Widespread gun violence has a tremendous impact on American citizens’ opinion on gun control. There has been a great deal of gun violence within the United States for decades. The implementation of successful, tolerable gun control has been halted by the debate between gun advocates and victims of gun violence. Law-makers must find a way to keep American citizens safe while also abiding by the 2nd amendment. Mallory Simon, writer and senior producer of online presentations for CNN, reported on this highly controversial topic. Her report came shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where “20 children and 6 adults were gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut” (Simon 2013) and New York passed a major gun control law (NBC News 2012). In Simon’s article “Gun Debate: Where is the Middle Ground?”, she recaps the devastating moments Amardeep Kaleka experienced during an active shooting involving his own father. Within the article, Kaleka addresses the battle between gun owners and gun control advocates. Where is neutral territory to accommodate both parties? When presented on CNN, the article shed some light on the issue for many Americans as it presented arguments of common ground for gun control.
While Simon did not weigh in on the argument herself, she made Kaleka’s opinions quite clear. The school massacre that occurred shortly after his father’s death had “led many people, including Kaleka, 33, to question where we go from here as a country. Or if we
Sandy Hook Elementary. Aurora, Colorado. San Bernardino, California. Las Vegas, Nevada. Orlando, Florida. (Words with Negative Connotation) These are just some of the biggest mass shootings that have swept America in the past few years. Hundreds of lives are lost each year to gun related violence in the United States alone. Gun control has been a topic in our country since our founding fathers adopted the second amendment to the US constitution. Although recently controversy has sparked to an all-new extent in America due to the recent spike in mass shootings and gun related homicides. So many families and loves ones are affected each year in the United States because of gun related violence and other mass killing events, because of these events gun control laws need to be revamped and strengthened in American in order to protect the citizens.
The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects individual gun ownership. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution reads, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Gun ownership is an American tradition older than the country itself and is protected by the Second Amendment; more gun control laws would infringe upon the right to bear arms. Justice Antonin Scalia, LLB, in the June 26, 2008 District of Columbia et al. v. Heller US Supreme Court majority opinion syllabus stated, "The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home." The McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010) ruling also stated that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Lawrence Hunter, Chairman of Revolution PAC, stated, "The Founders understood that the right to own and bear laws is as fundamental and as essential to maintaining liberty as are the rights of free speech, a free press, freedom of religion and the other protections against government encroachments on liberty delineated in the Bill of Rights."
Simon begins by giving an abstract account from Amardeep Kaleka and the murder of his father. Amardeep decided to take a stand on gun violence in America. Simon states” It just came over me that you can’t stay silent, he said. You can’t continue to alllow violence
Upon reading the article, “What If We Treated Gun Violence Like A Public Health Crisis?” and watching the news every now and then, there are many major tragedies surrounding around us. It is absolutely scary, and only seems to be getting worse. The article starts off with the statement that, “More than 30,000 people a year are killed by gun violence,” making it clear just how serious the situation pertaining gun violence is (Kodjak, 2017, p. 1). Yet, this statistic does not even take into consideration the amount of people who are injured due to gun violence, which would sky rocket this total.
Many believe that as the year progresses, our lives become more dangerous for us to be a part of. However, Zachary Crockett states that the beginning is bad, and “In the first 24 hours of the new year, 264 separate incidents of gun violence happened across the United States” (Crockett 1). He is helping us to illustrate we struggle throughout the entire year, and we get attacked at the times which we least expect them to happen. In the infographic that is being shown, Chicago was reported to have “24 shootings, leaving 3 dead and 28 injured”, leading us to the idea that some towns are at more risk than others (Crockett 1). He is leading us to believe that some cities, like Chicago, face a better likliness of shootings occurring, then in some other cities. There needs to be a better handle of guns in this area, and take caution so that many do not get hurt. When trying to depict other important details, Crockett helps explain that “every day, and average of 112 people are killed or injured by gun violence in America” (Crockett 1). There needs to be a tighter grip on not only the actions of the people in the country, but the weapon. Guns cause a lot of stress and havoc across the country, and if we could allow ourselves to overcome this, then we would be helping ourselves out.
There are tens of thousands of people killed due to gun violence. It’s about time we find a solution to this problem. More than 300 million guns are sold in the u.s. And that’s way to much. The more guns that are sold, the more violence caused. If there is more violence, how could America be “great” again!?
The media and the government have all been shining a cascade of unfortunate lies on suppressors. All these tragic shootings have all come to one unfortunate conclusion: firearms are bad and must be restricted or even banned. The truth is, these events haven’t even had suppressors involved in them. This is quite an unfortunate thing since suppressors can do so much good in all aspects of their use. Suppressors are a device used to reduce the decibel level of the rifle's muzzle blast, through a system of baffles that redirect the air coming out of the barrel reducing the noise output. They are threaded onto the end of a rifle, shotgun, or pistol barrel. Suppressors should be taken off the NFA, the National Firearms Act, which is an act passed
As of 2016 there have been a total of 46,074 incidents total with guns, 11,828 of them ending in death. Gun violence has steadily increased whether it be with suicide, children, teens, gang violence, or mass shootings. It has come into question as to what or who is to blame and America cannot seem to come to a consensus and it has driven a wedge between its people. Gun violence is nothing new but it is taking more lives each and every day; If we do not make more of an effort to lessen gun violence then it will become more of a problem then it already is and continue to put people in danger.
As Americans, we are very used to the scene after a new mass shooting happens: outrage, fear, and families suffering the death of their beloved ones. Politicians start debating on gun policy, again, arriving at no solution. This has been America’s reality for the past decades. The problem in which lobbyists and a dominant minority stop any attempt to find a solution. Dan Gross, as president of the Brady Campaign, is seeking to promote sensible gun control in the United States. Mr. Gross advocates for gun control and for laws that put a stop to the gun violence problem (Ted Talk). Another article by Tom McCarthy in The Guardian gives some data and ideas about what gun control would look like. McCarthy’s article gives us a context in which
Acts of violence involving a gun is definitely a social norm in this day and age as mass shootings and cases involving firearms increase daily. Many cases like Sandy Hook and our most recent Vegas mass shooting have shown us how easy it is to acquire and use gun as well as assault weapons. Just this year, there has been over 40,000 incidents involving a gun according to The Gun Violence Archive. The regulation of said weaponry through gun control allows for a safer environment revolving around the use and availability of firearms. With stricter gun laws, the number of victims shall decrease and lives will be saved.
As the debate over gun control continues to spread throughout the nation like the plague, everyone is trying to choose a side. Some argue that their Second Amendment Rights are being infringed on, however, when looked at in detail that is not the case. Many others argue the decrease of guns is not beneficial because criminals are okay with doing illegal things, therefore they will obtain guns anyway. There is much, however, to disprove that. These weapons are the reason why the United States has such a high rate of violence even with such high wealth. The cost of gun violence has continued to rise over the years in medical bills. Criminals should not have the access they are currently have to such destructive weapons. Gun control must be put in place in order to decrease much of the violence and suicides the United States has.
A body, limp and lifeless, holds to the ground as the United States has again lost another American citizen. Tears roll down the cheeks of mothers, fathers, and community members as gun violence manages to claim victories over the lives of many young people. No longer do the ideas of freedom truly ring from sea to sea as many Americans are suffering over the controversial issue of open-carry gun laws. Rather than equal gun occurrences throughout the country, the issues of gun violence are said to be related to race. According to John Blake of CNN News,“A black person is 6.5 times more likely to become a murder victim than someone who is white; and 92% of black murder victims are killed by members of their own race” (Blake). The controversial laws regarding guns in
Many small deaths such as Raymond Howell from mckinney texas and mass murders such as orlando florida's homosexual club shooting have occurred under the influence of guns. Guns have destroyed many lives. These deaths should not have occurred, With stricter gun control these unjustified murders would not have occurred and affect the lives of families. Gun control in America should be more restrictive because women will feel more protected from abusers, lower criminals with guns, unjustified gun deaths.
Gun violence is an issue that is still not under control in America, being that practically anyone can access a gun and own one, illegally or legally. There are various opinions of the topic and how it should be handled. Some strongly back their second amendment right, some are completely against guns, and some have a mixed opinion. I believe that gun violence is an issue that affects thousands across the country and needs to be controlled.
In the past few weeks, my class has been working with the subject: gun violence. What does gun violence mean? It means gun related violence is violence committed with the use of a gun. It can happen everywhere. In a school too. It's called school shooting. It has happened several times before. Here is a little story where a girl shoot students on a Monday because she didn't like Mondays. It was January 29, 1979, in San Diego in California. The woman's name is Brenda Spencer. She hurt eight kids and a police officer. She killed two students. When a reporter asked her why she killed them she said she didn't like Mondays.