Gun Control: The Harsh Reality
We see gun violence happen all too often these days. It seems just about every day or so we have another mass shooting in this country. We have become numb to seeing it on the evening news and yet no one has a good idea on how to stop these violent acts. Recently, some politicians have tried to pass meaningful gun legislation. Unfortunately, that fell short. Even though people believe that by having stricter gun laws it would be an infringement on peoples' Second Amendment rights. Even though countries, such as Australia, have had little to no gun related acts of violence since adopting these laws. With these laws in place, the number of gun related acts of violence would be lowered. It would also make it harder
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Unfortunately, all four bills failed to pass after not getting the 60% majority needed. Even though 92% of all American’s in an October poll conducted by CBS News found that people would favor stricter background checks on all gun buyers. In that same poll, it found that 87% of Republicans favor it as well. This showed more about the corruption in Washington than the politicians who want to make this country better.
One of the most prominent and most used piece of data used in the pro-gun control camp, is by looking at what Australia did with gun control. Remember the data presented earlier in this paper from the CDC. The death rate from firearms in the United States is 10.6 per 100,000 people. According to Reuters, the death rate in Australia from a firearm in 2014 is 0.54 per 100,000 people. To put that number in perspective. 89 people die every day from gun violence in the United States. Only 35 people have died as a result of gun violence in one year
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Miller. According to Cornell Law, in that case the defendant, Jack Miller filed a claim that the National Firearms Act was an unconstitutional violation of his Second Amendment rights. The National Firearms Act of 1934, prohibited the sale, ownership, use and transport of short barreled rifles or shotguns, and other destructive devices. Jack Miller had a shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches long. The Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 verdict that the Act was not unconstitutional and did not violate the Second Amendment. This case, like others like it can prove that gun control laws do not have to violate the Second Amendment.
Another point on the opposition to gun control is to arm people in various places to ensure a terrorist attack or mass shooting does not happen. That we need more good guys with guns to stop a bad guy with a gun. While this may be a valid point. There are no facts or statistics that can even justify that stance. You can scour the internet all you want, but the fact is that most sites that have these “statistics” are either blogs or conservative-themed websites. With unsteady footing on this idea. Using this in an argument would not get anyone very
A shooting here; a shooting there; an every day occurrence heard in the newspapers and on the news channels on television. New media are reporting a shooting somewhere. Whether the shootings are accidental or intentional; they are happening across the United States. Nevertheless, in today’s society, gun violence is sparking debate and controversy on how to control gun violence. Throughout the country, thousands of laws and regulations have been created to aid in the control of guns. Through much study, the gun laws and regulations in place have very little effect on the number of gun related injuries and deaths. More needs to be done to establish an effective way to control gun violence.
The individuals that agree with gun control often base their argument on the statistics of gun related deaths in the country, often times they do not state whether or not these include intentional or accidental deaths. They also do not take into account whether or not that the deaths happen solely because of the guns. Guns cannot kill people, the people with guns kill people, but if they really wanted to kill someone not having a gun does not effect whether or not it happens (NRA). Inanimate objects do not ever kill anyone and guns classify as inanimate objects. According to statistics, out of 4.3 million non- lethal violent crimes a year only 8 % involved guns (U.S. Congress 4). Often activists for gun control call for stricter
The majority of anti-gun advocates voice their opinion that more guns would produce more crimes unfortunately for them there is little to no truth in that claim. In reality, when gun ownership increased the amount of murders diminished as well. When states passed concealed weapons laws there was significant drops in the number of multiple victim shootings occurring, the number of deaths, and the number of injuries at these shootings. In 1997 both Wales and England banned handguns and the instantaneous effect was a 50% increase according to crime research. They never saw a day lower than after the year they decided to ban handguns. It has been proven by many surveys that the banning of guns increases crime rate which in turn proves that gun control is not the answer.
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
In recent years since 2011, mass shootings have tripled in number (Gius 8). With the huge increase in shooting our nation has been relentlessly searching for an answer on how to stop all these mass shootings. Inside the political system people of high rankings believe that the answer is to put in place laws that would limit certain aspects in the either purchasing or carrying or a gun. With the victims of shooting vocalizing their beliefs that gun control will be the answer for our question is slowly persuading the few who have not dug deeper into the subject. “Everyone in this issue wants the same thing; we all want major gun violence and crime rates to go down. In order for this to happen for us as a nation we must take action as and unite
In The United States of America, 285 people have been injured and 126 have been killed in a total of 73 shootings that have occurred within the first three months of 2018 (Mass Shootings Tracker). This is a sad reality which is sweeping across America. Gun control has become an increasingly controversial topic in our nation, but people aren’t shying away from it. In order to create a safer society with less gun-related incidents, we need to set more gun reform laws that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of firearms by civilians.
Although the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution includes, “the right to bear arms,” there must be stronger regulations regarding firearm sales in this country.
People all across the world are debating about whether to require the start of reducing gun violence. Guns have always been a part of American culture, even before we became the America we know today. In colonial times and the days of the Wild West, guns were an essential part of survival. They were needed to kill animals for food and to protect against unwanted trespassers and predators. However, in these modern times, because we have conveniences such as Hannaford and organized police systems, guns have gone from tools of necessity to novelty toys. For the most part, people own guns in this century for sporting reasons or to protect their families and home from intrusion. The simplicity of a gun and the lack of effort it requires owning
Is increasing gun control the answer to stopping criminal acts of gun violence? Or is there a better solution? The many recent tragic events involving gun violence have made the debate between gun control and gun rights to be at an all-time high. The most recent and deadliest example of gun violence, still fresh in peoples’ minds, occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada where 59 lives were lost, and 441 people were injured. Other recent occurrences include the San Bernardino attacks in which deadly fully automatic weapons were used, and 16 lives were taken and 19 were injured at a disability regional center. As well as all the tragic school shootings involving children. These criminal acts of gun violence are making Americans wonder and debate about
On October 1st in Las Vegas, Nevada, the worst mass shooting in United States history happened. The shooting was carried out with semi-automatic assault rifle, which are military grade weapons that can fire over 100 rounds per minute. This shooting reopened the debate on gun control, which has been necessarily quiet for a while. With our country so divided over this issue, there are many things that need to change to make the issue better. There have been roughly around 130 mass shootings in the United States since 1970, which is close to around 25 per decade. Gun violence in the form of homicides is just as bad. In 2014, there were an estimated 33,000 deaths related to gun violence (Smith). Guns are rarely used for self defense like people say they are using them for. The way that people can obtain a gun is way too easy. Anyone can walk into a gun show and purchase an assault rifle or a handgun. No doubt that people have the right to bear arms, and we shouldn’t take away guns for good but we should have stricter laws protecting innocent people from getting attacked. Background checks should be mandatory, and closing the gun show loophole would stop people with mental illness and convicted felons from getting their hands on deadly weapons.
For several years, gun violence has been an urgent issue that should be addressed. According to the gun violence archive, 307 mass shootings have occurred since January 1 to November 5. The deadliest mass shooting in us history had just recently occurred on Sunday, October 1. Steve paddock had purchased their guns legally in which caused approximately 500 people to be injured and 38 people had been killed. The congress is constantly being urged by people to impose strict gun laws for America. Gun control laws are a good thing because they set restrictions on the use of guns for citizens. America has around 270,000,000 guns in total, which is the highest number in the world. The American gun laws need reform. Imposing restrictions will
In 2016 the United States had nearly 58,000 incidents due to gun violence resulting in plethoras of injuries and death (Gun Violence Archive, 2016). As the years continue these incidents have been steadily increasing. Stricter laws would restrict the abundance of killings and keep Americans safe.
First and foremost, poor gun control laws are a main reason for gun violence in America. The process of obtaining a gun needs to be stricter. The average number of gun related deaths per year in America alone is 30,000. The number of injuries per year by gun is about 68,000 (Alters). The
There have been problems with gun laws in the past. Most of them are ineffective or they never get passed. Recently, gun laws have been surfacing around the news. President Barack Obama wants to ban certain guns and attachments, but Obama is taking the wrong approach. Instead of banning guns outright, which he cannot do because it is our second amendment right to own guns, he should approach reducing gun violence in a different way. Here is a quote from John Ashman saying that eliminating certain guns does not stop gun violence: "All firearms by nature are deadly, so eliminating certain kinds of firearms doesn 't directly address the issue in any meaningful way" (Ashman para. 2). This is why we need to take a different view from just banning guns. I 'm here to propose a better bill that will affect our citizens for a long period of time. This bill will decrease gun violence in the United States without taking guns out of the equation. Gun laws that are ineffective have had a large impact on this age. More school shootings and more violence has happened due to the horrible laws in place. The laws are not stopping any violence at all. Try imagining people getting murdered with guns, the shooter with total disregard for life. He brutally shoots people many times to release his frustration upon the world. This is why we need better laws to stop this kind of tragedy from happening. People can get easy access to guns anywhere in the United States. The problem is that someone
American society is plagued by gun violence. This year alone, there have been 307 mass shooting in America(cite). With all the mass shooting tragedies that occur across the United States from Sandy Hook to Las Vegas to Texas and all the innocent lives that were lost it is brutally clear that stricter gun laws are necessary to save lives. Stricter gun control laws should be enforced in two ways; by more thorough background checks and by making the sale of gun conversion kits illegal.