2nd Stop Washington DC, USA

Travel Blog: 2nd Stop Washington DC, USA

I drove to Washington DC (district of Colombia) with my rental car. Washington is the capital of USA and the home of the president who lives in the White House. When I drove into the city I saw the gigantic buildings and the world famous skyline with the blinding lights. To my right I saw the Washington monument surrounded by tourists.

I knew long before I arrived to the youth conference that something was happening in the town, on my way there I saw groups of people who was walking the same way as I did. When I got closer I started to hear the bussing sound of large numbers of people. Outside the door there were security guards checking all of the participant with a metal detector. When I opened the door and looked inside, there were a gathering crowd everywhere I also saw grinning people. I sat down and waited for my turn to speak to the audience. Meanwhile I got some finger food with an incredible taste of seasoning and listened to the other teenagers who spoke about their opinion about gun related violence in the USA.

 It was very interesting to hear youth from other countries talk about their sides of the case. But, then again it was my turn to speak for the people. Here is a little summary from my speaks: I am shocked to see that everybody in the USA have access to guns. You can by guns and bullets in Kmart-shops, you can steal guns from your father for example. It is too easy to get hold of a weapon by stealing it or buying it from the street. In our country we only use guns to kill animals. In Norway people do not have access to guns in the same way as the people here in this country. At home you have to be 21 years old and you have to get a permit from the police and the weapon have to be locked in a special cabinet.

Here it seems like people feel more protected when they have a firearm. People also have at least two locks on the doors in their homes. It is sad too see how frightened ordinary family’s are. Should really everybody have access to guns or not? It will always be different views on that subject. If people had not been allowed to carry guns here, people had become even more afraid.

Maybe one way to go is to have a age limit and much more strict rules. It would probably lead to less crime, violence and accident. Since one of the things that triggers criminal acts is that here they already have weapons everywhere. Also the attitudes of the Americans have to be change when it comes to regarding weapons. Sadly, the rules have been there so long so it is not easy to change the system over night. Because, it is not just to change the rules, but the government has to adjust the system.