Catherine+M’s+2017+OpEd+Article

TODDLER BAN  Every year there are more people killed by toddlers playing with guns than by terrorists in America.  There is .00000002% chance of a refugee killing someone in America.  You are 4,111 times more likely to die from a car accident than a Muslim extremist in America.  You are literally more likely to be killed by a lightning strike, to be hit by an asteroid, or to simply fall on the ground than by an illegal immigrant in America.  Less than 6% of all terrorist attacks are committed by Muslim extremists, while the majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by right wing extremists in America.

 Facts are an undervalued part of America, and this needs to change. Hard hitting evidence should over rule personal feelings every time. Facts need to be valued in our society. But they aren’t.  In a broad sense, Americans tend to hate and demonize people who are different, even when facts and statistics are incredibly stacked against these discriminative positions. It’s incredibly dangerous to our society and can only lead to further misunderstanding and conflict between cultures. The Unites States has created scapegoats by vilifying certain religions, races, and cultures when instead we should be focusing on the more important issues in America and its’ policy.  It is a fact that 33,600 people die by gun violence annually in America; and it is a fact that in England (where gun ownership is illegal) 147 people die annually from firearms. It is a fact that more deaths a year are caused by gun wielding toddlers than actual terrorism (I swear this is true). But still, gun activists ignore this hard-pressing evidence of why guns should be outlawed, and continually insist that “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun” (this slogan is particularly interesting to me, since the term “good guy with a gun” has never been defined). However, wouldn’t this “bad guy with a gun” problem be solved a lot faster if it was illegal to have gun ownership in the first place? If America just listened to the facts, lives would be saved. Instead, the United States stands firm on protecting Second Amendment rights, endangering tens of thousands lives.  Throughout politics, especially on the right wing views, refugees are portrayed as dangerous and a threat to American society. But the chances of being killed by a refugee, is one in 43 million. The portrayal of “unsafe” refugees shows misinformation which in turn creates hate and division. The definition of a refugee is someone that is fleeing from terrorism, but some people believe refugees are terrorists themselves. Most refuges travel as a family, taking on average 2 years to enter the United States. This is after finding a passage to America, countless background screenings, family history research, and months of living in refugee camps before being admitted. With Trump as president, now being admitted is impossible. So why are refugees banned if in reality they pose little to no threat? Fear. America’s fear of refugees, overrules facts entirely.  Minimizing gun violence and vilifying refugees are just two out of the infinite examples of how emotions and fear blind us from the truth. It’s incredibly frustrating to argue with someone who won’t listen to reason, and the majority of our country isn’t listening to reason. Until we agree on what is the truth we cannot agree on how to fix our problems, and which problems are the most important.  Wake up America!

 Resources: [] [] [] <span style="color: #424242; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">[] <span style="color: #424242; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">[]