Use Your Funds To Buy Guns: Why America Needs To Be Armed

We live in an extremely scary world. Almost every day a story is released about some kind of murder that happened the night before. Incidents like shootings, bombings and any types of killing can occur at any place and at any time. In order to protect ourselves and those around us, guns must be available for purchasing. 

Picture this: You’re with your husband or wife and child eating dinner at a restaurant. Suddenly, a man comes in and begins shooting. Because you’re not allowed to carry a gun, your life as well as your family’s life is in jeopardy. If you were allowed to have a gun, you could have saved the numerous lives that were lost by shooting the perpetrator. 

On July 4^th, 2015, a mass shooting took place in Chicago that resulted in the killing and harming of 50 people. An incident like this could have been prevented if someone in the area was armed. With strict gun control laws, these citizens were unable to protect themselves against a weapon. 

Every mass public shooting since 1950, with the exception of two, has happened in a gun-free zone. Maybe if these places had allowed the handling of guns, these deadly attacks would not have been fatal and maybe just one more person could return to their family after these types of unfortunate events. 

The Second Amendment was added to the Constitution because the founders believed in private ownership of guns and believed that guns were necessary for the protection of our freedoms. Stricter gun laws will punish honest people.  

According to DoSomething.org, close to 33,000 Americans were victims of gun-related deaths in 2011 and an average of 268 citizens are shot every day. The support of allowing the purchasing of guns for protection has increased from 45% to 52%.

Many people will argue that having guns will only cause more violence. I believe that the gun is not doing the killing, the person on the other end of the barrel is doing the act. We should not blame guns for the killing of people. If there’s one thing we should do, is provide stricter background checks on those who want to purchase firearms. If guns are outlawed, criminals will still find ways to arm themselves.

Although police are always there to protect us, they are not always reliable. If police are called it takes time for them to get to the scene. Local police forces are primarily there to investigate and try to figure out crimes and suspects after the case. 

People also tend to believe that we need gun control laws simply because of how easy it is for criminals to get the guns in the first place. Most, if not all, guns used by criminals are purchased illegally through the black market. 

Gun control won’t eliminate gun violence. It will only restrict people from saving those who bring gun violence amongst them. 

Albert Einstein defined ‘insanity’ as doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. Undoubtedly, the call for more gun control laws is insane. This call will not work. Armed civilians are essential for the protection of our nation. Will you take the stand to protect your nation?

Adopt, Don't Shop

Throughout my life I have always been an avid lover of animals. There has never been a point in my life where I didn’t have at least three pets in my house. All of my pets have been rescued and adopted from animal shelters in various different states. I’ve adopted dogs of all different ages and gave them the loving and caring home they deserved. There are many ethical places in which pet owners can adopt animals from, yet they aren’t paid much attention to. So, why should we adopt these beautiful creatures instead of shop for them?

Dogs and cats are some of the greatest animals to have as house pets. They are good for the soul and bring an immense amount of joy into any home. Just by hugging a dog your blood pressure can decrease. They bring a sense of warmth and happiness into any setting. First and foremost, by adopting a pet, you are not only saving a helpless animal, but you’re saving yourself in a way that no money amount of money can buy.

Animal shelters are home to some of the most lovable animals. You can find dogs and cats of all different sizes. Most of these animals have been abused, abandoned, and left to fend for themselves. The generous people at animal shelters help save these poor innocent creatures until they find their forever home.

One of the best reasons to adopt instead of shop is simple: when you adopt from a shelter, you become part of the solution to the overpopulation crisis. Not only that, but you get to give a sweet, loving animal a brand new happy home where it can live for the remainder of its life.

Some new pet owners may be hesitant and nervous when adopting a new pet. Behold, animal shelters provide educational information regarding all aspects of pet ownership. They also support the adopter even after they have adopted and give advice on training the adopted animal. Many of the animals seem to sense what they were once up against and become among the most devoted companions.

Because animals at shelters are kept there until their adoption, many of the volunteers and staff get to know the animals personally. With this personal connection, they are able to carefully select animals for the appropriate family.

Some people don’t like to adopt from shelters because the dogs are already old and they want a puppy or kitten. However, many older dogs are in shelters because their owners couldn’t handle them as puppies and gave them up to the shelter. The dogs in shelters are often already house trained. You don’t have to deal with the puppy or kitten phase, which involves the animals to be taken care of like new born babies. You will be able to see the personality of the dog or cat before adopting, that way you will know that you’re ready to make the lifelong commitment of keeping your furry pet.

Purchasing from puppy and kitten mills is one of the worst things a new pet owner can do. These mills are places where dogs and cats are forced to have as many babies as possible to be sold, and once they cannot reproduce any longer, they are sentenced to death. Horrible enough, these mothers are forced to live in a cage for their entire lives with no human companionship. The money that is generated through the purchasing of the puppies goes to the breeder, who is then encouraged to breed more puppies. The puppies end up having multiple health issues due to birth defects from overbearing mothers. If the dogs are not adopted in a certain amount of time, they are also sentenced to death because there is no other place to keep them. Adopting from a shelter means you don’t support these cruel practices.

Many people may argue that they want purebred cats or dogs and they cannot find these types of animals at shelters. Prior to contrary belief, purebred animals have many more health issues than animals found at shelters. Shelter animals may have a cold or be slightly sick when you first adopt them, but they will eventually get better and live longer and happier lives. Purebred animals contract lifelong illnesses such as heart disease, hormonal and endocrine system diseases, skin disease, and seizure disorders from the horrible tactics of breeding animals that should not be bred together. By supporting these over-bred purebreds, you will be supporting the creation of sickly animals.


These are just a few reasons why I feel strongly about adopting over shopping. Adopting animals has changed my life for the better and I hope the population will one day realize how impacting it is to rescue a furry best friend. It’s up to pet owners to make the choice: Will you support saving a sweet, innocent life or will you support the breeding of sickly animals? 

Sample Opinion Articles

Poverty Sample

School Uniforms Sample

Sample Feature Articles

Best Budgeting Finance Apps Feature

Amber Rose Feature

Lamar Odom Feature

Fame is Lame: Why We Shouldn't Give Celebrities Special Treatment

If money can’t buy you happiness, then why are celebrities often looked up to?

Picture this: a woman, who is presumably just a so-called “regular person”, gets the lead role in an upcoming movie. Before shooting she is able to walk outside of her home and partake in normal everyday activities such as food shopping and picking up her children from school. Let's fast-forward a couple of months. Her new movie comes out and suddenly she cannot complete a simple task without someone coming up to her on the street begging her for a picture or an autograph. This is her job, just like a school nurse or even a mailman. Why do we treat celebrities like gods?

The word celebrity comes from an old French word celebrite, which translates to ‘frequented or honored’. So you’re telling me that celebrities are people that we honor? Honor for what? Singing a song containing 95% curse words? Showing their face on camera in movies like 50 Shades of Grey? There seems to be a problem in today’s world regarding how celebrities are treated compared to us ‘regular’ folks.

Celebrities consume our world more than ever before. America has never been so obsessed with the ‘celebrity’ concept. This uproar in collective obsession has reached a point that is extremely unhealthy for the fabric of our society and generation.

Celebrity fame is fueled by one thing and one thing only: how much attention we give to them. Our outlets to the world of celebrity have increased immeasurably over the years. We can open a book, read a magazine, watch a television show, or simply log on to Facebook to see what celebrities are doing throughout the day. Websites like Elite Daily and Buzzfeed can’t even go one single day without posting an article regarding a breaking news article regarding who Justin Bieber is dating. Why do we care so much? Instead of engaging in personal interactions with one another, it’s much easier to ask the girl sitting next to you in math class, “Did you see what Zac Efron looked like at the awards show last night, he looked sooo dreamy…” rather than asking her about her day or how’s she’s feeling.

Sometimes we need to step back and reevaluate our lives. Do we need to follow every celebrity on twitter? Does Kim Kardashian’s tweet that reads, “What if we spelled ‘people’ like this: peephole. That would be funny I think” really need to be re-tweeted thousands of times? This obsession has gone beyond our capacity. Celebrities settle themselves inside of our minds and suddenly they are the best things since sliced bread. We look up to these people as role models, when we have amazing role models around us who go seemingly unrecognized. For example, this past August Kylie Jenner has turned 18. There were news stories covering her extravagant birthday party and her new Ferrari purchased by her rapper boyfriend for weeks on end. In the same month Malala Yousafzai turned 18. She is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Prize. I’m sure the majority have probably never heard of Yousafzai, but can definitely tell you the color of Jenner’s new $320,000 car and the color wig she was sporting that night. We need to stop making these people famous for nothing besides exposing their everyday lives to the public.

Although celebrities are extremely influential in adult lives, they are even more prominent in the lives of children. This can be a good thing, but it can also be a very bad thing. Because celebrities are such a hot commodity for media outlets, we see pictures of them everywhere at all times. Children see Victoria’s Secret models on the cover of magazines and think, “Why don’t I look like that?” This leads to them growing up before they’ve even experienced childhood. I remember trying on my first tube of mascara when I was a freshman in high school. Now whenever I’m out, I almost always see a young girl with a full face of makeup on. This is definitely contributed to the media outlets. Any child is smart enough to go on to their parent’s iPad and make an Instagram account and see how photo shopped their favorite celebrities are. The thing is, they don’t think it’s photo shopped. They think this is what they NEED to look like. This is why we need to start flooding the media with people like Malala Yousafzai. Children will grow up thinking, “That’s who I want to be when I grow up” and not “I need to have perfect eyebrows in order to be cool.”

I believe the obsession with celebrity derives from one thing: desire. We want what celebrities have. We want their good looks, their lip fillers, their billion dollar mansions, their Rolls Royce’s. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that money cannot buy you happiness. Why do you think so many celebrities go nuts? It’s because they lack something they can never buy: true happiness. They are too busy being criticized by the public to reach their eternal happiness. If the media stopped flooding our minds with these celebrities with their perfect hair and their perfect skin and started promoting people who make an actual difference in our world, then future generations will grow up to be healthy and powerful adults.