Guns at home
When I first heard about this topic, I had my own opinion, and it was on favor of gun possession and arming, I didn’t realize the real consequences of having a gun at home. As most of the people, I picture myself at home and some unknown criminal breaking into the house, me at that time undefended looking for something to protect me, and later looking for a gun and try to use it against the murder. But very few people who legally own a gun really use them in self defense, and the weapon just stay there locked in a cabin or in some cases under the bed, as a potential accident.
Gun possession increases the risk of a violent death, because a gun can be involved in an accidental shooting, suicide or family homicide. As an statistic every time a gun injures or kills in self defense, it is used 11 times as an attempted suicides, 7 times in criminal assaults and homicides, and 4 times in unintentional shooting deaths or injuries. So a home with a gun is less secure than a home without a gun.
There should be other alternatives to gun possession and more laws and regulation for these kinds of practices. Arming is also a matter of cultural and social status and need to be control. They are more guns everyday on the streets and easier for a child or an inexpert citizen to acquire one. The guns should be ban at all and give jail penalty for anybody who own one. That’s the only way of stopping violence, there still other ways of controlling this issue, but at this time, in Costa Rica; I think that no other alternative can fit.
When I did my research on this topic I found a statement that fits perfectly to arming an gun possession, and how we should be learned. “You only have to alternatives, if you want to prevent a boy of throwing stones, either teaches the boy not to or pick up every stone and throw it into the sea”. So, in fact, if we cannot teach everyone how to use arms we at least need to try and eliminate them, and with them the consequences of arming and gun possession can disappear.
