Gun Violence In Adam Gopnik's Shootings

Gun control in America is one of the most fiercely debated topics in today’s political sphere. Nearly everyone has an opinion and there is a mind-boggling amount of information typically discussed regarding the matter. Media hot takes and campaign talking points aside, far too many lives have been lost to gun violence. A total of 12,902 in 2016, to be exact. The fact that more lives have been lost to gun violence in the United States this year than the 5,000 lost in the almost 10-year war effort overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan is appalling. Is sensible and reasonable gun control progress attainable in our near future? That remains to be seen, however it is my intention to respectfully dissect an argument presented by none other than an essay

Gun control is an extremely controversial issue in the United States, and the debates around this topic has started many decades ago. According to the article “Gun Rights vs. Gun control” by Brianna Gurciullo, these debates are fueled by the people who defend the gun rights and the people who advocate in favor of gun control. It has been difficult to prove that gun ownership is directly related to an increase in violence due to the fact that researches tend to disagree on the impact of gun ownership in the American society. These debates tend to be brought to the spotlight whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, which according to Abbey Oldham, who is a reporter from the PBS News Hour, happens quite frequently. However, organizations, such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), defend that the laws for gun control violate the Second Amendment of the constitution, which states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” stated Gurciullo. Due to the distinct interpretations of the constitution and the difficulty to agree on the best approach to tackle the issue, this controversy seem to be almost unsolvable.

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.

Taya Kyle, the author of the article “American Sniper Widow: Gun Control Won’t Protect Us”, believes that there are two sides of the argument on gun control. People can use statistics, facts, and real life examples to argue that there should be stricter control of guns in the US, but they cannot eliminate the emotional side of the story. While in the last two decades, violent crime rates have actually been reduced in the US, fears have gone up. Anyone can be a victim of a violent crime because if another person decides to do harm, they will do it under any circumstances.

Cooke’s article offer honest advice on gun control. Gun control refers to laws or policies of the use or possession on any firearm. In this article, Cooke observes much shocking mass shooting that took place which could’ve been avoiding with stricter gun control laws. The author explains why the gun control law is useless because they do not prevent the act of violence. This article also talks about America not regulating gun control like we should. Cooke argues that the gun control debate is one the most dishonest topic that we have in American politics. He provide a list of massacres perpetrated between 1999 and 2012.

As it is well known gun violence is a major problem in today’s society, places like Chicago and New York City have a serious epidemic on their hands. It is not uncommon to hear about an incident where a gun was involved in these big cities on a day to day basis, but it’s not just the big cities, these type of things are happening nationwide. There has been an argument for many decades whether the cause of such violence is due to the lack of gun control laws or the restrictions put on firearms. Both sides of the isle will argue, the more liberal individual will tell you there is not enough while the conservative individual will tell you the laws put in place are too strict.

Guns are one of the most controversial and debated-upon topics in America today. In the Constitution, Americans are given “the right to bear arms,” and many Americans are proud of and believe strongly in that right. Though, that right has been constantly misused. Homicides by gun are at a higher rate in the United States than any other country in the world, mass shootings are at an all time high (many of which have occurred in the past two years alone), and terrorism has been at an all-time high. So, naturally, it is a topic that needs to be discussed. In the articles Change Your Gun Laws, America (1), author Fareed Zakaria provides the readers with some harrowing statistics on guns and insight over how the U.S. laws on guns need to be managed.

The Orlando nightclub shooting in Florida on June 12, 2016 was the single largest massacre in U.S history, taking the lives of 50 individuals, including the shooter himself, and injuring 53 others. This is one extreme example of the gun violence that has been occurring in this country, but mass shootings like this and the one at Newton in 2012 are only a small part of our gun violence issue. The everyday gun violence that takes place in cities all across the United States claims the lives of thousands every single year. According to The Guardian, 33,500 civilians die each year because of gun brutality- “that’s about 1 life every 15 minutes” (Beckett). Between the years of 1999 and 2013, there were 464,003 gun deaths in the U.S, about 58% of them were suicides 37% were homicides. (ProCon.org) Gun violence and the consequences of that violence, have become a real and dangerous problem in the U.S , why else would the CDC list the United States as having the highest rate of gun violence out of all developed countries today? (Gale Opposing Viewpoints) This issue is not just attributable to a single factor, there are several that play an important part in why gun violence is such an issue in the U.S, namely laws and poverty; and in these causes we can also find solutions.

Charles W. Collier’s article, “Gun Control in America: An Autopsy Report”, dives into the controversial topic of gun ownership and gun control in the United States. He uses recent shootings, including the George Zimmerman case and the Connecticut elementary

When we hear the term gun control, we think of opposing sides of the topic arguing whether citizens should continue to have the right to bear arms or not, including the possible consequences of continuing the use of the second amendment. As we know, gun violence is one a the major political issues that has caused public corruption and still continue to this day. During Barack Obama’s eight year term of presidency, he announced his thoughts and plan for change on how to limit gun control violence. He discusses how gun control can affect the lives of citizens physical and mental health, along with overall lifestyle. Barack shares past tragedies of gun violence and how gun control has played a huge role into our society. Throughout this speech Barack Obama gives on gun control, he persuades the public by using ethos, pathos, and logos to highlight the important concepts for change of this amendment.

This paper will explore the history of guns, myths and realities of gun violence. Gun violence is a hot topic in America today and some may believe that America was built on gun violence. This country was colonized by the use of violence with guns. We’ve had wars since the invasion of this country. The violence has been around also with the well-known 1775 speech from Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death” (Jr.). Give me death is a very strong statement that to me means this is of a violent nature. Since then violence with guns would only escalate from taking land to taking lives whether it be homicides, suicides or threats of violence against one another. With the violent history of gun violence in America and so many different opinions, who or what is responsible for the destruction on self and society and what are the some of the ways to discourage these behaviors.

It is impossible not to open a newspaper, watch the television, or listen to the radio with out hearing about some type of gun violence. Perhaps the main reason for such high gun violence is that guns are so plentiful in the Unites States. In fact, there are sixty five million handguns in America ("The `facts' about Guns"). These guns contribute to an annual medical cost of fourteen billion dollars, which is spent solely on treating gun victims ("Handguns in America"). Not surprisingly, handguns are the cause of eighty percent of homicides, seventy percent of suicides, and almost every accidental shooting ("Youth and Violence"). Handgun violence is a problem that is easy for everyone to see. How to solve this predicament is another

An ongoing debate, often shown in articles, is whether the United States should pass laws that limit gun control. Typically, when discussing this debate, there are two sides that have extremely different views from one another. The two different sides are widely known around the country as the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republican party wants to uphold their right to bear arms, legally hold guns within their home for self-defense, as well as open more hunting grounds to the public. The Democratic party, on the other hand, wishes for a stricter regulation on firearms. As written in The Washington Post, “The United States has a gun homicide rate that is at least a dozen times higher than those of most other industrialized countries” (Fareed Zakaria, “Change your gun laws, America”). The Democratic party believes the fault of massacres, school shootings, etc., are because of the United States gun control laws, instead of the people. This article inflicts a pathological appeal to our emotions, as discussed in the previous lecture, as well as the ethical appeal or credibility of the information that the author gives.

After the tragedy of Sandy Hook elementary the topic of gun control has been on the rise. However, for a handful of other nations, gun control is a topic of the past. In that respect, why is it just now becoming a sincere issue for the United States and how should it be addressed? Some argue that guns are not the issue using claims such as “guns do not kill people, people kill people,” which holds merit. However, others argue that although guns do not kill people, we should not make it easier for people to kill people. In this paper, I will be specifically addressing gun control of handguns. Although some tragedies are caused by rifles with adaptations, such as the Vegas shooting, these cases are few and far between and should be treated thusly. This is because handguns are the soul perpetrator of crimes that involve guns. Guns pose a real danger to society. Specifically, because they are a means to injure, kill, or intimidate another person. Though this can be argued through the side of self-defense as well, firearms should not be legal because; people use firearms as a means escape economic struggle, evidence shows that countries with strict gun laws have less homicides, and the practical uses of fire arms.

Over the past few years, the global media has been treated to a series of mass shooting and gun related homicide cases in the United States. As the most powerful nation in the world, there is an interest from various stakeholders from within and outside the nation. Gun ownership and the laws that surround their access and use among the civilians have become a topic of debate because of the sensitivity of the matter. This is because the number of small and large guns in the hands of civilians in America is higher than any other developed countries. The point of contention however at this juncture is the laws and activism that surround gun ownership situations. This paper will seek to find out the justification of those supporting stringent gun laws and those that do not agree with restring the guns before discussing the effect of the massive civilian gun ownership in the country.