How do we prevent gun violence in America? We can start by learning how to solve situations with more peace and less violence. Let’s stop bullying one another with bad vocabulary and with physical disputes. Let’s try to show each other how to be better leaders to one another.
We need to show more hope, even when we think it’s not even there at all. I know that it’s hard to have hope and faith when this situation is going on. But if we use our faith in our higher power, plus use peaceful vocabulary in bad situations, using a gun will not be necessary.
When we took religion out of the schools, the work force and the communities in which we live, the shootings went from bad to worse. That is not good for us. That hurts our communities and takes the “unity” out of our communities. And it doesn’t show the next generation how to solve situations without using physical disputes.
When we see these things happening in our communities, we all see the most powerful source imaginable — the look on a person’s face when his or her loved one has been hurt or even killed due to gun violence.
Gun violence does two things. One, it destroys innocent bystanders as well as their families. Two, it makes things worse than they already are. A bullet doesn’t have a sense of where it hits. It destroys whatever it hits and makes an impact on lives as well.
One thing that the American people are seeing is that the people we voted into office are trying to pass gun laws. This is good.
The Second Amendment states that we have the right to bear arms. We have the right to protect ourselves and our families. But we also need to know when the time is right to do so.
How far must we go before we realize there is a better way to serve justice, peace and love with one another than with the use of guns? How many lives will it take for people to see that those people with guns are just as bad as the gun itself. Just look at how many innocent, unnecessary lives were taken before their time was up. This really hurts the community in more ways than you know.
Parents needs to show their children how gun violence can have severe consequences. Life is about choices and the consequences of the choices we make in our lives. If we don’t try to comprehend what a bad decision can do in our lives, then something is really wrong.
Since there is a test for a driver’s license and a test for children to receive a high school diploma, why is there not a test to see if people are stable enough to bear arms?
If there were a test and the gun owners passed this test, this would make them accountable for their actions. The test would let the law know that the person with the gun knew what he was doing but did not make the right choice.
There should be even stronger background checks and more gun-tracking in law enforcement. The background checks would let you know more about the person who is buying the gun.
We need to have more meetings about this matter, so we can get our communities back to being safe, the way they used to be.
Really, this is what we all, as Americans, want: the safety of our children and the safety of adults.
This is how I feel that we can prevent gun violence and save our communities.
• Raymon M. Johnson III is a client and worker at Life Help Mental Health Center in Greenwood.
