‘Best decision’: Dad goes viral for giving up his guns

Father and Marine veteran Ben Beers decided to surrender his handgun and AR-15 rifle to his local police station. He talks to CNN's Alisyn Camerota about his decision. #CNN #News

40 comments

  1. So refreshing to hear an American gun owner state that owning a gun is NOT a sign of being a patriot. What he said is so true but yet I have not heard it before. God bless him.

    1. @John B you think intruders will wait for you to grab your gun?
      Why do you think someone is coming for you?

    2. This is one point of view. I respect him for sticking up for his values and most of all for serving. Too many people take advantage of all the rights of being an American but give nothing back. The other side of the coin is that other people’s life and experiences and opinions are different from this man’s, and so what’s right for this particular person may not be right for everyone. The rights of all Americans to do and say what they think is right is the reason this man and all the rest of us served.

    3. @Indiana Public Land yes there is research to 🤔 support that the the claim of many millions of annual self-defense gun uses by Americans may not be as high as they claim but the other results from same research may be just as bad if not worse. Like firearms are used far more often to intimidate than in self-defense. Guns in the home are used more often to intimidate partners and family than to thwart crime. Adolescents are far more likely to be threatened with a gun than to use one in self-defense. And fewer criminals are shot by decent law-abiding citizens. Those results are not something to be proud of either. Other developed countries with safer gun laws do not have these issues seen at epidemic levels in the US.

  2. If everybody was so sensibel, gun violence would be over…. man, you are a great guy. Greetings from Germany where students learn at school and not get shot…

    1. @Patty Ralston the country below us right in our backyard is literally plagued with violence, multiple cities listed as most dangerous in the world the last 20 years.gun ownership more strict than Australia there as well..the tit for tat doesn’t work here. Not all countries have the same cultures that we do and that’s why they are safer, not because of absence of guns. We have multi-platinum artist who literally write songs about killing enemies, cooking dope, and home invasions..also more people are murdered with fists and blunt objects in this country than with rifles per FBI crime statistics..the problem isn’t that we have more gun ownership, it’s that we have more thugs. It’s sad because it will only get worse because we worry about the tool and not the mindset that guides it

  3. Simply because of its potential impact, this could very well be this man’s patriotic zenith!

  4. Kudos to this Dad!
    He cannot be in the school every day to defend his kids of a shooter. the more guns are in circulation, the higher the chance of a shooter.

  5. I know nothing else about Ben than what I am seeing, and I respect how he is opting out of the paranoia in socialized US hypermasculinity. This patriot is so courageous and is a man of conscience. I thank him for doing his part to counter the culture of domestic terrorism that surrounds civilian ownership of weapons of mass destruction.

  6. Wonderful empathetic man! That’s what’s lacking in today’s society, men who take responsibility to create the kind of world that is safer for all.
    Thank you sir!

    1. @James Broucek I’m a woman. I would choose someone like Ben over a gun carrying swaggerer any day. Carrying a gun does not make you a real man.

    2. @Bryan Kirby Security doors and windows, CCTV, alarms, sensor lights – you’ve got a choice of security products to protect your home. Are you still living in the 18thC?

  7. Self-reflection is one of the hardest things to do. He’s looking beyond his ‘intentions’ to the real effects of his actions, and I think that’s beautiful behavior to model as a parent.

    1. @Michael Blumenreich to add to your point, Section 8 of the constitution states:
      “To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;”

      Some argue that the second admendment only relates to this part of section 8, which is a well regulated militia meant to defend the country

    2. @Jose Quiñonez Its gone viral on Tik Tok – were you not listening? It will have an effect – not immediately, but it will start some people reconsidering. America’s gun problem is enormous and you have to start somewhere.

    3. @Bonnie He isn’t a bad person tho. I’m no one to judge his personal decision, all I’m saying is that this doesn’t really have an effect. The ones who need to start reconsidering and destroying or giving up their guns are the prohibited possessors or the ones who would plan to commit an atrocity beforehand, not the ones who don’t do anything unlawful.

    4. @Michael Blumenreich You really should fact-check your ‘facts’… i.e: California, New York, Chicago all have the strictest gun laws in the US…And you might want to checkout how Auatraila’s gun ban turned out…

  8. this guy is a true marine to the highest honor. he is more manly than those who continue to fight for not having strict gun control laws. i find it funny whenever a bombing incident happens in some parts of my country. the US government is quick to issue travel advisories stating that it’s not safe to travel to my country. and yet you have these mass shootings that are now happening on a weekly basis. who’s country is more safe now? aside from that there’s the issues of racial discrimination and Asian hate crimes. so kudos to those who are willing to give up their guns and think about not only their kids but the lives of others as well.

  9. It’s hard to accept his logic because of the emotional aspect, but he’s right. The odds are his children are safer in a house with no guns. Much safer.

    1. @Froggy 01 Different paths. For instance Denmark simply accepts what happens to them as a country. Germans invade, they surrender. If the Germans had decided to mass exterminate them all… they would have died. The US has been in continuous war for +200 plus years, with no one to protect them since the British Empire faded. This leads to a different culture.

      More free is completely based on the individual. In Thailand if I want to start my own business… I start if government interference is virtually nil. Compared to the EU… the EU policy leave little freedom and are oppressive.

      It depends on individual values.

    2. @SourDoughBill 🤣🤣How are those guns going to protect your home when you’re gone? Will they unlock themselves and shoot the intruders?

    3. @Bonnie oh I’m sorry little minds can’t think for themselves. You realize that you can shut that crap down pretty easily. Unless you want to put bars on your windows. But then your kids are basically living in a prison, and not a home

  10. The hero’s are the ones that look to find and BE the solutions. Thank you for looking at those guns and seeing what many Americans see, not weapons of self-defense, or inalienable rights, but weapons of mass destruction and mass murder. Bless you for giving me a small glimmer of hope in this country. 🙏🏻

    1. Weapons aren’t the problem. Ive never seen a gun hop off a table and kill people. The problem is people.

    2. He gave up his Second Amendment rights and said, “Attack me! I can’t defend myself!” Not really a good example.

  11. His explanation and view point on what true Patriotism is all about is all you need to know about the man. America can learn a lot from level headed people like Ben.

  12. I’m not against guns in general. When I was in high school, students would come to school with their hunting rifles hanging in the back of their trucks (yes, I grew up in the rural South). We never had school shootings, even though we did have racial strife with fights between blacks and whites, but no stabbings or shootings. I strongly support smarter regulation, along with other improvements to reduce gun violence. Raise the age to 21 for purchase of any type, require background checks for all, do not allow sale of assault rifles to civilians.

  13. The spell has broken for this man and he sees his toys for what they really are….lethal weapons, designed to kill. Its not cool or glamorous to imagine these poor little children and what happened to them. It’s sick.
    If you care more about these metal and plastic killing devices than children’s lives, you’re sick too.

  14. You did something RIGHT!!! You should be so proud of yourself and know you’ve made a huge contribution towards reducing the armed demise of Americans!! History will remember you!! Good 4 U!!

  15. Well done Ben. Semper fi. As a former marine I commend you for it. I never had the urge to own a weapon since I left the service even though I respected any individual to own a gun. I do firm believe that our society would be better served without assault guns. Those guns only have one purpose and that is to kill.

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