see, we rely more in fusel fuels which according to some environmentalist, are the cause of the climate change. The past 12 months have been the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Throughout the nation, drought, wildfires, floods and other extreme weather have made global warming a visible reality.

However, some people, including Republicans, are skeptical about this phenomena and think there are no proves that the Planet’s temperature is changing because of the over use of this fuels. What really matters for them is to take advantage of the fuels that still exist. They do not want to spend in projects that research about different kinds of energy because they do not want to change things. And even in the past at the Republican National Convention, he tried to ridicule President Obama by saying that stopping Global warming would not help American families at all. 

 From my point of view, climate change is something to worry about. We have seen different stories about how the consequences are making people suffer in different parts of the world. That’s why is relevant to keep on looking for new alternatives, but before put them in practice we should foresee what are the side effects that they will have in our planet. Fracking, for example, will create a lot of jobs and maybe USA indepence of energy but this can produce environmental and health hazards. Apart from all the water (8 million water gallons) that is spent to do a fracking job, during this process methane gas and toxic chemicals leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Since Fracking started, there have been over 1,000 documented cases of water contamination next to areas of gas drilling as well as cases of sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage due to ingested contaminated water.

Dangers of Fracking http://www.dangersoffracking.com/

Never forget

In the morning of September 11, 2001 a group of nineteen Al Qaeda members hijacked four commercial airplanes and crash two of them in the Twin Towers in Manhattan, NY. Then, a third one in the pentagon and the fourth plane crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania. About 3000 people were killed on that day which means 911 attack has been the most dreadful onslaught committed in America’s soil. The aftereffects of this terrorist act have hurt and changed America and the world in different ways. To begin with, this attack cost New York and Washington $ 100 billion. The war in Iraq about $ 4 trillion and the world economy lost $2 trillion. Moreover, since what Americans wanted was to feel safer after this episode the national security infrastructure of the United States was transformed more profoundly than any event since the start of the Cold War; some Changes were made in different security concerns such us the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center; even a new position, director of national intelligence, was created because the 9/11 attack exposed severe lack of organization among the agencies. It also stimulated America to use torture and secret prisons to fight back. and last but not final the beginning of the USA PATRIOT ACT which allows the state to listen, read and get any information of any person living in the USA. So the government got the power to handle people as they want. 

According to the former president George W. Bush, this attack was a terrorist attack which had to be paid with the blood of the people who did. So the first thing was to attack Iraq because with this attack they would know America can defend itself. So on March 19, 2003, they attacked Iraq and killed thousands of people. They tried to convince American citizens that they were in danger and they installed panic in America.

 But the question is 911 attack had a negative effect and result for all the Americans. I have to say that this event was like any other happening in the world where some suffer and some have just profit. In first place, all the victims lost their love ones and most of Americans developed this sense of patriotism that now makes America a more united Country. On the other side, unscrupulous people took advantage of the consequences of a terrorist attack. Let’s say companies that sell arms which one of them is advised by George Bush father, Carlyle group. Furthermore, the creation of all this new private and state agencies has cost tons of dollars to the American citizens. The terror that the government inspired to American citizens has also psychological effects that lead to the people let the state to handle people as they want even invading privacy.