Saturday morning, the lives of a Georgia family changed after their two sons, 17 and 22, attempted to kill parents, Yvonne Ervin and Zachary Ervin.
In the article, “Mom screams as she tells 911 her sons are coming upstairs to kill her”, CNN has an audio recording of Yvonne and the police on the phone. While hiding in an upstairs bedroom, Yvonne tells police that her two sons put antidepressant Xanax in her and her husband’s food, expecting them to fall asleep so they could carry out their plan. She tells them that her husband was in the garage honking the car horn, trying to get the neighbor’s attention towards the house for help. The two sons beat and strangled the Ervins and hit Zachary Ervin on the head with a shotgun.
This affects me because I can picture myself in the situation because they are close to my age. I think it was a smart move to call 911, otherwise things might have turned out different. I also think it was smart for the husband to try and draw attention to the house. I do not think the kids should have had access to the shotgun. This impacts the world because the situation involved a gun. It also impacts the world because it was young adults. The boys misused them with attempted murder, making the story more dangerous. The world is also impacted by this because it was broadcasted on national television.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/us/georgia-brothers-charged-attack-parents/index.html
The article, “St. Louis boy, 11, left alone with sister shoots and kills persistent teen intruder”, tells a heroic story. According to CNN, a 16 year old boy had previously tried breaking into a house two times before getting shot on the third attempt. He got shot in the head by a 11 year old boy who was left home alone with his four year old sister. This event doesn’t really affect me because I didn’t hear about it until I researched it. This impacts the world because it brings up gun laws and the question of why the 11 year old had access in the first place. I think this event is important for people to know, because it was a child defending himself and his younger sister, using a gun.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/03/us/deadly-st-louis-home-invasion/
The story ‘Swallowing Stones’ by Joyce McDonald is an exciting book with lots of dramas. Michael, the protagonist accidentally shoots Charlie Ward on the Fourth of July. One bizarre incident turn his life around, as well as Jenna, Charlie’s daughter. Jenna fights through the book to accept her dad’s death and figure out who her dad’s killer is.
Swallowing Stones is very relatable because it deals with the topics of relationships, guns, lost of a loved one, and teenagers.
This book, to me, is one of my favorites because it take you on a rollercoaster of emotion. People should definitely read Swallowing Stones for a good read.
Should the U.S. have stricter gun control laws? No, I don’t think the U.S. should have stricter gun control laws because guns aren’t all that bad. Guns can actually be good if people use them right. The U.S. shouldn’t have stricter gun control laws just because of irresponsible people, the right of the 2nd amendment, and the current gun laws.
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Guns aren’t the problem. The problem is the people using the guns. We have punishments for people who abuse the privilege of owning and using a gun, so why punish other people for their mistakes? Some people actually use guns responsibly, and they have to pay the price for the ones who don’t. If a person gets shot, we automatically blame the use of a gun. But you can’t blame the death on the weapon. It’s the person using it. Some people just use guns for hunting. What are they supposed to do if stricter gun laws are enforced? We need to keep laws like they are, for the responsible ones.
Not only are guns, not the problem, but according to the second amendment in the Constitution, we have the right to bear arms. The right to bear arms. Five simple words that mean a lot to the United States. The second amendment is a great example of why the U.S. does not need stricter gun control laws. Possessing guns is a right. Of course, there are certain things you have to go through to get a gun, but it is still your right to own one. The second amendment was made to protect yourself, not for hunting. We should be protected by the second amendment, but people still seem to question it.
The U.S. doesn’t need stricter gun laws because making the laws stricter, will only encourage people to be more reckless with guns, and own more. If the U.S. is trying to enforce more rules, than the current laws obviously aren’t working, so why would adding more laws would work? People will always find a way to break the law and abuse the privileges of having a gun no matter how many laws are enforced.
Gun laws should not be determined by reckless people, our right to the second amendment, and because of the laws we already have in place. Guns are not bad. They just have a bad reputation.