Mass Shootings : Stricter Gun Control Laws In The United States

An ever increasing emphasis on the prevention of mass shootings has presented the option of gun control and bans. Mass shootings have occurred many times throughout history, but have

The study found that “states with the strictest gun control laws had lower rates of gun-related homicides and suicides.” Although this result cannot draw a causal relationship between gun control policies and homicides, it proves that legislative strength and firearm deaths and ownership are negatively correlated.

Gun control in the U.S has been a highly talked about topic the past couple of years. Through the development of technology and social media; many people across the country have been more involved in voicing their opinions about this issue. America is known as the land of the free, many people take pride in being able to bare arms. However, this right has been abused by not only civilians, but law enforcement as well. The United States has the 31st highest rate of gun violence in the world and it is not decreasing anytime soon. The phrase “America's largest mass shooting” has been reassigned to numerous occurrences that have taken place over the past decade. It is apparent that through these tragedies it is time for a serious change, innocent lives are being lost for no reason.

Current Gun Control regulations do not deter violence and crime. It has been shown that places that have relaxed their gun control laws have a higher crime and death rate. Data proves that homicide rates “[...] among the metro areas whose principal city is in a state that requires some form of permit to purchase a gun, is 4.32 per 100,000 residents, compared with 5.74 among cities in no-permit states”(Bailey). This is evidence that there is a correlation between gun control and death rates. It is also proven with statistical evidence that places with the least amount of gun control have the most violence. Statistics show that “‘none of the states with the most gun violence require permits to purchase rifles, shotguns, or handguns. Gun owners are also not required to register

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.

Eighty-nine people depart from this earth due to gun violence in the US every day. From school children, to victims of domestic violence, to people going about their daily lives, this status quo is unacceptable. On Tuesday January 5th, 2016 President Obama announced that he would send proposals on reducing gun violence in America to Congress. His spokesman, Jay Carney, mentioned that this is “a complex problem that will require a complex solution.” The ability to own a gun is considered by some a birthright of Americans. However, with crime rates involving handguns rising each day it has become quite clear. Handgun laws must become stricter in order to reduce homicide and crime. The question is, “which solution in most effective in decreasing gun violence?” Gun control is a major conflict that is constantly reoccurring and the US is seemingly divided over it.

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.

An AR-15 is semi automatic, high capacity firearm with a muzzle velocity of over three thousand feet per second. The rifle will fire as fast as one can pull the trigger. This commando style weapon, with high capacity magazines, in the hands of a mentally or emotionally unstable individual, is a recipe for disaster that could cause great harm and death to the innocent. Although Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, there need to be precautions in place to insure the safety of the people.

The article, “The Truth About Mass Shootings and Gun Control: Crime and killings have fallen as gun ownership has increased”, was written in a manner to target a specific audience by using a current hot topic amongst politicians in the United States on gun control. By discussing recent mass shooting, the author is able to appeal to his audience with Ethos appeal allowing him to maintain the attention of the audience, which, otherwise would be overlooked by people outside his target audience.

Gun Control has obviously gone out of control in the recent years. Look around, they are everywhere. Reducing the rate of Crime in the United States would make the country a better place to live. In the past and in the present, Mass Shootings have impacted America. Virginia Tech shooting killed 33 teachers and students (Bowman). In 1999, the

To start with, many American citizens will agree that mass shootings have become a severe issue of the modern day. Many “[g]un violence researchers say that no law can eliminate the risk of mass shootings, which are unpredictable and represent a small minority of gun homicides over all” (Sanger-Katz, Bui 2), which goes to say that in order to prevent mass shootings, a number of various laws would have to be put in place. However, while some of these laws sound as if they could be effective, Congress still has the ability to shut down the potential application of these laws. An example of this occurred in 2013, when Congress considered “[e]xpanding background checks for gun purchasers to a wider range of gun sales…” (5), but this idea was ultimately disregarded. If this continues to occur, it is a possibility that no laws on gun control will be changed or implemented, which will keep the gateway open for potential perpetrators to commit mass shootings.

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

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?

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

Lately, it seems that mass shootings are becoming an increasing problem within the United States of America. President Obama has acknowledged the issue himself in his statements addressing such shootings, for instance, following the Sandy Hook massacre. The tragedies have occurred so often that it almost feels common now and yet no solid actions to prevent them from happening again have been taken, though that is not to say that no one has tried. Dangerous people can still easily get ahold of dangerous weapons. The present state of governmental control on automatic and semi-automatic firearms must be corrected due to the current lack of limitations, the outdated amendment that allows it, and the unnecessity of such weapons in civilian hands.