Bang, Bang, Bear's Dead

Everybody knows how bad the gun laws have been in the United States particularly if you ever watched 'Bowling for Columbine' and other such documentaries. As much as the nation has progressed from offering customers a shot gun when they open a bank account, gun laws are still very lax especially as California has just allowed guns to be taken into National Parks. For those of you who know me well, you'll know my boyfriend lives near to Yosemite National Park, one of my favourite places in the whole wide world. Upon hearing the news that guns were allowed in National Parks, his immediate reaction was concern for the welfare of the animals, specifically the bears. We joked that some guy might decide he wants a trophy bear's head for above the mantlepiece that he could shoot in pretence self defence. Joke we did but there was certainly a serious edge to the conversation as the joke wasn't far from what could, and probably will, truthfully happen. It appears to me that this new law on guns will only cause more problems than solve the existing ones and that officials should look to different approaches. I can only imagine this new law has been put in place due to the amount of people who disappear annually in America's great parks, a depressing number, but surely tighter regulations on hikers and night time curfews would amount to better things than this. This concern only grew when I looked into the statistics of households with ownership of guns. 49% of American Household have a gun. That's nearly 50%. That's practically 1 in every 2 houses. That means my neighbour right now could have one because I am fairly sure we don't. This stat was followed up with 31% of adults owning their own gun. Again a huge percentage and surely just a recipe for disaster. Consider how many people visit Yosemite annually, some 3.5 million and it’s clear they're in for a problem. I definitely think guns should just be made illegal all together to erase any chance of temptation by anyone in any situation. But for my personal reasons, my Mum, Dad and I all shared an amazing bear experience in Yosemite, something which I hope others shall enjoy too in the future, without the sounds of gunshots ringing in their ears.