Having a change of mind on gun control

So I’ve been reading a lot of articles about the recent shooting in Newtown and I’m having a bit of a change of heart on the gun control issue. It was my initial knee-jerk reaction to want to ban all automatic/semi-automatic military grade weapons. It was understandable considering was just happened, and it was probably my liberal bias coming through. Everybody has a bias, and I encourage you to try and understand your bias and look through it.

The NRA’s comments were pretty ridiculous, but they partially changed my mind. They tried to put the blame on video games and movies. It’s pretty obvious to me that video games and movies aren’t the problem. Other countries have the same movies and video games and don’t have the same gun problems. What changed my mind though was how they put the blame on another source that they probably don’t understand. That was exactly what I did. I’m not a gun owner, so I really don’t understand them, so obviously that’s who I blamed. While others who hate the media blamed too much media coverage.

It’s a complicated situation, and nobody really knows the cause or the solution. The reality is that, although they seem common, shootings like this are pretty rare. Every one of them probably has a different cause, and because the shooter usually kills himself, it’s hard to learn what the true motive is.

Punishing 99.99% of the responsible gun owners isn’t the proper solution. Sure, a total gun ban would solve the problem, but is that really a country you want to live in? Gun have many positive uses, and the great majority of people use them responsibly. While I don’t understand why a person wants to own a military grade weapon, it’s not up to me to decide. It’s similar to abortion. I am totally against abortions, and think they are wrong, yet I am pro-choice because I don’t think it’s right for me to decide what’s right for others.

I wish there was an easy answer, but there isn’t.