Texan Mosaic

by CALEB BROWN//Staff Writer

I think the United States is one of the greatest countries in the world, because of the Second Amendment.

We’re the only country in the world that allows its citizens the right to bear arms. I think the founding fathers did the right thing by putting the Second Amendment into the Constitution, because I think that every American should have and appreciate the right to bear arms.  You should have the right to defend yourself.

I sure am thankful I have guns of my own. Of course, they are all legal. I often go to the shooting range with my older brothers. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. I hate when people who are anti-guns say, why do you need a gun? I tell them the same thing every time: so I can protect myself. Anyone who knows me can tell you I’m not a violent person. I’m also in a wheelchair, so I’m not very mobile or big and tough. I always try to talk it out with people to avoid any violence.

What I’m trying to say is that I’m from a pretty ghetto side of Lubbock. It can be dangerous at times, especially at night. Being so kind makes me a target for gang members in the neighborhood, or for even getting robbed by some drug fiend. It could just happen on my way home from school. I would never go looking for trouble, but somehow it would always find me.

The scariest thing that happened to me was when I was 12 years old. That was a time I wish I had a gun. I was home alone one night. I was playing my video game, and that’s when I heard what sounded like a light banging. I didn’t know what it was, so I got scared. I called my older brothers and told them what happened. They rushed home and told me to go to my room and lock the door. I later found out that someone was really trying to break into my house from a window in my kitchen. Whoever it was almost got in. They had lifted my window open about half way. When I saw that, it just gave me the chills and major anxiety. Had that burglar gotten in, there is no telling what he would have done to me. He could’ve easily over-powered me and did whatever to me. That’s why I’m so pro-guns, because I’ve had a lot of dangerous encounters in my life. People think that just because I’m in a wheel chair that they can take advantage of me.

That’s why I get so upset when I see politicians go on TV and try to influence their policies on gun control. They don’t care about law-abiding citizens like me who need protection. The police can’t save me if something bad is happening to me. They’re not just going to magically appear right in front of me and arrest the bad guy . Nope, I don’t think so. I live in a neighborhood where the pizza man comes quicker than the police, and I’m not lying.

Those politicians don’t care about people like me who obey the law. All they care about is telling you what you want to hear and reelection. I think gun control can be OK to a certain extent. Of course, you can’t own a bazooka or any explosive weapons. When it comes to owning a rifle or handgun, the government shouldn’t be allowed to tell you what you can and can’t have. It’s our constitutional right.

I like the Second Amendment because it’s part of what made this country so great. The founding fathers knew what they were doing when they wrote the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment. Another good thing about the Second Amendment is that we have the right to assemble a militia. There’s actually quite a few American militias all over the country. They do different types of drills, such as training for a firefight, or in case the government became tyrannical. History does repeat itself. There’s actually been some military generals and politicians that say these American militias are a threat and have even called them terrorists. People forget to realize that this country was founded and fought for by militias in the Revolutionary War. They weren’t all soldiers. They were just men who joined  militias, because they believed in a free country and refused to be ruled by a monarch .

I also hate when there’s a mass shooting or some sort of terror attack. The politicians will come on right after and start talking about gun control and how we shouldn’t have guns. That’s terrible that they would use a tragedy just to enforce their policy and stance on gun control. That’s almost like exploiting  deaths. I think that if at least one person had a gun in one of those mass shootings, the casualty rate would be much lower. I notice that in every shooting that has happened, it was in a gun-free zone. That’s not coincidence. Whoever does these shootings knows no one will be armed. They are completely defenseless, waiting on the police to arrive. By then, the shooter would have already killed people and himself.

I think people who are against guns should be more open minded. If it were them in one of those mass shootings, they would change their stance on guns really quick.