About the right to own firearms in the United States

Photo: Karen Bleier/AFP

I read that in the United States, children are taught in schools how to protect themselves if a man enters shooting.

In my nation, Spain, children are not taught to protect themselves from a man who is shooting. Because there are almost no weapons in the hands of the people, since the monopoly of weapons is held by the police and the army. Perhaps it is time, once and for all, to change the law in the United States so that people cannot have guns except in very justified cases.

I think that in the United States many people think: "there are two types of people, criminals and normal people, so it is okay for normal people to arm themselves to defend themselves against criminals." This is an error of principle, because there is only one type of people: people, without more. Anyone, I repeat, anyone, can become a criminal at any given time. Most of the killers who entered shooting in schools or parks or supermarkets had never shot anyone before. So the only way to reduce the number of gun deaths is simply to reduce the number of firearms in the hands of the people.