Critique Towards Colleagues Blog Post (Blog 8)

After reading my colleague Sareh Siddiqi's opinion on the current standing of U.S. gun control, especially regarding the extremely poor job the government is doing keeping guns out of mentally ill citizens, many agreeing and controverting thoughts come to mind. In her Blog titled, "Reason Why I'm Unsatisfied With The Government", Sareh goes on to show a great understanding of how difficult keeping guns out of peoples hands can really be but never really shows a realistic solution to how we can stop this. She mentions how there should be tougher pre-screenings for buying a gun and how medical history should be accessible by the seller before agreeing to sell a person a gun, but according to NBC News, 80% of the guns used in mass shootings in the past ten 10 years have all been legally acquired. On top of that, 61% of all gun-related suicides in the last 10 years have also been with legally obtained guns. NBC News also goes on to mention how almost all of these gunmen/suicide victims would have still been able to legally acquire these guns after medical and background screenings. Having this being said, I completely agree with Sareh in the fact that the U.S. government is doing a poor job with the current state of gun control however I do not agree with the fact that she states putting all of the blame on the government when there is only so much the government can do. I say this meaning that at the end of the day if a human really wanted to acquire a gun for whatever reason, there are plentiful ways for one to be acquired illegally in the matter of just a day whether it be on everyday sites like craigslist, or through the many gun trading websites that currently exist.

Although I disagree with Sareh on what she thinks needs to be done to make accessing a gun more difficult, I understand this is going to be extremely challenging for the government and I don't necessarily know what could be the best solution. Yet I truly think taking more affirmative action, for example, taking down the many gun exchange and related websites entirely from the internet will be more effective than requiring screenings that are often easily avoidable and sometimes not even mentioned. Like mentioned before, the government only has so many "eyes" on its citizens so the complete vanish of illegally purchased guns is nearly impossible in current society.

A Major Topic of Concern for Americans: "The Wall"

It seems to be as if one of the main topics of concern throughout President Trumps presidency is the security of national borders, with the most concerning location being the Mexican American border separating the U.S. and Mexico. Whether a fan of President Trump or not, we as Americans must hope for an effective solution to the problem as soon as possible. Before we address the possible outcomes we really have as Americans, we must acknowledge the fact that even though President Trump has really emphasized building a physical wall to separate the two countries, he has been in power for nearly two years now and we are yet to see the start of it, so keep that in mind as we focus on realistic solutions.

To begin, whether a fan of the physical wall Trump has many times mentioned or not, we need to act on the problem quickly because illegal immigration is becoming a direct threat to many different factors of the U.S.A. Many pros of building the physical wall include drastically decreasing the number of illegal immigrants that enter through Mexico, the wall would be easily patrolled in comparison to the level of difficulty of doing so is currently at, it would keep our nation "safer" rhetorically speaking, and lastly, it would protect the jobs of our hardworking Americans in terms of less competition. While looking at all of these great effects that would come with building the wall, one might think to immediately start the construction, until the cons are mentioned. Cons include the tremendous cost of an estimated 12 to 15 billion U.S. dollars (we are currently in debt), illegal immigration wouldn't stop altogether, and it serves as a literal discrimination towards Mexico potentially ruining a relationship we have worked years and years to build.

In conclusion, as Americans, we must determine the correct solution to this enormous national problem we are currently facing and we all shall all agree that in order to act upon the best solution (whatever it might be) we will have to sacrifice many things we think are white or wrong regardless of a political party.