The Reality of Guns: Americas Silent Dilemma

When I review my life, I am seldom stumped by things that happened during my upbringing. With a myriad of good, pleasant, and even somber things there is an overwhelming existential fear that clouds all other sentiments. The truth is that the past is one of the true indicators of how you operate in your present. In that case one could assume that dependent on what your past entails or what snapshots your mind could remember, you operate in certain ways based on what you’ve been through. I have self-prescribed PTSD; not from a term spent overseas or years on the force. This PTSD shares similar circumstances though gun shots in the distance, shell casings on cement, blood curdling screams, bodies on the floor, and the eventual crimson stain soaked into the earth. My only response is to become a counterfeit soldier, forfeit innocence for a cold callous reality. Earth becomes a warzone for all these counterfeit soldiers, every new face met could be an adversary. Every instance of death etches the notions of what you experienced into your prefrontal cortex, the only response being survive.

When you grow in areas such as these you’ve done many flag ceremonies or must take dog tags back to the family. The truth is that if you don’t adopt a soldier’s mindset you become a civilian; and in war civilians are at the expense of each army. All soldiers must know their constitutional rights and one of those is the right to bear arms. The difference is that counterfeit soldiers know two truths that are a result of the second amendment. The first being one that has been engrained from the very mention of guns “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. The second truth coinciding with the first, “It’s not the gun that kills, it’s the person behind it”. Whether the leaders of our country would like to admit it America is a warzone. We’ve become masters at the art of war, our combined kill count equal to the medal of honor.

In the first quarter of 2024, the United States experienced an alarming increase in mass shootings, continuing a troubling upward trend. Data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) reveals over 130 mass shootings in the first quarter alone, marking a significant rise compared to the same period in 2020, which saw approximately 88 incidents during that time frame. This escalation underscores the urgent need to address gun violence, as the frequency and impact of such events strain communities nationwide. These figures are a stark reminder of the toll firearms-related violence exacts on public safety and well-being, reaffirming the critical call for comprehensive gun control measures to curb this growing epidemic.

While not urbanized counterfeit soldiers these individuals that witnessed and survived these mass shootings are forced to hoist that same invisible helm. One of constant paranoia, some even choosing to operate out of their bunkers in order to avoid the battlefield entirely. One of the results of our second amendment not being stricter is that it affects everyone. One of the most interesting aspects of mass shootings is the culprit’s profile. What we see after all evidence is procured, is that many of these people walked into a gun store and got all their “supplies” easily. Or maybe they lived in the house with their parents and got the gun from the case and went to act. The overwhelming majority of these shootings have something to do with the mental health of the shooter that causes this mayhem.

In America mental health is stigmatized and often those who are affected by it are ostracized and treated as an outsider. Instead of receiving the help that is deserved, insurance makes people pay co-pays or makes the help impossible to receive. Leaving these people lost feeling and unable to relate to others, as though they aren’t right or don’t belong because their brains are wired differently. Mental health undermines the social status of America, it dismantles the American Dream and unveils the so-called boiling pot for what it is. It is easier for America to write these people who commit this violence out of society, while viable this further villainizes mental health problems. When our country has been shown that we have a mental health crisis, that is why the problem and solution is two-fold.

The CDC's data shows that gun violence claimed 46,728 lives in 2023, marking the third-highest number of gun-related deaths ever recorded in the United States. The overall gun death rate did see a 3% decline from 2022, resulting in 1,476 fewer deaths. However, this reduction, while encouraging, still shows the immense scale of the problem, with nearly 47,000 lives lost to gun violence in a single year. A particularly concerning finding is the continued rise in gun suicides, which reached a record high in 2023. With a 1.5% increase from the previous year, 27,300 people died by suicide using a firearm. This trend is not new—since 2019, there has been a 12% increase in the gun suicide death rate. The rise in suicide by firearm is especially pronounced among certain demographic groups. For instance, gun suicide rates among Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander Americans surged by 67%from 2022 to 2023 and by 86% since 2019. Similarly, significant increases were observed among Hispanic/Latino (34%), Asian American (30%), and Black female (68%) populations. 

If we continue along with the notion that guns don’t kill people, people kill people than everything dealing with guns returns to the people who own them. The change has to be making guns less accessible to the public. There must be more structure set in place for you to get a gun license let alone purchase a gun. The legislators that control the laws need to add psychological evaluations to the process before you are verified to do anything dealing with guns. A full panel test where they reference you to a psychologist in each state that only handles people who want to own guns. Where each person must disclose their family’s mental health history, or the government must investigate their family’s history. As we know and have been told time and time again, many mental health challenges that we face are passed down from our parents or somewhere along the branch of genealogy.

If the American Dream is truly free for all and destined for those who decide to live in America, then so too must be the right to not be held and occupied in a warzone. If we contribute to the infrastructure of America, if the people of the country truly add wealth to the society—both figuratively and literally. Then we all must live without fear man, woman, child, and animal; we must relinquish the reaper of death. That way someone can go to the supermarket, movies, the club, anywhere they deem fit without the looming reality of someone taking their life; for being a different color or having different beliefs. Guns are too accessible and it’s impacting the quality of life for everyone in the country. This change means that we must de-stigmatize mental health and provide help for those that are in need. America has had its wake-up call and it’s time for change to happen.

I don’t sugarcoat it. I just call it curbside.

-Jax