My Brother Killed Himself, And You Don't Care

Over the past few weeks, I have heard so much talk about gun control. Or lack thereof.

We are faced with some new tragic gun crime almost daily. Mass shootings flicker onto our television screens at an alarming frequency. It has become commonplace. So commonplace, in fact, that it's totally normal for me to hear tell of some new tragedy via Facebook.

And with each new shooting, I witness the same half-witted battle between those of us who support gun control and those of you who support guns.

If I wanted to, I could sit here and type up an incredibly convincing, fact-based argument for gun control. I could hit you with statistics and legal jargon surrounding the interpretation of the 2nd amendment. I could talk until I was blue in the face about how supposed gun rights are proving to be the ruination of our society.

I could. But I won't. Not today.

See, I've heard all the arguments:
"Gun control won't solve anything. Murderers aren't going to follow the rules anyway."
"Gun control will never work in America because the mental health system blows."
"The only way to prevent more mass shootings is to introduce more guns into the equation."

These arguments, aside from being poorly constructed (let's be honest), also only address a very small part of America's gun problem.

According to the CDC, in 2013 over 33,000 Americans were killed by firearms. 21,000 of those deaths were suicides.*

That means about 2/3 of the gun deaths in this country were suicides.

But you won't hear about that on CNN.

In 2013, my 19 year-old step-brother committed suicide. He was the kindest, funniest, and seemingly happiest person I ever knew. And when he was 19 years old--an age at which males are at a very high risk of developing depression-- he was able to legally obtain a gun and use it to kill himself. Someone sold a severely depressed teenager a firearm and by extension sealed his fate and the fate of his entire family. Our lives will never be the same.

Just gonna hit you with that number one more time: 21,000 people shot and killed themselves in 2013. My step-brother was one of them.

No one cares.

You gun-lovers don't care. You make excuses. You will fight tooth and nail for your right to possess an object designed for one purpose and one purpose only: Killing. Death. Murder. Destruction.

A gun destroyed Tyler's life. A gun destroyed my family.

What does the NRA have to say about those 21,000 lives lost? Do they believe more guns will solve the suicide problem? When someone threatens to shoot themselves, what's a good guy with a gun gonna do?

I'll wait for an answer on that one.

Here's what no one wants to admit about guns: Everyone is secretly in favor of gun control.

I am in favor of controlling people's access to firearms.
You, my gun-loving friends, are in favor of controlling the world around you with a firearm.

I often wonder what it must feel like to walk around in such fear all the time that you feel it is necessary to carry around such a precise, effective weapon.

I'm a 20 year-old female who lives in New York City. I have never been so afraid of my surroundings that I wished I was packing a gun. In fact, I recently stopped carrying my pepper spray.

That being said, I have a hard time believing people's gun dependency is borne out of any genuine fear. It's borne out of a need for power. And a fear of change.

(Have any of you NRA people figured out how more guns will prevent another 21,000 people from killing themselves this year?)

Didn't think so.

It's sad, you know. Watching people arguing via Facebook. Having people explain to me why their right to bear arms is so damn important.

Having people explain to me why their right to bear arms was more important than giving my 19 year-old step-brother half a shot at making it out alive.

I appreciate the dialogue people attempt to have about reforming our half-baked gun laws. But I don't know why it takes a mass murder to get people talking when twice as many people kill themselves with guns every year than are killed by other people.

There was no national outcry when my brother died. At his own hands. At the hands of society. At the hands of a system that makes it easier for a teenager to purchase a firearm than a glass of wine.

So while you guys are over there arguing about how gun reform is nothing but a huge inconvenience, my family and I will be over here picking up the pieces of our shattered lives and trying to put them back together.

Don't mind us.





*http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/suicide.htm