By Daniela Jimenez
Since the beginning of the new year, Florida has been in the process of passing a new bill. This new bill would allow people to purchase guns without a permit and without undergoing training.
The state would no longer require individuals to get a permit from Florida to own guns. This would make Florida the 26th state to allow citizens to do what is known by its supporters as the “constitutional carry.”
As it will be permitless, this also won’t mandate other provisions, including training. Permits will still be an option as some states still require it.
However, this does not address whether people will be allowed to openly carry firearms in public.
I asked a few young gun owners to see their thoughts on this new bill that is being processed.
Jack Guerra is a 24-year-old gun owner who recently moved to Tampa from Philadelphia about a year or two ago. When talking about this new law, he believes that it is a good thing.
“Let’s write that every legal gun got repossessed by our lovely government then what do people think will happen if there is a criminal gunman. You won’t be able to protect yourself, because a criminal holding up a place doesn’t have anything to lose. You should be able to protect yourself..,” Guerra said.
He also stated that whether the law passes or doesn’t, it wouldn’t matter unless you were a law abiding citizen because most criminals will find a way to either get the gun illegally or build them.
It was really interesting to hear him talk about it, because I had never taken into consideration how hard or easy it is for people to build guns or get them through other resources.
Sarah Steinberg, a friend of Jack Guerra, said she had some different thoughts. She explained that while she believed that it is a constitutional right to bear arms, she did not agree with the way Florida is handling the situation.
“I don’t want it to be easy to get a gun, I want there to be a right to get a gun. I don’t want it to be accessible to everyone. I think it’s being used as propaganda to actually prove that there is a correlation between gun legalization and access to a firearm, and crime rates and mass shootings going up,” she said.
I have never been into politics, and while I do believe that there is a big gun control problem in our country with a mass shooting happening almost every other day – I do believe that our politicians should be thinking about how they can get to the root of the problems when it comes to mass shootings, not making guns easier to access.
Whether you agree or disagree when it comes to the gun access problems the U.S has, I do believe that everyone should be unifying even more during these times.
No one wants to go through the pain of losing a loved one because they were there at the wrong place at the wrong time.
While people might believe that easier access to guns will help protect themselves from careless gun owners, I believe the problem is that one. There are careless gun owners, and if anything there should be more training, more laws, more background checks, and less access to guns.
I do understand that people will find ways to get them, but until we get to the root of the problem on why all of these mass shootings keep occurring.
It is not only a gun problem, it is a mental health problem and discriminatory problem.
They all play a role in these unfortunate events. Until people start realizing that they all blend together and that guns just give them the power to bring these issues to light, then no one will ever feel safe in the one country that supposedly we should feel the safest.