This series features writing from inmates at the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center. The articles stem from weekly programming facilitated by the Colorado College Prison Project. Through contact between the CC community and Colorado Springs, this series aims to simultaneously broaden CC perception of incarceration issues and provide a platform for incarcerated writers. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office requires approval of written material prior to publication and the removal of authors’ last names. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the EPCSO or the Prison Project.
By MORE THAN WORDS
In response to Christina M Reimer’s post in the Denver Post titled, “Colorado doctors need research to help prevent gun deaths.”
I wanted to celebrate your TRUE efforts to resolve an ongoing problem in America and the world. I wish more people had the morals and professionalism as you do in their respective fields of work. I pray that you are successful in your endeavors and wish you many blessings. Unlike Shannon Watts with the Mom’s movement, your approach isn’t anti-gun. As professor Esther Choo of Oregon Health and Science University stated, “We are anti-bullet holes in our patients.” Our government would be silly if our military were to disarm in the hopes to stop wars. Aircraft Carriers, F-18 fighters, and tanks don’t kill peoples, bad people in political power kill. It’s easy to send people to war when the person doing it or their family has no part in it. Likewise, it’s easy to blame a weapon in hopes of solving the problem. Guns don’t kill, people do. And until people clear the propaganda of guns and false media behind mass killings, we only divert the needed attention to the wrong area, away from true resolution and true safety for our children. Shannon Watts has one thing proper in her approach: getting “moms” input is a great approach. I believe in her heart, but the taking of guns resolves nothing. Do we need gun control? Yes! But we need to be on the side of caution when we pass laws to enforce safety. Not gun abolition, which does nothing to stop more killings. If it weren’t guns, it would change to something else like bombs or other tactics. So, tread cautiously. The key in research is “Why are these people killing?” This is the true and real solution for research. Gun violence is not a correct term and is used to loosely. It should be gun-related violence, because guns are for protection, as our military shows us as a great example. But guns in the wrong hands are the problem.