Can Gun Control Prevent Mass Shootings?

Gun control is a very controversial topic that has has a huge impact on the United States of America. One side believes that if guns were taken away as a whole, the country would see significantly less gun related crimes and death, while the other opposing side thinks that taking away guns is not only against the Second Amendment but would lead to an increase in crime and death because the government would take guns away from people who are legally registered to own and conceal guns. The ongoing debate will continue until the foreseeable future but their are plenty of reasons why more gun laws should be made. Taking away guns is not the answer, learning how to deal with gun violence is the key.

With the popular culture providing positive images of guns, the United States has a gun prevalence that is very rare in the modern world. While many people appreciate the “gun culture”, guns are heavily involved in violence in the United States. According to U.S. Department of Justice, since 1960, more than 750,000 Americans have died under firearms, including homicides, suicides, and unintentional injuries. The figure 1 provides a comprehensive survey of U.S. violent crimes for the period from 1993 to 2011.This figure illustrates that from 1993 to 2011, about 60% to 70% of homicides were associated with a firearm. Over the same period, between 6% and 9% of all nonfatal violence, with about 20% to 30% of robberies and 22% to 32% of aggravated assaults involving a firearm.

More gun laws would have a negative effect on shootings and crime rates. Stricter gun laws would not prevent people from getting guns, would not prevent killings, and would not fare well with the people of the United States. Strict gun laws would only prevent law-abiding citizens from getting guns, and criminals would still be able to get them. Crime and shooting rates do not go down after increase in gun-restrictive laws are passed. People in the United States have the right to defend themselves from harm, and the 2nd Amendment right to own firearms.

Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.

The occurence of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting of December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut. The gunman, was 20-year-old Adam Lana, who first shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home. He then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members. As first responders arrived, Lana committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. The shooting began at approximately 9:30 a.m. Sandy Hook was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in U.S. history and the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. This shooting yet again assured the nation that gun violence is still as big of a problem as it was back in the late 90’s when 27 teenagers got killed in another mass killing in Columbine, Colorado. We as a nation must stand up and oppose mass murdering because these actions are not only unjust but inhuman as well.  The increase in gun violence can be decreased by, identifying the regions in the country where the most gun violence occurs and restricting their access to limiting or monitoring the availability of guns and ammunition.

Too many Americans die due to firearms. “New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof this past summer wrote an impassioned call for gun control that included a recounting of horrific gun-related statistics. Since 1968, he noted, more people have died from guns in the U.S. than on the battlefields of all the wars in American history combined” (“Technology” -Gralla 6). This country is supposed to

Next, it is important to ask who are the people that really kill? Is it the gun or the person? People who defend the right to bear arms often state that it is not the gun that kills it is the individual that kills. Some feel the answer lies in that we need to introduce stricter laws on who is able to apply for license to carry guns. Gun laws vary from state to state with California being the most restrictive state to Arizona with the most lenient laws. These laws include background checks, waiting periods, and registration requirements to who can purchase and sells guns. Even with these laws in place we have still witnessed an increase in the number of mass shootings over the past few years. Implementing stricter gun control laws will ultimately not eliminate individuals from acquiring access to guns if they truly desire. State governments may require licenses to purchase guns but there remains an underground and online market to purchase guns, which does not monitor whether a person truly has a license or not. Rather than focusing on implementing stricter laws for control and ways to make the purchase

What if an individual could acquire a gun like you buy a pair of shoes whatever size or color you want? Could you imagine what it would be like? The mere thought of every person in the city walking around with guns is frightening. That will be the United States if Congress does not put stricter policies in place to control the situation. When looking at the news, or reading the paper or even surfing the web you will see overwhelming statistics. According to the USA Gun Violence Statistics, More than 30,000 people are killed by firearms each year in this country and More than 30 people are shot and murdered each day, 1/2 of them are between the ages of 18 and 35 and 1/3 of them are under the age of 20. Gun violence has caused terror and fear across the country due to the attacks on innocent people like Sandy Hook Elementary, where a 20 year old killed 20 children and 6 adults, a Shooting Frenzy at Fort Hood in 2009, or the movie goer who was shot and killed for texting in the movie theater, and Jordan Davis who was shot while in his car at a gas station in Jacksonville Florida, and we will never forget the massacres at Columbine and Virginia Tech. How many more people will have to die or become injured in these senseless acts of violence before changes are made to this problematic situation? Innocent individuals are being gun down for no apparent reasons. Enough is enough; I’m not saying that we should completely do away with the right to “Bear arms”; but the policies

The three year-anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting just passed. The San Bernardino shootings occurred in November 2015. That was why many people are focused on what can be done to prevent things like this from occurring in the future. Many people believe that stricter gun control laws will prevent mass shootings. However, it is important to note that these ideas have been discussed for several decades.

In the United States, mass shootings have been an issue for decades. The latest being the Las Vegas shooting where 58 people were killed and 546 people were injured. This is just one of many examples of the shootings that have taken place within this nation. Statistics from CNN also show that in the last ten years, four of the five deadliest shootings have occurred. (Willingham, Ahmed) The lack of strictness which the United States has on the ability to obtain guns gives leeway for these incidents to happen. When thinking about the safety of the citizens of the nation, one can argue that there needs to be better policies put in place to ensure fewer deaths which are caused by gun violence. While many can argue the Second Amendment prevents

There have been over 360 mass shootings in the United States between January and October of this year. An average of around 1.2 shootings a day should make it alarmingly clear that something must be done. Many people push for gun control due to their strong belief that it will solve the issues that come from people having the capability to murder others, and terminate the mass casualty situations, which are deemed as multiple people being injured and/or killed during a single shooting. They want the government to make it illegal to own a private gun because of how murderers and ill people put them to use. There is no doubt that gun violence and the safety of citizens is of great significance in society. There are several proposals and sides,

In 2015, 13,367 people lost their lives due to gun violence according to Gun Violence Archive. The Archive also states that out of that number, 693 were children from ages 0-11. We can all agree that there is indeed a problem that we have to address. The solution to that problem, however, has been debated by many. I believe the solution to this problem exists in three parts: Mandatory training and licensing along with more heavily secure gun storage, stricter regulations on the purchasing of a firearm—disabilities and criminal records should be more deeply looked into before transaction—and finally, equipping teachers at highs schools with the right kind of weaponry to prevent mass shootings.

As a result of the Las Vegas Massacre, people are demanding political action to be taken. Mass shootings have been almost too regularly occurring in the past ten years. In fact, just in our current year, “there have been two hundred and seventy three mass shootings in the United States” (Fox 1). This number averages to seven and a half mass shootings per week! These staggering numbers are pressing a very real issue to our leader on gun control laws. A mass shooting has no true definition but follows a strict criteria.According to the Gun Violence Archive, which receives data from shooting incidents, a "mass shooting" is any incident in which a gunman kills four or more people, selects victims randomly, and attacks in a public place (Fox 1). It is necessary for action to be taken in order to decline the occurrence of gun violence. The topic of gun control has sparked great controversy amongst Americans. Protests regarding this issue has led me to research gun control to see how heavily it corresponds with mass shootings. Are more strict gun control laws essential to low gun- related crimes in the United States?

The United States is home to approximately 5% of the world’s population and 31% of all mass shootings. Through these mass shootings and various other methods of gun violence, tens of thousands of people die every year. These gun-related deaths primarily originate from murder and children accidentally shooting themselves. Although those in favor of gun control tend to believe that guns should be terminated completely, the second amendment prevents lawmakers from being able to do so. Therefore, in order to combat these causes, alternative gun control solutions must be made for each one. Gun-related murders can be decreased through the use of universal background checks. Additionally, accidental shootings can be minimized through the

Currently in the United States, there is a large debate going on about what we should do about gun control. This issue played a large role in the recent election of our president Donald Trump. In this issue, there are two sides as well as a middle section that agrees slightly with both sides. On the extreme sides of the issue, some people believe that guns should be completely not allowed in the United States, while some believe there should be no regulation whatsoever due to the second amendment rights given to us by our forefathers. Then there are the people in the middle who believe there should be some regulation, such as background checks when you purchase