Gun Control in California

There are 313,914,040 living in the United States. 
300 Million citizens own an assault weapon. 
67% of those people own a a firearm for protection against crime.

These statistics can be found on statistic brain dot com. 

What does that say for us Californians? Well, there are exactly 38,041,430 of us which makes us the 2nd behind Texas to be the state that owns the most guns. 

Mr. Cameron gave us an assignment to work on using the website Storify. (You should visit the page here)
At first glance of this I was not sure how it worked and if I would do the project the way he wanted it done. What I learned is how great Storify is. I worked with Daniel Noah and Alex Capilla to create our first story on Storify. I encourage you to take a look at our story, we worked very hard on it. You can click the link at the bottom of the page. 

We discussed California's reactions to the Newtown incident and the legislation, along with the communities reactions on stricter gun laws preventing tragedies in school shootings. 

From the information I gathered I came to the conclusion that us Californians are divided on the issue. The laws on our gun ownership is the most strict in the entire U.S! Yet, we are one of six states that allows concealed weapons on school campuses. 

The NRA wants to arm two teachers in every school with a concealed weapon and police to have assault/semi automatic weapons on them at all times. 

Daniel, Alex, and I had a discussion after our gathered research and analysis of our Storify story. We agreed putting our honest opinions on gun control in a brief conclusion would be an ideal way to end our blog. 

Daniel is very divided on the subject. He waited for myself and Alex to speak before he gave his opinion. I felt this is a smart journalistic tactic because it shows that he wants to know about his peers views and feelings in order to gather information necessary to make his own conclusion. 

Alex made a very intelligent, well informed, thought out opinion on his views towards gun control. His family own gun(s) and his father taught him how to use it properly and safely. He said he would feel more safe if he was able to carry a gun on him. No one should have to go through being threatened with a knife, gun, or any type of weapon. For Alex, his personal experiences made his feelings towards gun control in favor of more strict laws on the purchase of guns. He feels that people should be evaluated before they are able to make a purchase, although California already has laws for that he feels it should be stressed more. 

As for myself, I live with my Aunt and Uncle who have a handgun. My Aunt feels safer knowing its there and my Uncle feels it is necessary to be prepared for the worse. My other Uncle owns 6 guns and or rifles. My father was a member of the NRA and often goes hunting using his rifles. I come from an all American gun happy family. I believe in our United States Constitution's Second Amendments right to Bear Arms. That right will never be taken away. So, stricter gun control in order to protect our children from outbursts of gun violence in schools from a person suffering from mental instability? I say yes. 

A better question to ask me would be: Would you feel safer knowing there are semi automatic weapons on Cerritos College Campus? 

My answer would be: No

Why?
This has been my second semester here at Cerritos College. I have had classes that range from 6:30am to 9:00pm at night. I am there all hours of the day and I have never seen a Police officer get out of his or her car parked by the big back parking lot. I see them during the day but never at night. I have never seen them patrolling or even interacting with students or visitors. What would make me feel safer at my school is knowing my officers care about the students they have vowed to protect. A post perhaps of the sharif in charge of the school's police? I cannot find a link to our police department page, only an emergency text alert with their phone number at the bottom. 

I have no doubt Cerritos Police Department is armed and has more than enough training to act in a hostile situation. If I was being attacked I would hope my schools police would act to protect me rather than run to their safe to grab a semi automatic rifle. 

Are more guns the answer? 
Should we be more aware of our surroundings and more informed on self defense tactics? 

I will let you answer that for yourself. 

Do not forget to check out mine, Alex, and Daniel's Storify! 
Gun Control in California 

You can find Daniel Garcia and Alex Capilla's blogger on my multimedia links. But here is an easier access for you. 
Alex Capilla Multimedia blog 
Daniel Garcia's Mulitmedia blog